Anzac Day is one of the most significant, solemn and sacred days on our national calendar.
A day when we honour all Australians who have served, suffered and sacrificed in wars and military operations on behalf of our nation.
And this Anzac Day, we will especially feel the weight of history.
2025 marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War.
That global conflagration engulfed almost every continent and almost every country.
Barely a city or town, a suburb or street, a community or citizen was unscathed in some way by the catastrophe of that all-encompassing conflict.
At the outbreak of war, Prime Minister Robert Menzies said that Australia was part of “a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win.”
For six years, free peoples endured the darkest of hours – and fought and fell in the field of battle – to defeat the German war machine and the forces of Imperial Japan.
Not only did they save the world from the tyranny of totalitarianism.
The Allies’ victory ended the evil of the Nazi regime – the extent of which was only fully exposed with the discovery of death camps and the horrors of the Holocaust.
Victory in Europe came on the 8th of May 1945.
Victory in the Pacific, of course, came 99 days later – on the 15th of August 1945.
Two men among so many who made those victories possible were Australians John Holmes and Thomas Derrick.
John was born in Brisbane.
Prior to enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force, he worked as a wool classer.
In 1943, John arrived in England – one of many Australian pilots to join Bomber Command.
At the controls of a Lancaster bomber, John flew missions to take-out strategic German targets to hasten the war’s end.
Such was John’s sense of service, he chose to do a second tour of duty – despite knowing that every mission was a dance with death.
On the 5th of March 1945, John’s crew were part of a squadron undertaking a night raid on an oil refinery in the German city of Chemnitz.
It was John’s 44th straight mission.
After the Lancaster was hit by enemy fire and with its engines ablaze, John courageously attempted to save his stricken aircraft.
But with a forced landing, the bomber’s payload exploded, killing the crew of eight.
Squadron Leader Holmes was just 23 years old.
He was one of more than 4,000 Australians killed serving in Bomber Command who helped bring about Victory in Europe.
A world away, Thomas Derrick was preparing for his next deployment.
The South Australian was a seasoned and decorated soldier.
He’d been a ‘Rat of Tobruk’.
He’d displayed gallantry in running through a barrage of grenades in Egypt.
And he’d received the Victoria Cross for clearing ten Japanese machine-gun posts in Papua New Guinea.
Tom had come a long way from the young man who struggled through the Depression doing just odd jobs.
Having recently been commissioned an officer, Tom rejoined his old battalion.
On the 1st of May 1945, he landed at Tarakan – part of the Australian-led campaign to liberate Borneo from Imperial Japanese forces.
Twenty-two days after the landing, Tom and his platoon were attacking an enemy position on a hill.
After a burst of machine-gun fire, Tom sat up to check on his men.
As he did, he was hit by a second burst.
Lieutenant Derrick – one of our finest soldiers – died of his wounds the following day – the 24th of May 1945.
He was among some 600 Australians killed in the Borneo campaign who helped bring about Victory in the Pacific.
In this year marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, we particularly express our gratitude to the one million Australians who served and served with great honour.
We honour the 39,000 Australians who gave their lives.
They experienced the horror of war to defeat tyranny and restore peace.
As the custodians of that peace, it’s our duty to deter tyranny and prevent catastrophic war.
In that duty, may we never waver in effort, energy and endeavour – spurred on by the souls we commemorate on Anzac Day.
Lest we forget.
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View the Opposition Leader’s video message here.