On Anzac Day, we will remember them

"The scene that lay before us shall never die in my memory," he wrote in his diary.

Hubert was not one of the 8141 Australians who died during the Gallipoli operation. He survived and returned home to Australia where he married, made a business, raised a family and became a member of parliament and minister of the Crown.

You may have heard of him, or his son former Deputy Prime Minister Doug Anthony, or indeed his grandson former minister Larry Anthony.

But at this time of year, it is not Hubert the politician I remember, but Hubert the soldier. A soldier who diligently kept a diary and wrote home to his mother with a request the correspondence be kept.

His mother honoured those wishes but it was not until many years after his death in 1957 they were found by Doug in an old school case tied closed by a leather strap. Doug donated the original diaries to the Army Museum at Victoria Barracks in Sydney.

Through his correspondence we learn that, not only was Hubert there to witness the opening salvos at Anzac Cove, he was also one of roughly 2000 Australian troops to commemorate the first Anzac service in England in 1916 having been medically evacuated with tonsillitis and trench fever.

"The [Westminster] abbey was filled with our soldiers - one wondered that there were so many in England available - between two and three thousand there were I should say. Lord Kitchener was there and several cabinet ministers. I think it was the most impressive service I have ever attended," he wrote in a letter home.

After the service, attended by King George V and Queen Mary, the Australian troops marched through London to a reception hosted by the Australian government and attended by Prime Minister Billy Hughes.

That was the first Anzac Day march and the start of a tradition that is held every year at cenotaphs across Australia.

Ironically, this first Anzac march, and those held in Australia for the remaining years of World War I, were used as a recruitment drive to enlist more volunteers to aid in the ongoing war effort.

Now it is a day for solemn reflection to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in war, laying down their lives to defend our values. It is also a day to remember those who put their hand up to serve in our defence and emergency services in both peacekeeping operations and conflict.

Today, the term Anzac conjures feelings of camaraderie and loyalty reflecting Australian values of mateship, compassion, and empathy.

As I lay my wreath this Anzac Day in Deniliquin, I am grateful for the sacrifices made to protect our freedoms and democracy. Lest we forget.