Friday, 15 August 2025
The Cenotaph
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa … I pay my respects to the Traditional Owners of this land, the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, to Elders, past, present and emerging, and to all here who have served our nation.

In 1520, when the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan sailed west through the Strait of Magellan, to discover uncharted seas that were much calmer than the Atlantic, he named this ocean: Mare Pacificum, the peaceful sea.

The Pacific would be anything but calm on 7 December 1941, when an emboldened Japan, already an Axis power, launched a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbour. It would remain a contested war zone until the end of the Second World War and Emperor Hirohito’s announcement, 80 years ago today, of Japan’s surrender.

The Pacific War caused enormous loss of lives – estimated in their millions in combatants and civilians from all nations; 17,000 Australian servicemen were killed in action, many more injured and 22,000 taken as prisoner of war.

Australian veterans of this war are now Centenarians. We are honoured by the presence of:

• Albert Gee Kee, who served in the Royal Australian Navy;
• Robert MacArthur, in the Australian Army;
• John McAuley who served with the Royal Australian Air Force;
• Edward Sankey, who was part of the Royal Navy’s D-Day landings, later stationed in the Pacific, and
• Grace Wood of the Australian Women’s Land Army.

We thank them as we thank all those who served in this war.

The stories of these men and women - together with war correspondent reports, veterans’ diaries, and the small torn, crumpled sepia photographs that are in the possession of many descendants, together tell an important story of our nation and our near neighbours.

True to form and reputation, Australians were “all in” to the bitter end of the war in 1945, engaged in ground, air and naval campaigns and mopping up operations in New Guinea, Bougainville, New Britain, in the Philippines, and in Borneo. One of the final campaigns in July involved the coordinated efforts of Navy, Army, and Air Force in the Australian-led covert amphibious landings in Borneo codenamed OBOE. OBOE liberated Japanese-held Borneo from occupation and secured vital air and oilfields for the Allied efforts in the Pacific.

In the last months of the war, over 2,400 sick and weak Australian and British POWs died at Borneo’s Sandakan Prisoner of War camp or while being marched from Sandakan to Ranau.  Only six Australians - who escaped - survived Sandakan or the forced marches. Those who died are remembered both here and at the Memorial Service held today on the site of the former POW camp, at Sandakan Memorial Park. The granite memorial on the site of the camp will be surrounded by a sea of flowers, featuring motifs of waratahs and roses.

The final act of the Pacific War – the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6th August, and Nagasaki on the 9^th, unleashed the terror of nuclear warfare. In a flash, an estimated 200,000 Japanese and Korean lives were lost.  Many more lives were lost due to radiation poisoning.  At the War’s conclusion, through to this day, the 80^th anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific, the constant and shared refrain has been ‘this must never happen again’. Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation that represents survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and advocates for the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons.

This past week, the Peace Bell tolled for all countries and peoples during 80^th anniversary commemorative services in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Pacific War also saw other stories - of courage, sacrifice, endurance and mateship - the camaraderie of soldiers, engineers, pilots, squadron members, naval officers, seamen, shore signallers, codebreakers, radar operators, nurses and medical personnel - who worked together, and risked their lives for each other. Veteran Robert MacArthur recalled it this way, saying: “[They were] Good mates, always there. We all relied on one another. You know, no one went without the other. We're all part of a team. You need a cook. You need an infantryman. You need everyone. Everyone is needed.”

Papua and New Guinea, Timor, and other Pacific states, islands and territories were gallant in defence of their communities and in supporting Australian troops. Villagers provided food, shelter and first aid, shielding the wounded in jungles and along mountain tracks. Without them, Australian casualties would have been much higher.

We are forever grateful to them and to the Allied nations who fought alongside us.  Our close ties are testimony to the enduring bonds formed during those years.  We are also conscious that the peoples who were our enemies in this war, also suffered huge losses, and endured great suffering in the name of their countries.  It is a testament to the human spirit that we all join today in a spirit of commemoration by Consul-Generals from the Pacific and beyond, including the Consul-General of Japan to NSW. Today, our ties of friendship are deep and enduring.   

On the home front, during the six long years of the War, Australian women and men ‘rolled up their sleeves’ to continue the work in manufacturing, in industries effort, on farms, on the land and in land armies, to support the war effort.  Many were volunteers who provided services, comfort and care to families of the missing and bereaved and to ensure that life – as it was – could go on. 

The 15^th of August 1945 was a day of huge relief, the burden that had been carried for six years lifted with the utterance of these six words by our Prime Minister: “Fellow citizens, the war is over.” 

Displays of celebration were many and varied.  Robert MacArthur, now 100 years old, and who, as I mentioned, is with us today, remembered the shots fired in the air from his base in Morotai, after finding out that the war was over - and having to duck for cover.

The Pacific was peaceful again. The men and women who gave their all, abroad and here at home, will never be forgotten. 

And at the end of that darkest time, the final word goes to our veterans. In the words of Veteran John McAuley who, after the war, served with the United Nations Association of Australia:

“War is not to be glorified. What we need is peace with justice.”

Lest we forget.