Speeches

Anzac Day 2008

Ross Robertson

25.04.2008

Address delivered at East Tamaki on Anzac Day, 2008

It is a great honour to stand with you again to commemorate the call to duty and destiny of our servicemen and women - who with clarity of spiritual purpose and courage of conviction swam, surged and strode onto that shore (Gallipoli), sought to secure those challenging heights and with bombs bursting their eardrums and death all around - they gave birth to the tradition of ANZAC service that we celebrate today.

Although today the lines of our warriors dwindles, their kindness, the quality of their contribution continues to kindle a profound sense of gratitude as we pause and weave our memories into the timeless tapestry that is the character of our community.

As I prepared for Anzac Day reading Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August (1914)" I came across the following passage outlining how Turkey became involved in WWI, that involvement impacted severely on New Zealand troops as later they were to fight the Turks at Gallipoli, a place where Ataturk, the founding President of Turkey, made his name.

In a passge from the novel : I quote "At the entrace to the Dardanelle Straits, 150 miles away, a Turkish Destroyer put out from shore and approached the German battle cruiser Goeben, watched in tense anxiety by every eye on deck. A signal flag fluttered briefly and was recognised as "Follow Me". At nine o'clock that evening, August 10, 1914, the Goeben and Breslau entered the Dardanelles, bringing, as long afterwards Churchill somberly acknowledged, "more slaughter, more misery, and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship." - and so began the alliance of Germany and Turkey which caused so much pain for New Zealand at Gallipoli.

Throughout New Zealand, and around the world, millions will pause by a cenotaph, a headstone, a tomb or a battlefield to summon the spirit of service of those who gave their muscle so we might embody their example and build a better nation.

Today, on this 93^rd Anniversary of the first trumpet call on the courage and character of our community, Autumn's golden gown reminds us of the fruit of our nation, who in the full blossom of youth put the character of our country on the front lines, they dug deep into our hearts and entrenched a sense of triumph. Let us look at the flames in the falling leaves this day and let us think of the fire they have passed on to us.

Two key central and essential parts are at the heart of an intelligent community: the strength, colour, character and completeness of our memories, and the majesty of our vision, the quality of the learning we spread throughout our land to leave a rich legacy for our children.

8,556 members of the 1NZEF (first New Zealand Expeditionary Force) served at Gallipoli. They suffered 7,473 casualties, including 2,721 dead (one in four of those who landed).
During the first days fighting one in five of the 3,000 New Zealanders who had landed on the first day became casualties.
One member of the 1NZEF was awarded a Victoria Cross during the Gallipoli Campaign. Cyril Bassett, a sapper in the Divisional Signals of the New Zealand Engineers, earned his Victoria Cross by laying and repairing telephone lines while under constant fire from the Turkish line during the assault on Chunuk Bair on 6 August, 1915.
About 500,000 Turkish soldiers, lead by Kemal Ataturk, later the founding President of the Turkish Republic, are believed to have served on Gallipoli. Turkish official sources record total Turkish casualties as 213,882, including some 86,000 dead and missing.

As I sit in the Speaker's Chair in our Parliament, I look around the debating chamber at the emblems of the major battles of WWI, places like the Somme, Passendale, Gallipoli, Messines, to name a few, and I think of the rich legacy of service and the debt of gratitude we all have to uphold the best traditions of democracy for which they were prepared to lay down their lives, and I'm reminded of Pericles who said in his funeral oration for the Athenians who fell to protect the fledgling democracy "we regard those who do not vote to be of base character."

As a community we have, over the past ten years, expressed our resolve to recognise our returned service personnel and their families in many tangible ways, that you will all know, but more important is the fact that you are here today and that you will work to build a better community, a community whose character is ever informed of the courage of our ANZACs. A community that works hard to eliminate all causes of war.

Today we pray for the souls of those who served and suffered that we might receive the rich blessing of New Zealand citizenship. Tena kotou tihei mauri ora.

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