Anthony Albanese attends dawn service
Anthony Albanese has reflected on the suffering and sacrifice of Australian troops at the site of one of the fiercest battles fought during the Second World War.
After spending two days traversing the Kokoda Track, the Prime Minister joined his Papua New Guinean counterpart James Marape to honour the lives of fallen soldiers during an Anzac Day dawn service at the Isurava memorial.
The village of Isurava was the site of one of several crucial battles fought by Australian and US troops during their retreat along the Kokoda Trail between July and November 1942.
Addressing a close crowd gathered in the morning light, Mr Albanese paid tribute to the “perseverance and strength”of soldiers who fought and died for the nation during the bloody campaign.
“We gather today on ground made hallow by Australian sacrifice,” Mr Albanese said.
“Where we now have the privilege of joining together in peace and liberty, Australian soldiers fought to hold back a relentless enemy.
“Six-hundred-and-twenty-five Australians were killed on the Kokoda Track. Of those, 99 fell in the Battle of Isurava and 111 more were wounded. And we remember and honour them this morning.”
The Kokoda campaign, fought between July and November 1942, was part of Japan’s attempt to capture Port Moresby when it was an Australian territory.
Papuan Infantry Battalion soldiers fought alongside Australians during the battles, while thousands of civilians provided crucial support, delivering supplies, building bases and evacuating the sick and wounded.
Mr Albanese pointed to the unadorned strength of the Australian spirit and honoured the “powerful” bond the nation forged with the people of Papua New Guinea during the conflict.
“We thank every one of them who helped Australians in the face of retribution and sometimes unfathomable cruelty,” Mr Albanese said.
“The villagers who risked their own lives to feed and guide and shelter Australians in desperate need. The stretcher bearers whose courage was matched only by their kindness.
“They were angels walking tall through the hell of war.”
Mr Albanese laid wreaths with Mr Marape to symbolise the bond between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
He acknowledged the hundreds of Anzac Day services held across Australia, which he commended as a “collective act of remembrance, reflection, and gratitude” for those who enlist and serve.
“We gather each Anzac Day because how brightly the eternal flame of memory burns depends on how carefully we tend it,” Mr Albanese said.
“We come in gratitude. We come in sorrow. A pilgrimage of memory as we keep the long vigil of a grateful nation.
“We hold to the solemn promise our countries made to the fallen all those years ago: We will remember them.”
Mr Albanese will fly back to Australia on Thursday to attend an Anzac Day event in Townsville.
