This is the text of the speech delivered at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, by the Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill.
Speech by Defence Minister Robert Hill at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
We gather at this now peaceful spot to honour all those who served and those who never returned from battlefields like these. On this day we remember the loss of so many Australians and the grief that their deaths caused in so many homes.
Lone Pine has a special place in the hearts of Australians. At this place some of the harshest fighting of the Gallipoli campaign took place. Given a near impossible task, the ANZACs managed to capture this position, though at a dreadful cost.
The attack tied up significant Turkish forces and incidentally helped our friends from New Zealand who were attempting to take Chunuk Bair, just a few kilometres north of here. [Read more…]