ANZAC Day Speech – Morreau A

ANZAC Day Speech – Morreau A. Headmaster, distinguished guests, Old Boys, fellow students, and friends of Auckland Grammar School: today we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 1915. Today we celebrate and remember the lives of the most revered members of our school - those that served and those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. ANZAC Day marks the landings on the morning of the 25th of April 1915 by 16,000 Australian and New Zealand men at ANZAC cove. The Gallipoli campaign was a move by the British and French High Commands that aimed to gain control of the Dardanelles, and eventually capture the capital of the Ottoman Empire – Constantinople. However, tragically, the Campaign was much more difficult than the High Command originally anticipated. In fact, after eight months bitter fighting, the Allied forces retreated back to Egypt having failed to secure the Peninsula. Over two and a half thousand young men had lost their lives. Despite the unsuccessful result of the move, something about ANZAC Day sticks in the hearts and minds of both Australians and New Zealander’s alike. Despite the bloodshed and sacrifice all along the Western Front, many New Zealanders remember Gallipoli as when we became a nation. The First World War had an unparalleled effect on New Zealand as a whole; for a country of one million at the time, over 100,000 young men fought for the Allies, and over 18,000 young men lost their lives over these four years. Throughout the course of the war, New Zealand, small though we were, distinguished herself. The New Zealand Army served in the Pacific, at Gallipoli, the Sinai, Palestine, and the Western Front, as well as at sea and in the air. War did not leave Grammar untouched. By 1918, 1500 Grammar masters, and Old Boys had signed up to serve. By 1918, 289 families lost a father, brother or a son. When I was researching for this speech, I discovered just how significant Grammar was to the serving Old Boys. I came across a book that told the story of Old Boy Ned Jack, a machine gunner who served at Gallipoli. It was said that Ned was “a Grammar boy, and proud as a Lion”. His Commanding Officer, Captain Wallingford described him as “the best gunner I had ever seen”. Ned Jack refused any promotion. When offered the position, he responded to his captain “I get the praise, but really it belongs to my men.” The most famous Grammar soldier fighting at Gallipoli was Corporal Cyril Bassett, the school’s first receiver of the Victoria Cross. Corporal Bassett, whose picture hangs on the walls of this hall, was a Mount Eden local, and left Grammar in 1905. Although he had a humble upbringing, Bassett’s actions on the infamous Chunuk Bair ridge, were nothing less than extraordinary. It has been said that, “no Victoria Cross on the Peninsula was more consistently earned than Corporal Bassett’s. It was not for one brilliant act of bravery, but for a full week of ceaseless devotion.” Between the 6th and 9th of August 1915, Bassett was charged with laying and maintaining crucial communications between the command on the beachhead and the assault. For three days, Bassett laid wires and ran up and down the ridge repairing these wires when shells destroyed them. Bassett did this in near pitch-black night, under the rain of almost ceaseless shell and machine gun fire. Eventually, the Ottomans, who held the high ground and overwhelming outnumbered the ANZACs, pushed them off the ridge. Although Chunuk Bair was one of the bloodiest events in the Gallipoli Campaign, Bassett’s selfless actions under these conditions have been regarded for 100 years. 110 years ago, he too was a Grammar Boy, equally unaware of the path that lay ahead. To quote the 1917 Chronicle, written by J.L. Brady of Form 6A “Gallipoli has a peculiar claim on our sympathies.” 98 years after this editorial was written, that “peculiar claim” Brady speaks of has remained steadfast. ANZAC day is a central part of New Zealand’s culture and heritage. If I were to look back to a particular event in New Zealand’s history that gave us our identity and created our nationhood, it would be the Gallipoli Campaign. These Grammar men who served in this momentous occasion, and those who have ennobled themselves in other conflicts since are the finest and most venerable Old Boys Grammar has ever had. Brady ends the chronicle with, “We take a great pride in such men. We feel that it is no mean privilege to be members of a School with Old Boys of this type. It remains for us to profit by their example – in fact, it is “up to us.” We will remember them. .

Load more