Victory in the Pacific Day Commemorative Service
Saturday, 15 August 2026
The Cenotaph, Martin Place
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC
Bujari gamarruwa
Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura
I greet you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather. In doing so, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect to the Elders of all parts of our State from which you travel, and to First Nations people who have served, and continue to serve, with such distinction in our Defence Force.
99 years ago, on the morning of the 1st of August 1927, a team of 18 horses – that were, in the words of a reporter of the time, “fuming and stamping”[1] – dragged from Millers Point to here in Martin Place, a 17-tonne block of granite, quarried from the same site as the facing stone for the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.[2]
Inscribed in gold with the words ‘Lest we Forget’ on one side and ‘To our Glorious dead’ on the other, that 17-tonne block was the altar stone – the centrepiece – of The Cenotaph we gather before today.
It took 3 hours to manoeuvre into position.[3]
A week later, in front of a crowd of 10,000 people,[4] the stone was dedicated by the Premier, Jack Lang. The Governor, Sir Dudley de Chair, laid the first wreath. Afterwards, he said:
...this Cenotaph […] will not stand as a symbol of the pride of victory, but as an embodiment and a lasting memorial of the common effort and the common sacrifice by which […] liberty and right were preserved.[5]
A year later, on the 25th of April 1928, a Dawn Service was held here at the Cenotaph, as it has been ever since – the oldest continuous tradition of the Anzac Day Dawn Service.[6]
A year later again, the beautiful bronze statues were placed at either end of the altar.[7]
It was here also, 81 years ago to this day, in 1945, that The Cenotaph became the spontaneous focal point for celebrations – spilling into the surrounding streets – following the announcement of Japan’s surrender.[8]
Six long years of war had ended, a war stretching from Europe to North Africa, Asia to the Pacific… a global conflagration that, for Australians, was not confined to foreign fields – as in the First World War – but had come right up amidst us… There were:
- the bombings of Darwin and Broome, and other parts of northern Australia;[9]
- the shelling attacks on Sydney and Newcastle;[10]
- the mini-submarine attacks in Sydney Harbour;[11]
- the reports, in 1941, of 15 unidentified submarines circling our entire continent;[12]
- the sinking of 18 ships, including bulk ore carriers, and the damaging of another 15, on our east coast, disrupting our steel industry and military supplies.[13]
Six years of effort, hardship, and fear was over.
The aftermath of those celebrations 81 years ago was sobering… as our troops came home to reclaim lost years of education, employment, careers, and family time – and, for too many, the deep loneliness that came when a loved one did not return.
What has remained constant, however, from that first day of celebration to now is the spirit of remembrance… from the quiet acts amongst the celebratory din – the “freshly laid flowers upon [the Cenotaph]”[14], “a soldier in jungle green [kneeling] […] in reverence [before it]”[15] – to the solemn moments each Anzac morning – as we quietly express the deep esteem we hold for those whose service, sacrifice, and valour made that peace possible.
We are privileged today to be joined by two individuals who are part of this story… John McAuley and Vincent Ball.
John McAuley enlisted when he was 18… when he was asked why, years later, his answer was simple: “I felt an obligation to do what I could to support Australia at a […] critical time”.[16]
Critical, indeed… the same month John enlisted, August 1942,[17] the Japanese were forcing their way south across the Owen-Stanley Ranges along the Kokoda Track, heading for Port Moresby.[18]
Trained as a radio operator at RAAF Richmond, John served at Townsville’s Alligator Creek station before, in 1943, being transferred to Merauke, on the south coast of what is now West Papua,[19] arriving shortly after it had been bombed.[20]
There he served, surrounded by jungle and the constant threat of enemy attack, until the end of the war.
When reflecting on his time in service, John said “… camaraderie was absolutely vital […] we were a world to one another”[21]
Vincent Ball enlisted in the RAAF a year earlier than John… but his enlistment path was somewhat more interesting.
Coming up to his 18th birthday, Vincent had told his manager at the General Electric factory where he worked that he was planning on enlisting. His manager, however, said he couldn’t – he was in a protected industry.[22]
Undeterred, Vincent turned up to the factory on his 18th birthday but sat on his hands and refused to work. His manager relented and he was allowed to go to war.[23]
Made a Wireless Air Gunner, he was sent to train in Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Then it was off to join the Liberator crews in Britain, flying maritime patrols across the English Channel and the Baltic.[24]
On one occasion, whilst targeting a U-Boat coming out of Danzig, the Liberator he was on came under fire from the U-Boat’s escorts… one of the engines was struck and caught fire, and a bullet narrowly missed Vincent, tearing a hole in the fuselage only 6 inches above his head.[25]
Luckily, the wind and automatic extinguishers put out the engine fire,[26] and the Liberator limped home, its crew ready to ditch in the sea if there was further trouble.[27]
In Vincent’s words “that was always a worry, [though], because if you got wet in the north in winter, you’d last only 20 minutes.”[28]
With the end of the war in Europe, Vincent was sent back to Australia to serve in the Pacific, but shortly after his return, Japan surrendered and the War was over.[29]
John and Vincent, yours are but two of the stories of the nearly 1 million Australian men and women who served in the Second World War.[30]
To you, to your comrades who fell in battle and since, to those who remain with us today…
In our coming moments of reflection, in our long tradition of commemoration before this Cenotaph, we think of you.
We remember the immense pride and gratitude we hold in and for your service…
We remember that, in defending our Nation, you embodied our highest values – doing your best, standing by your mate, looking out for on another…
We remember your sacrifice… We remember the terrible cost you and your loved ones have borne.
As the soldier-poet Henry Weston Pryce wrote, on the day the altar stone of this Cenotaph was dedicated,
If Australians remain as true to themselves as were the men whom this memorial commemorates, this stone [will be here] […] forever […], as [will be] its message in the hearts of the people.[31]
Lest we forget
[2] ‘The Cenotaph, Martin Place’, War Memorial Register website, available here. The Cenotaph commission was the only other commission for stone from Quarry Town, set up near Moruya to supply granite for the Harbour Bridge. The block was quarried and prepared in Moruya, including the inscriptions, and then sent to Sydney by Dorman, Long and Co on the steamer Dudley de Chair. Up to 18 horses (some reports indicate 20) were involved in moving the block from Circular Quay, and then placing it atop the base comprised of 23 pieces of Moruya granite: ‘“LEST WE FORGET”: OUR WAR MEMORIAL’, The Sun, 1 August 1927, p.9, available here
[4] ‘A MEMORIAL OF SACRIFICE: CENOTAPH DEDICATED’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 1927, p.9, available here
[6] ‘Fact File: The Origins of the Anzac Dawn Service’, ABC News online, 24 April 2015, available here. “A unique event took place so early as 4:30 am, this being the hour at which the historic landing was commenced. To mark the anniversary, wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph […] Despite the early hour fully 100 people were present, including many women, and numbers remained for a considerable time, many in silent prayer”: ‘BEFORE DAWN’, The Sun, Wednesday 25 April 1928, p.9, available here. By 1929, 200 people attended; in 1931, the Governor, Sir Philip Game was in attendance, and laying the first wreath: ‘The A.I.F Still Marches On’: The Sun, 26 April 1931, p.5, available here; ‘TOUCHING SCENES AT THE CENOTAPH’, The Telegraph, 27 April 1931, p.3, available here
[7] The two statues, of Private William Pigott Darby and Leading Signalman John William Varcoe, were shipped from England on 13 December 1928; arriving in Sydney in early February 1929, with the complete Cenotaph unveiled by Premier Sir Thomas Bavin in the presence of General Sir John Monash, on 21 February 1929: ‘The Sydney Cenotaph and its Guardians’, Naval Historical Society of Australia website, available here
[8] Impromptu celebrations had been occurring in Sydney since the previous Friday, 10 August 1945, for instance as recorded here: ‘AMAZING KING’S CROSS SCENE’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 1945, p.1, available here. There were also crowds and music performances in Martin Place on the evening of the 14th, following a 4pm BBC broadcast announcing the Japanese would “soon issue a statement accepting Allied surrender terms”: Daily Telegraph, 15 August 1945, p.2; available here; singing crowds and performances were also held around a 2UW stage set up in Martin Place: Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 1945, p.4; available here
[9] The first bombing raid on Darwin occurred on 19 February 1942, killing 252 Allied service personnel and civilians. There were subsequent raids in April, June, and July carried out with forces of 30 to 40 fighters and bombers: ‘Bombing of Darwin’, Australian War Memorial website, available here. Broome was attacked on 3 March 1942, during which multiple Allied aircraft and at least 40 people, mostly Dutch refugees were killed: ‘Allies in Adversity, Australia and the Dutch in the Pacific War: The Japanese Raid on Broome’, Australian War Memorial website, available here. Following the raid on Broome, subsequent Japanese attacks were made on towns and locations in northern parts of Australia including Wyndham, Port Hedland, and Derby in Western Australia; Katherine in the Northern Territory; Townsville and Mossman in Queensland; and Horn Island in the Torres Strait: ‘Bombing of Darwin’, Australian War Memorial website, available here
[10] The Sydney suburbs of Rose Bay and Bellevue Hills were shelled from Japanese submarines on the 8th of June 1942; they also attacked Newcastle the same night, causing minor damage: ‘Attacks on Sydney and the East Coast in 1942’, Australian Government Anzac Portal website, available here
[11] The midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour occurred on the night of 31 May 1942, resulting in the death of 21 Allied naval ratings, 19 Australian and 2 British: ‘Japanese Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney Harbour’, Royal Australian Navy website, available here. See also Lew Lind, Toku-Tai: Japanese Submarine Operations in Australian Waters, Kangaroo Press, 1992, pp.55-80
[12] Lind, Toku-Tai, op. cit., pp.28-39
[13] From July to August 1942, the Japanese conducted submarine patrols off the Australian east coast. They sank Allied merchant ships, killed 60 merchant seamen and caused the loss of 29,000 tons of shipping. These attacks forced ships to sail in convoys, reducing efficiency: ‘Attacks on Sydney and the East Coast in 1942’, Australian Government Anzac Portal website, available here. See also: Lind, Toku-Tai, op. cit., pp.97-104.
[16] “’Remind Myself of the Friendship: WW2 Veteran Comments on Annual Anzac Day March’, interview between Mr McAuley and Chris Kenny, Sky News YouTube Channel, 23 April 2025, available here
[17] John McAuley enlisted on 26 August 1942: ‘John Patrick McAuley’, Virtual War Memorial Australia website, available here
[18] By late June 1942, the Japanese were making plans to take Port Moresby by land, and, in July, landed at Guna on New Guinea’s north Coast, determined to advance over the rugged and treacherous track leading south. At Kokoda, high in the mountains, they met a small force of Australian citizen soldiers; the Japanese troops, better equipped, more experienced, and more numerous, drove them back. Australian reinforcements arrived up the track from the south, and, ordered to adopt a defensive stance to prevent the Japanese penetrating beyond Kokoda, dug in at Isurava. The Japanese, hoping to destroy the Australian forces before a counterattack on Kokoda or a retreat further into the mountains could occur, attacked and, over 6 days of fighting from 26-31 August, overran the Australians, who retreated, often by dispersing into the jungle and circling back to join up, further south: ‘Kokoda Trail’, National Museum of Australia website, available here; ‘Battle of Isurava’, Australian War Memorial website, available here
[21] “’Remind Myself of the Friendship: WW2 Veteran Comments on Annual Anzac Day March’, interview between Mr McAuley and Chris Kenny, Sky News YouTube Channel, 23 April 2025, available here
[22] “I worked at the Australian General Electric in Auburn, and I told the manager that when I was 18 I was going to join the Air Force. He said, ‘You can't join the Air Force. You’re in a protected industry’:” Vincent Ball, quoted in ‘Vincent Ball’, New South Wales War Memorial Register website, available here
[23] “When my birthday came along, I sat on my hands and didn't work. They called me inside and eventually relented:” Vincent Ball, quoted in loc. cit.
[25] “One night I picked up three blips. I homed the aircraft on to the target and there were two U-boats with two escorts. We went in straight in and all hell broke loose. The two escort vessels opened up. They hit number 3 engine. […] ‘I had a big hole just above my head about six inches away. A bullet had gone past me and hit the reinforcements around the legs of the mid-upper gunner”: Vincent Ball, quoted in loc. cit.
[26] “The aircraft had built-in fire extinguishers so the skipper, Fritz, switched the fire extinguisher on. The Russian wind and the extinguisher put out the flame”: Vincent Ball, quoted in loc. cit.
[27] “When we were shot up by the U-boats and the escort vessels, we were about 500ft above the North Sea. We had the bomb bay doors open, and we thought we were going to get wet. If we had any problems, we would have had to ditch in the water and we’d freeze:” Vincent Ball, quoted in loc. cit.
[28] Vincent Ball, quoted in loc. cit.
[30] “During World War II, 993,000 Australians served in the armed forces – 926,900 men and 66,100 women”: ‘ANZAC Facts and Figures from the ABS (Media Release)’, Australian Bureau of Statistics website, 24 April 2008, available here; Of these, 575,799 served overseas: ‘The Second World War’, RSL NSW website, available here