Anzac Day: Sir John Monash Centre a memorial for all who have served

The Sir John Monash Centre in Villers-Bretonneux is designed to commemorate all Australians who have served their nation.

An artist’s impression of the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux.

The Sir John Monash Centre in the French village of Villers-Bretonneux, which Diggers liberated after fierce fighting with Germans in World War I, is designed to commemorate not only those who died 100 years ago but all Australians who have served their nation.

In opening the centre in the village that has honoured the Australian liberation of their people for a century, Malcolm Turnbull declared: “We must never forget the lives that are honoured here at Villers-Bretonneux. This new centre expresses our gratitude for all our men and women who fought — and continue to fight — for our values and our interests.”

The Prime Minister was delivering a speech prepared for the dedication of the visitors centre commemorating all the battles of World War I.

“We must never forget the 11,000 fallen Australians whose bodies were never recovered — their names etched here on the Australian National Memorial. Brothers, husbands, fathers, sons. We must stretch our minds to imagine what it was like for the 320,000 Australians who served overseas in WWI. All volunteers. Every one of them. From a population of less than five  million.”

Surrounded by thousands of graves and memorials for those who were never found or identified on the killing fields of France, Mr Turnbull said of the 60,000 who never made it home: “You see their names on the stone memorials in almost every Australian country town and you can count the brothers and the fathers and sons.

“And the same number again who died before their time from the poison gas and the illness and the trauma known as shell shock before we called it PTSD. There was barely a household in Australia that was not deeply and personally affected.

“We must remember all of this — especially us, our nation’s leaders — reminding us why we always strive to resolve conflict by peaceful means.

“And when we do put our troops in harm’s way, to do so with the resources, the wisdom and the considered strategy that best ensures their success and safe return. And in the midst of the stone and steel and glass of this serene monument, we know that the best way to honour the Diggers of 1918 is to support the servicemen and women, the veterans and the families of today.”

After opening the centre, Mr Turnbull will attend the dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux.