Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an incredible honour we have had to be part of the Centenary of Anzac commemorations this year. We have commemorated the Centenary of Anzac in so many ways and in so many different places this year. The legend of Anzac is much more than an event etched in our nation's history. We have marked the centenary in various ways and in various events right around Australia this year, including in my community of the Central Coast. Anzac Day is more than the symbol of the sacrifice made by too many young Australians whose lives were cut tragically short or irrevocably changed forever by the blood and guts of war. While Anzac Day commemorates a moment in time 100 years ago this year, it is nonetheless a very significant moment in time that helped shape our nation's identity—a moment that captured, albeit brutally, the values of ordinary Austrians, who, for the sake of the freedoms we enjoy today, did such extraordinary things. They carried out extraordinary feats, in the worst of times, that brought out the best in them: extraordinary courage, perseverance against all odds, and selflessness in doing their duty. We lost some 750 Australians on that fateful day of 25 April 1915 and over 61,000 young lives during the Great War itself.

I was pleased to hear the member for Grayndler refer to World War I veterans and, in particular, the Light Horsemen who served in Egypt. When I was a girl aged around 13 going to school in Point Clare, I studied the Great War in year 8 history. We were asked to go and interview somebody who had experience in war. I had the incredible privilege, an incredible honour that I remember to this day, of speaking with Sidney James Fox, whose name I have always remembered. He was at the Orana nursing home at the time I spoke to him. He was nearly 90 years old. He gave me three hours of his time—three hours I have never forgotten. His service number was 2469. He left Sydney on 26 April 1915. He was 19 years of age. He served in the Light Horse Regiment in Egypt. I remember being enthralled at hearing his story of how he served. But the memory that will last with me for a lifetime is of him crying when he talked about how they had to shoot the horses before they returned home. I have told that story many times at many Anzac Day services and memorials—because it mattered to him and, therefore, it mattered to me. His memory forms part of our story as a nation and also our story as a community on the Central Coast.

I raise this story because it was something that came so vividly to life when I attended the official opening of the Central Coast Interactive War Exhibit in Gosford in January this year. I want to commend Andrew Church, who has put his private collection on display. He is a man with a passion for telling the story of wars that we have fought—telling their story and telling our story. On display there, amidst all the memorabilia of so many wars, was one of the Light Horse saddles from World War I. If anybody has an opportunity to visit that Interactive War Exhibit, I would certainly encourage you to do so.

Sid's story, and that light horse saddle, were also brought back to memory during the Troubadour Central Coast concert that I attended in the 10 days leading up to Anzac Day this year. That was an incredible, amazing tribute with music and stories of World War I. They told the stories of the shearers, many of whom went to war in World War I, through the songs that were sung. And then they told the story of World War I not only through the music of World War I but by interspersing the stories and letters of diggers who were actually writing to their loved ones.

That music, that poetry and those letters stayed with me the following day when the Gosford RSL, a week before Anzac Day, held an incredible service at Gosford just near the Brisbane Water. They had dozens and dozens of schools and community organisations there. They had the RSL clubs from right around the Central Coast participating in an extraordinary service and it continued with a beautiful and moving memorial service at the Mangrove Mountain RSL on the Sunday before Anzac Day.

Anzac Day was significant for the Central Coast because in the week leading up to Anzac Day we encountered the storms that many people saw as the worst in a decade. Despite the ravaging that we saw right around the Central Coast—with trees down, homes destroyed, roads unusable for many days and power out to tens of thousands of homes and businesses—the Poppy Park stayed intact. A moving tribute with 40,000 poppies planted at the Poppy Park in Gosford was sponsored by Gosford City Council. It was the incredible vision of Merril Jackson, who did an extraordinary job. Despite the weather, those 40,000 poppies that were planted remained. It was a beautiful tribute. I was very pleased to attend so many services on Anzac Day itself. The Terrigal Wamberal dawn service, where not only did thousands and thousands of people gather on Terrigal Beach—

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