I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
I also pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have served our nation in the past and continue to do so today.
I wish to pay tribute to any current or former defence personnel who join us today, as well as the families of those who have served.
Thank you all for your sacrifices.
Well – the torch has made it halfway around the world – congratulations to you all for the parts you have each played in making that happen.
I can’t wait to get my hands on it tomorrow when it hits Irwin Barracks.
On behalf of the Australian Government, I thank Legacy for the century of support it has given to the families of those who have served our nation, and for the care you continue to provide.
We very much appreciate the wonderful work of the dedicated Legatees who give their time and energy to make a big difference to the lives of so many veterans’ families now, and the care and support you have provided over the century.
The Australian Government, and all Australians, are grateful for the work you do each and every day, and we’re proud to have provided funding to support your centenary actives.
I think the torch relay is a really beautiful way to mark this special milestone.
As the relay travels around the world, from where the Legacy story began in the trenches of the Western Front, to Albany, where so many ANZACs had their last glance of Australian shores, up here to Freo, on to Perth and then through the rest of the country – I hope you’ll have the greatest success raising awareness of Legacy’s 100 years of unwavering support for the families of the fallen, the experiences of veterans and their families, and the impacts of service.
I had the huge honour of spending ANZAC Day in Turkiye last week while my good friend and colleague, the Assistant Minister for Veterans Affairs Matt Thistlethwaite launched the Legacy relay in France.
If you were watching the Dawn Service in Gallipoli, you may have noticed in the wreath I lay, a Legacy centenary bear, front and centre.
After we helped out at the Perth ANZAC Day street appeal, my team and I purchased all the special edition bears, including our new mate that we dubbed “Digger” – dressed up in World War One garb.
We took Digger to see the sites, to the beaches of Anzac Cove, to the Dawn service rehearsals… and to Shrapnel Valley cemetery.
An area, that was once an allied camp, now named after the heavy shelling it received on 26 April 1915.
That cemetery really gets to you.
It’s beautiful.
The trees and flowers were in bloom, the grass immaculate, the birds singing.
It is unbelievably confronting to look at the way that cemetery is laid out – with headstones positioned not in rows…
Rather in the places, and indeed the directions that our diggers fell.
To be standing there with old mate Digger bear – looking at the headstones of the lives lost, the mission of Legacy really hit.
So many of our diggers never made it home.
It’s up to all of us to look after the families of those who made the supreme sacrifice.
Legacy has done that so well over the last century, from the First World War till now, it’s up to all of us to keep the Legacy promise for generations to come.
For each of those Aussies who lie on distant shores.
For those who made it home but never recovered, be that in body or mind.
For those families who were never whole again.
I laid Digger bear in that wreath as an acknowledgement of the anniversary of the centenary, to raise awareness.
But in laying that wreath and marking that moment on the shores of Gallipoli, I, on behalf of all Australians, had the opportunity to not only pay tribute to the fallen, but their families left behind, embodied in the bear.
As the torch relay continues to make it’s way around the country, let’s all ensure its’s flame never burns out.
A flame that reminds us of the eternal sacrifices of so many, and the original Legacy promise.
Thank you.
