Gallipoli Speech
Good morning Brisbane city council committee. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present to you my chosen text for the opening of the WARANA festival. The text I have chosen for the opening is the famous Australian movie ‘Gallipoli’ directed by Peter Weir. With the planned reintroduction of the WARANA festival highlighting the theme of Australian identity I believe there is no better film that describes this than Gallipoli. The film portrays the Australian values of mateship, courage and the desire to win through the actions of the ANZACS during the Gallipoli campaign.
The value that most Australians identify with and that for which we are most well know for is the one of mateship. Mateship means standing together, lending a helping hand, putting others before yourself, never leaving your mate behind. The actions of the ANZACS at Gallipoli demonstrated this value more strongly than any other event in Australian history. The film Gallipoli explores this theme through the relationship that develops between the two main characters Archy and Frank. A real sense of the true meaning of mateship is shown through the interaction of these two characters along with the rest of the cast. Peter Weir demonstrates the bonds of mateship and the lengths that ANZACS were prepared to go to protect their fellow soldiers in his final heart breaking scene, where Archy futilely crosses the battle field knowing that he has no hope of success but is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect his mates.
Australians have an embedded sense of courage in our values and beliefs. In one of the dramatic scenes of Gallipoli where the boats are arriving at ANZAC cove the viewer feels an eerie sensation at the impending disaster. Tiny boats, packed full of terrified men are greeted by imposing cliff faces with Turkish troops safely positioned right at the very top leaving the ANZACS open to slaughter. Even though the ANZACS were outnumbered,...