The Governor-General's 2025 Anzac Day address
This address was broadcast on the ABC on Anzac Day 2025
For Anzac Day this year, I have joined the thousands of Australians and New Zealanders gathered at Anzac Cove to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.
There, I will honour the Anzacs, and remember the ultimate sacrifice of those who were left behind.
And, as a symbol of the enduring bond between Australia and the sacred soil of Gallipoli, the wreaths that I lay there will be woven through with this rosemary, which is taken from the Bravery Garden at Government House in Canberra. A garden inspired by the visit of my predecessor, Sir William Deane, to Gallipoli.
Today, in Australia, as dawn broke all across the country …
… over the dome of the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Memory in Canberra …
… above Anzac Grove at Gundagai, the birthplace of our most recent Victoria Cross recipient, the late Private Richard Norden …
… over the powerful HMAS Sydney II memorial at Geraldton …
… and in cities and towns on the coast and in the bush across the nation…
… Australians, in all their rich diversity, have commemorated together – because of their own service or the service of family and friends, or simply through a sense of deep gratitude for sacrifices past, and the dedicated work of our modern Australian Defence Force.
In my childhood, Anzac Day was a time of early wakings, and dark, chilly starts for Dawn Services.
Of quiet watching as a family, as my father marched with the Royal Australian Corps of Signals.
In 2025, in the children and young people who reflect in the dawn light, lay wreaths with respect, and march in honour, we can see this day of commemoration as an enduring experience of remembrance and renewal.
In the words of one young Australian,
‘… commemoration can inspire Australia’s potential to be brave and extraordinary …’
In Albany last year, looking out from the National Anzac Centre to King George Sound, where the first ships destined for the Middle East, Anzac Cove and the trenches of Gallipoli massed, I reflected on the power of that potential.
I am recording this message in Townsville, where I acknowledge the traditional owners, the Bindal and Wulgurukaba people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present.
And, like Governors-General before me, I honour the Indigenous Australians who have served and sacrificed in defence of Australia.
Here at Townsville’s Cenotaph on Anzac Day, the ceremonies will speak of war waged on distant shores …
… but they will remember, also, when the Second World War came to Townsville.
When ships filled the harbour and concrete forts gazed out over the ocean …
… airstrips scarred the bush and radar stations stood sentinel on the hills around town …
… and, in July 1942, when three raids by Japanese military flying boats brought the terror of aerial bombardment to the people of the region.
They will celebrate the courage of the Australian personnel who fought then and in conflicts since, and who served to uphold peace, preserve the rule of law and defend our border on land, at sea, and in the sky …
… and honour the threads of this history, which endure in today’s ADF – a modern force, upholding the greatest of Australian values, continuing the legacy of service of generations past, and demonstrating the best of our nation …
… their dedication to duty and the defence of Australia …
… and their remarkable history of international peacekeeping, the operations in which they have served every year from 1947 until today …
On my first Anzac Day as your Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, it is a privilege, to be part of the mosaic of commemoration unfolding across Australia and on sacred ground overseas …
… to have reflected with love and longing on the fallen …
… to have paid tribute to our veterans, and their families – who travelled the path of service alongside them ...
… and to honour our service women and men of Australia as they uphold the mighty cause of peace …
On behalf of all Australians, I will remember.
Lest we forget.