We Will Remember Them

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them."
Laurence Binyon

Last Tuesday is a day we Australians honour our soldiers fallen in past wars and celebrate the spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice - A spirit which continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.

"The way these ANZACs bore the brunt of the fight in theDardanelles stirred in Australians everywhere a new feelingof camaraderie, a feeling that matched the way in which therest of the world suddenly began to look at Australia – notjust as an offshoot of Britain, but as an independent nationof a very independent character.

And this view of ourselves, and the world's view of us,continues today, thanks, to that spirit forged in the fires ofGallipoli.

We must not ever forget, though, what that spirit demanded;or the lives those men gave in the name of our nation.We must resolve anew that we will make this nation,Australia, into one worthy of their sacrifice."
From the dawn Service speech.