Chairman of Trustees, Premier, Members of Parliament, veterans, widows

and dependants of veterans. Ladies and Gentleman.

I have been coming to the Dawn Service here at the Shrine every year over

the last decade, but I didn’t come this year. On the 25^th of

April this year I stood on the shores of Anzac Cove. There was some doubt

as to whether the young people would come this year for the commemoration

at Anzac Cove. We’d had terror events, and the newspapers were full of

the story that al-Qaeda operatives had entered Turkey. Security was very

tight. As we gathered at Anzac Cove at 4.30am in the dark it was impossible

to tell whether the young Australians had come for commemoration.

I will never forget as the rays of light came across the Aegean Sea, lighting

up the Sphinx, and Plugge’s Plateau, the Nek, and Russell’s Top. Seeing

the faces of ten thousand young Australians, and all of whom had stayed

over night many of whom had Australian flags draped around their shoulders.

But it moved me very deeply. Why is it that young Australians will travel

half way around the world and endure the cold and commemorate events which

happened so long ago, nearly 90 years ago. It’s because Anzac means so

much to us even today. I think as they walk amongst the headstones, those

backpackers, those 19 year olds, those 20 year olds, they look at the previous

generation of 19 and 20 year olds that fell in Gallipoli. They ask themselves

whether or not they are up to the same commitment to their country, to

their ideals, to their friends.

Anzac Cove, of course, is where the story started. We built the Shrine

here in Melbourne, which dominates the streetscape of the city of Melbourne,

as you look down Swanston Street, and that’s fitting. I find it amazing

that this Shrine was built in 1934 by public donation, the height of the

great depression, and yet the people of Victoria were able at that time

to build this fantastic building. And it’s embedded in the consciousness

I think of every Victorian.

One of my earliest memories as a young child was turning on the telecast

of the Anzac Day parade, to look for my grandfather walking down Swanston

Street. For him it was a long walk because he had been wounded on the Western

Front. And then to see the Second World War generations come through, my

father and uncles. It is something that has meant a lot to me, since those

early childhood memories, and I want it to mean a lot to my children, which

is why when we set up the Federation Fund, I was personally pleased to

be able to allocate $5 million to make this happen. Because it will actually

celebrate one of the key events that made us as a nation. And to be able

to bring our children through this display and hear the story of Monash

and Blamey, to see the medals, to take it through to the next generation.

I came away from Anzac Cove convinced that this generation of young people

will be worthy of the legacy of the original Anzacs. There are 3,800 young

Australians, brave men and women of the Australian Defence Force serving

as we speak, in peace keeping operations in the Sinai, Jerusalem, Eritrea,

Ethiopia, in Bosnia, in the rehabilitation in Iraq, in East Timor and in

the Solomon Islands. Inspired by the story and the courage of previous

generations, young Australians will I believe take this forward, this story

forward, and teach it in time to their children as well, so that the story

of Anzac and the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and what

they have done will never die. But it will be remembered here, and at thousands

of other places around Australia.

This is a great day for the Shrine, for Melbourne, for Victoria and for

Australia. This will commemorate and nourish the traditions which will

take us forward and it’s a great honour and privilege for me to have been

part of that and to be here today. Thank you very much.