WE SHALL NEVER FORGET....

This past week re celebrated Remembrance Day, where we took time out to remember all those who have fought for us and sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have in this country today.
We did displays for the Library....

Our main library  display..

Smaller display

At school, the Library, took on the Read 2 Remember, where we had a special parade and this was the address  given to the students on Remembrance Day.  It was very moving, and for this reason I want to record it here.   We must never forget...   They are not missing, They are here.....

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He gave a wonderful speech which I am going to type in here, so that I don't forget...
It is really important that our young folk today realize the great sacrifice that thousands of young Australians have made so that we can live in this land of freedom

We will never forget....

This was his Speech....

This moment, this hour, this day, we dedicate to Australia's  Fallen.

Young Australians, whose passing into the silent land, we will honor by ourselves becoming silent:

• an echo of the eerie stillness which becalmed their battlefields on this day so long ago
•  an echo  of the homes made silent when they did not return.

The two minutes silence we will observe today is a tradition born in a time when the vast majority of Australians could pause and dwell upon a name or a face or some small precious memory of loved ones.  In years past, ceremonies such as today's overwhelmingly reflected personal loss - the shared silence added to other more private times when fathers, husbands, sons and friends were missed and mourned.

It is different now,
Now, thankfully, a great many Australians, have no personal experience of war, no way of knowing the anguish of enforced separation, or the greater grief of separations made permanent. 

And for that reason amongst others, it is time to renew our pledge.

Not the pledge made by past generations to remember a loved one lost to war but a promise to remember all who have been lost to war and to give thanks for their valiant service in defense of our freedom and to  demonstrate the value we place in those freedoms so selflessly forged.  Our independent nationhood which gives us freedom to think, to move, to speak, to worship, to raise a family and to educate our children.

Where we are encouraged to be responsible and where the individual is paramount and where the family unit is the corner stone of our nation. 

Where our patriotism is quiet but deep and where we stand a united people irrespective of whether Australia is the nation of our birth or of our choice.

Where our lifestyle is defined by abundance of light and space and which is the envy of the world.
Where we regard the future as ours, eager to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

That national declaration, which calls for the observance of one minute's silence, will encourage remembrance of the sacrifice of those who died or otherwise suffered in Australia's cause in wars and conflicts throughout the world. 

I hope that in other schools, in cities and in the bush, young Australians will stop, just for a moment, to consider what was lost to us... And to recognize what was granted to us by the exercise of such moral courage.

The numbers are truly staggering in their enormity - over 100,000 Australian soldiers, sailors, airmen, and servicewoman remain where they died, on every continent and in every ocean of the world. 

There's an ancient saying: "Heroes have the whole world for their tomb and in lands far from their own."  Many a proud Australian Soul can claim their sacred tomb. 

But numbers alone can not adequately chronicle this nation's sacrifice.  For each of the fallen had a family and friends whose lives were enriched by their love and diminished by their loss.  Each added to the life of the city, suburb or country town.  Each worked before enlistment, as a teacher, a farmer, a nurse, a doctor, a clerk, or one of countless other occupations which add to the prosperity and the richness of our nation.

And yet, although denied the full span of human life, none can doubt their achievements and sacrifices to our great nation.

There were Australians whose lives were lived in deeds, not years, in sacrifice, not heartbeats but in service to freedom.

These men and women, these strangers from another time, have given us a legacy from the past on which to build a future.

Gifts bestowed to us of determination, of compassion, and self confidence, but most of all, a sense of pride. 

A spirit born on the cliffs of Gallipoli, then matured in the mud of the Western Front, in jungles and in deserts, and in desperate struggles on the seas and in the skies.  A spirit which draws all Australians together in time of need. 

They gained for us the friendship of peace loving people around the world.  Proof of these bonds lies in the attendance today of the Buglers of Menin Gate in France. 

Volunteers from the brace city of Ieper, who  since 1928 have nightly paid tribute to over 6,000 of Australia's sons who died in the defense of Belgium, Australians who now lie within its soil but without known graves.

Their story, the legacy of all Australians who have died or suffered in war and armed conflict, has been passed to each one of us.  It is the birthright of every child born into Australia. 

By today's act of remembrance, we cherish and nurture this possession, their gift.  We prove an understanding both of its value and its cost.  We build a bridge across time.

Exactly 75 years ago, at another ceremony at a place far from here, the countrymen of our honored guests, the Buglers of Menin Gate, gathered to unveil their magnificent Memorial to those missing in action, believed killed.

Field Marshal Plumer, in declaring it opened. spoke words which echo through the decades:  "He is not missing.  He is here."

Today by recognizing both what has bee lost to us and what has been gained, by renewing our pledge to remember, we declare, of all our fallen:  "They are not missing.  They are here".