Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today marks Remembrance Day. We commemorate 11 November 1918, when the guns fell silent on those blood-soaked battlefields of the Great War. Over 330,000 Australians fought in that war and over 60,000 died. Many of them, just like you and me, were everyday Australians. One of them happened to be a great-uncle of mine, Private William O'Brien, otherwise known as 'Dinkum' to his mates. It was on a Sunday after 7.30 pm under heavy artillery fire that William was hit by a piece of shrapnel from an exploding shell, hitting his hand, his arm and his head. Two hours later he was dead. His mother, my great-grandmother, received news of William's death by telegram on what should have been his 21st birthday, such is the tragedy of war. Whether it be the Anzacs or anyone who has fought for this nation, their legacy is not in the physical symbols of remembrance, as important as they are; rather, their legacy lies in the freedom we enjoy and the virtues we seek to embody. Lest we forget.