Page 2686 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 October 1992
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I have witnessed the pledge of each one to protect and defend those freedoms we all cherish, even above life itself.
I am carried with pride in ceremonies and processions.
I have draped the caskets of your National heroes, carried to their last resting place the caskets of Kings and Queens, eminent statesmen, Generals, Admirals, humble Privates and the Unknown Soldier. Wherever free men gather, wherever there is justice, faith, hope, charity and truth, there too am I.
At the tender age of 14 years, I received my Baptism of Fire in World War I. I flew proudly in those early days as we heard the call to do battle alongside those of our own kin. I was carried up the steep hills of Gallipoli and I was there with the men in the trenches - I watched Simpson bring out the wounded on his doughty little donkey ... I breathed the dust of the deserts and rode in glory with the Lighthorse Brigade. I saw our finest sons fall and lie still, in death they had given their last full measure of devotion.
The War was over for them forever, but I kept my lonely vigil over their graves and stayed to watch the flowers grow, amid the crosses, row upon row, in Flanders Fields. Oh, young Australia, I was there with your fathers whom I longed to comfort - look at me again ... lest you forget.
You know me by my distinctive emblems - the Union Jack is the tie that binds us to your ancestors and rich heritage down through the centuries. The upright red cross on a white field is the Cross of St George, patron saint of England. This cross was there when King John set his Royal Seal on Magna Carta in 1215. And it was there when Simon de Montford brought together the very first Parliament in 1265, making England truly the "Mother of Parliaments". I proudly wear 2 other crosses - the white diagonal cross on a blue field is the Cross of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross on a white field is the Cross of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.
These 3 crosses, which perhaps you scarcely understand, unite our heritage in this wonderful land and forge our future in an unseparable bond. The blazing Southern Cross marks our way ahead, while the seven pointed Federation Star joins our states and territories in a single, yet united Commonwealth, all this, set in a field of blue, the blue of our southern skies and of the endless ocean washing our golden sandy beaches and coral shores. We are the heirs to a culture, rich and diverse, we are the offspring child of a great Empire. We have a glorious tomorrow, we are one. Lest you forget!
I have been to many places. I have seen many things.
With our explorers I crossed the icy wastes of Antarctica, and climbed the heights of Mount Everest.
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