1. Anzac Day Speech – 2015 - ASC
(As prepared for Delivery)
By Ian Tan
A hundred years ago brave young men, some of whom barely older than we are, charged up
a lonely beach in a land that was far, far away from home.
It was the beginning of a brutal and gruelling campaign, a campaign that costed many lives.
As brutal as it was, Gallipoli was an important event in the life of our nation.
But in every sense, the Gallipoli campaign was a failure. It was poorly planned and poorly
executed.
In fact, New Zealand soldier Second Lieutenant George Bollinger, wrote in his diary as he was
being evacuated from the peninsula in December of nineteen fifteen:
“Ours is not to reason why, but just to do and die; but who has blundered?”
Second Lieutenant Bollinger was alluding to the second stanza of the British poem “The
Charge of the Light Brigade” where it reads:
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to question why,
Theirs to do or die:
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
Even though the poem was written in eighteen fifty four, the words to this day hold great
meaning and purpose.
The circumstances of this poem are similar to what was faced by our ANZACs. They did not
question why, rather they did their duty, charging forward knowing that some of them would
meet an almost certain fate.

2. So many other Australians throughout history have charged forward in the same spirit.
This is because Australia has never been shy about her engagements in world conflicts when
freedom and our way of life was under threat.
Whether it was the two world wars in Europe or in the jungles of Papua New Guinea; whether
it was in Vietnam and Korea fighting against communist regimes or in recent times in
Afghanistan and Iraq – Australians has always responded with great courage.
ANZAC Day of this year marked a special moment in our nation’s history.
It has been a hundred years since the landing at ANZAC Cove marking the beginning of the
Gallipoli campaign.
It was the campaign that brought a young nation to the world.
The campaign that changed a nation.
The campaign that gave rise to the ANZAC legend. The legend defined a country.
We remember the more than eleven thousand Australians and New Zealanders who died in
the eight month long campaign.
They are true heroes – men who responded to the call of their time by volunteering to serve
their nation. Each came from different backgrounds and different faiths. They gave up
dreams, livelihoods and careers in the service of our nation.
Names like John Simpson have become synonymous with Gallipoli.
While history books may remember more fondly of ANZAC troops like Simpson who acted
with great courage and who would have had a great story to tell; we remember all the ANZAC
who did their duty and who gave their all.
The conditions at Gallipoli were tough. Morale was low and reminders of death surrounded
them. But when the going got tough, they got tougher. These were men who never gave up
and never gave in.
In the letter which would change the course of the campaign, the Gallipoli Letter, journalist
Keith Murdoch writes:
“It is stirring to see them magnificent manhood, swinging their fine limbs as they walk about
Anzac. They have the noble faces of men who have endured. Oh, if you picture Anzac as I have
seen it, you would find that to be an Australian is the greatest privilege the world has to offer.”

3. So let us today remember the men and women who have served our nation including those
who concluded service without prominence or extensive accolades,
We also have in our hearts those who returned bearing the mental and physical scars as a
consequence of their service.
We remember those who are currently serving our nation and her interests abroad.
We also remember those who never returned home. Wherever they may have been laid to
rest, we remember them, the lives they lived and the price they paid.
Australia will always remember and we will never forget the men and women who served
with great courage and who stood for all that was right in our world.