Following are extracts from the talk presented by Hayley Davies of Leeming Senior High School at the end of a trek which began at ANZAC Cove and ended at Sari Bair.
I thought long and hard about what I was going to say here today, how I was going to summarize our day in Gallipoli. I wondered if it would be best to give a brief history about the various battlefields we've visited. But now that we have seen where our ANZACs were, and have witnessed first hand what they had to face, I think this is the most appropriate time to stop for a minute and think hard about what the ANZAC legacy means to us.
The trek today has taken us to Gaba Tepe, Ari Burnu, Plugge's Plateau, Shrapnel Gully, Lone Pine, Pope's Hill, the Turkish Memorial, The Nek and here to Sari Bair. We have been lucky enough to walk the battlefields of Gallipoli. We are feeling the same breeze and looking at the same sky as tens of thousands of our Australians did in their last moments of life. Take it in.
Today I have seen the West Australian flag draped over young Western Australia students' shoulders. I have heard the words of Banjo Patterson read with pride.
So why? Why are we so proud of the Gallipoli campaign when it was largely a failed attempt of an attack; an attack in which we lost thousands of lives? It is because from this tragedy, from these horrendous circumstances, came the many honorable values and characteristics so associated with Australians. Values such as honour, bravery and mateship. Australian characteristics such as larrikinism.
What a paradox it was when we stood at the Turkish war memorial here today shaking hands with the hospitable Turkish locals, in the very country we fought the war against them. Their country.
Yet in fact it is not a paradox, because remember that the ANZACs became friends with Johnny Turk.. There was a kind of unspoken respect between the two enemies. Amongst the bombs being thrown, the ANZACs and Turks traded supplies and food between the trenches, as close as eight meters apart. Some of the most humbling actions that occurred during the campaign were the ceasefires between enemies. An agreement of temporary peace in order to bury the dead. Friendship in such horrible times!
Now think about the ways in which the ANZAC legacy has affected each of us as individuals. As Australians. No doubt they are many and varied. One of the most wonderful things in life, is the journey that each person goes through to establish their own identity. Their own personality. Valuing one's homeland forms the basis of that identity.
I know that there is a part of the ANZACs within each and every one of us, and how lucky we are for that legacy. And indeed how lucky are we here today to stand on the same soil where that legacy was born and nurtured.
Throughout this tour we have gained priceless knowledge of the price of war and now, thanks to this hike at Gallipoli we have some comprehension of what our boys went through for our country. The sacrifices they made.
I stood today with tears in my eyes as I placed a poppy on the grave of a 46 year old fallen soldier. This unexpected emotion came to me because I thought of what it would be like if I ever lost my father. Many of these men were fathers, brothers, sons. and all were friends. They made the ultimate sacrifice for their friends, their families, and their country. Our country.
So to our ANZACs in the immortal words of the visionary enemy turned friend, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk :
Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives;
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us
Where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears;
Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.