Keating, PJ: Anzac Day 1995

Keating, PJ

Statement by the Prime Minister, the Hon. PJ Keating MP, Anzac Day 1995

This is the eightieth anniversary of the event from which Anzac Day derives, the landing at Gallipoli and the tragic and disastrous military campaign which followed it. Anzac Day is not a celebration of military victory, or a glorification of war. But it is the most important and profound day in Australia’s national life. It is the day we pay tribute to Australians who died so that we could live in peace and continue the task of building a good and prosperous country. It is the day when we reflect upon the meaning of their sacrifice. It is the day when we ask our children to reflect and learn what it means to love Australia and have faith in it.

We took from Gallipoli, and we have taken from every subsequent war in which Australians have fought and died, the message contained in that sacrifice: that it is good to be brave and to endure difficulty, and that we are bravest, most able to endure and most likely to succeed when we know we can rely on each other, when we stick together. Anzac gave us this creed to live by as Australians and as a nation. It has given us strength in war and in peace.

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