24 April 2014

Commemorating 99th ANZAC Day in Papua New Guinea

Australians and Papua New Guineans will gather at war memorials around Papua New Guinea tomorrow to commemorate Anzac Day.

Each year on 25 April, Australians gather to remember the servicemen and women who have served their nation in times of war, in conflicts or peacekeeping operations.

The Returned and Services League of Australia (Port Moresby Sub Branch) will hold a dawn service at Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby on Friday starting at 4.30am and welcomes everyone to join in the ceremony.

Services will also be held in Alotau, Kokopo, Rabaul, Isurava, Lae, Kimbe, Wewak, Kavieng, Bulolo and Manus.

“On 25 April 1915, 99 years ago, thousands of Australians landed on the shores of Gallipoli beginning a hard-fought campaign that lasted eight months,” Australia’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ms Deborah Stokes, said.

“Anzac Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day on which we remember all service men and women who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of Anzac, with its human qualities of courage, mate ship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance today.”

Ms Stokes said Anzac day is an important symbol of the close and enduring links that bind Australia and Papua New Guinea.

“Australia will never forget the service and sacrifice of the brave Papua New Guineans. In these bloody and arduous campaigns, together we faced the same enemy and endured the same hardships. Many Australians owed their lives to the selfless courage of Papua New Guineans on the Kokoda Track, in Milne Bay, Buna, Gona and Bougainville, to name only a few places that have now become part of the history Australia shares with Papua New Guinea,” Ms Stokes said.

This year will mark 100 years from the beginning of Australia’s involvement in World War One. Australia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the departure of the first convoy of ships that carried the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force to the First World War. The convoy departed from Albany in Western Australia on the morning of 1 November 1914.

In Papua New Guinea this September, Australia will commemorate one of its first actions of the war. On 11 September 1914, an Australian force seized the German wireless station at Bitapaka near Rabaul. In the following months Australian vessels and troops were dispatched to conduct operations on the New Guinea mainland, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, the Western Islands and Bougainville.

Members of the public can take part in sharing the Anzac Spirit on the Anzac Centenary Facebook page. Share your photos, stories and experiences of Anzac Day with your family friends and community. For information about Anzac Day, including historical information and education resources visit www.dva.gov.au/anzac