Anzac Day speech by the Australian Ambassador Mrs Jenny Bloomfield

ATHENS, 25 APRIL 2012

Honourable Ministers, Secretary General, Chief of the Hellenic Navy, Honourable Ambassadors, Members of Parliament, friends of Australia and Greece

It is an honour for me to welcome you to this year's ANZAC Day commemoration in Athens.

As we gather today to honour ANZAC Day in Greece, I would like to acknowledge the men and women of this nation who have proudly served their country.

And I would like to acknowledge our shared history.

From the coast of Lemnos, where the first ANZACs embarked on the Gallipoli campaign which shaped our nation, to the battlefields of Crete fighting against Nazi invasion in 1941, Australians and Greeks have fought together for democracy and freedom and have formed strong bonds of friendship.

There is no legacy more enduring for Australians, that defines more who we are as a nation, than the ANZAC legend.

On 25 April 1915, as dawn began to break, the first sons of a young nation, Australia's first generation, left from Lemnos' Moudros Harbour to assail the Gallipoli shores. They had come here, together with their New Zealand comrades, to do their part in a war that was not of their making. Over eight months they fought, hung on, suffered and died. And they won a compelling place in the Australian story.

Lemnos was the main logistical support base for the Gallipoli campaign. Two Australian Hospitals and 96 Australian nurses were stationed on the island. The ANZACs found shelter and refuge here. Most of all, they found the friendship, hospitality and support of the Lemnian people. Many died there, never to return.

Two days ago we attended a very special commemoration in Lemnos.

We visited the Australian War Memorial and two cemeteries where ANZACs are buried. We walked down roads named after them, a reminder of their presence. The ANZACs and Lemnos are forever bound. There is a town called Lemnos near Shepparton in the state of Victoria, and a hospital with the same name in Western Australia, testimony to these eternal bonds. And the proud Lemnian community in Australia keeps the memory strong.

8,700 Australians and 2,700 New Zealanders died in Gallipoli - in total, over 26,000 fell or were wounded there. And along with them, countless thousands died and suffered from New Zealand, Britain, France, Canada, India and Turkey.

One in twenty-five Australians was a casualty during WW1 overall. One in 80 of Australia's entire population was killed in action in that tragic war.

On this day we remember them.

And we remember the more than 100,000 Australians who have died in war - from the first ANZACs to the last soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. We remember the families who mourn the loss of loved ones. And we remember the men and women in uniform who serve our country day by day, around the world, with courage and distinction.

The high price of war has made Australians more committed than ever to peace.

To standing up for our friends and our allies, and standing up for what is right.

With courage, sacrifice, mateship, compassion, as well as our common humanity. The values of our nation, and the values that Australians and Greeks both share.

Values that our two nations have fought together to uphold, in good times and bad. In these difficult times for Greece, Australia stands by Greece and we are certain it will emerge even stronger from the crisis.

Today we remember those we have lost.

Because the ANZAC spirit continues to endure in Australia, as in Greece.

We do remember them.

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.