It is now a century and a decade since the first Anzacs climbed into their boats and rowed into history.

The years come and go, and still we come together to honour them and all who have followed.

As we gather around cenotaphs or watch the parades, we reflect on all who have served in our name and all who serve now.

We contemplate the debt we owe them – those who finally came home, their hearts reshaped by all they had seen, and those who tragically never did.

Anzac Day asks us to stand against the erosion of time.

So each year, we renew our vow to keep the flame of memory burning so brightly that its glow touches the next generation and the generation after that.

We try to keep hearing their voices, picturing their faces, imaging streets still ringing with their footsteps and their laughter before war took them away.

And we think of all they stood against and all they endured – yet somehow held on to what it means to be Australian.

Even in war’s darkness, our soldiers, sailors and aviators have kept aglow the light of mateship, humour, compassion and fairness. That, in itself, is an extraordinary victory.

Today, as we gather in our towns and cities, we will give thanks that in war, Australians have given us all the gift of a brighter dawn.

And together we will say one of the simplest but most powerful of sentences we have: Lest we forget.