Doorstop with media at Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France
Transcript, E&OE
24 April 2010
Mr Smith - Thanks very much for coming. It's a great honour for me to be able to represent Australia at our ANZAC Day commemoration service here tomorrow morning. Tomorrow will see only the third dawn service here, which is in our view significant but also fitting. The battle of Villers-Bretonneux, which saw the retaking of the village, was a battle which many claim helped change the course of World War One. What it certainly did was to start an unshakable bond between the people of the village and the people of Australia, and to start an unshakable bond of friendship between the people of France and the people of Australia - an unbreakable bond of friendship between our two nations.
And we're very pleased that we're able tomorrow to commemorate ANZAC Day. As well as the sacrifice of Australians who fought on the Western Front, of course, ANZAC Day commemorates the service of all Australian servicemen and women. And we also, on ANZAC Day, pay our respects to those Australian servicemen and women who are presently serving overseas and particularly of course our thoughts are with our troops in Afghanistan. ANZAC Day of course is now a day of great significance for Australians. Not only does it appropriately reflect the sacrifice of our servicemen and women, it enables us to reflect upon some of the national characteristics and values and virtues that service and sacrifice has thrown up - a sense of humour in adversity, ingenuity, the great Australian notion of a fair go. So this is a most important day for Australia but also a most important day so far as the friendship between the peoples of France and Australia are concerned.
Journalist - Minister, when did you find out you had some kind of family attachment?
Mr Smith - At an early age I became the family holder of the medallion that was given to servicemen at that time. But last year, when I represented Australia at ANZAC Day, I asked for a formal search of family members' records of service and that brought to my attention the name of a great uncle in the Lone Pine memorial and a great uncle here. My great uncle here was killed on this day - 24 April - just before the village was retaken. My other great uncle was killed at the actual landing at Gallipoli on ANZAC Day. Of course, there is the historical irony that the taking of Villers-Bretonneux happened on precisely the same date - 25 April - as the landing at Gallipoli. That reflects my family experience. And our family experience reflects the family experience of so many Australian families at that time. There was hardly a family that wasn't touched by the First World War, that weren't touched by the loss of lives in the Great War. So, a quite familiar circumstance as far as my family is concerned, and it just underlines and reflects the great loss and the great tragedy, but also the great service.
Journalist - Was there also another relative at Mouqet Farm?
Mr Smith - Yes, the two Smiths, as you would expect, are on my father's side. The Clune is on my mother's side, and was killed at what Australians used to call "Mucky Farm" in 1916. So I have two. The Clune is a distant relative; none‐the‐less, like a number of Australians who come and have a look at the memorial here, I have more than one family member or relative on the list of those soldiers who died but without a known grave.
Journalist - What's it like looking at the family name on the wall?
Mr Smith - Well, it's always poignant. I always find ANZAC Day, as a local Member of Parliament, very moving. And it's a great honour as Foreign Minister to represent the nation at such a significant service. So it's always moving but it's also a great honour to be able - not just today but tomorrow - to formally represent the nation. It's an honour which comes to few of us and I value that very much.
Journalist - Is this your first visit?
Mr Smith - No, I've actually been here before, but it's the first occasion I've actually been here for ANZAC Day.
Journalist - This particular battle field and memorial is growing in appreciation and a lot more Australians are turning up each year. Where do you place its significance in terms of all the battles?
Mr Smith - Just as we don't distinguish between the service that any of our service men or women have made - for example the honour roll at the War Memorial in Canberra which records the names of those service men and women who have lost their lives, doesn't distinguish between any of them. It doesn't denominate an award; it doesn't denominate any exceptional service. We simply treat all our lost service men and women as having made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of Australia. So I don't distinguish between particular memorials, they are all of equal importance. And tomorrow in Australian towns and Australian cities, as well as overseas, whether its Gallipoli, whether its Afghanistan, or Bomana in Port Moresby, we will all play due homage at respective at ANZAC Day services.
Historians say that this was a battle that potentially changed the course of the war. And indeed some British Generals have described the action by Australians on this day during World War One, as potentially the most important single manouvre of the war. What is certainly true is that what Australians did here, in retaking the village, started the bond between the village of Villers-Bretonneux and Australia that is unbreakable and unshakable, and started a bond of friendship between Australia and France, which is also unshakable and unbreakable.
Thank you.
Media inquiries
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