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''Our own WG Brennan was killed in action there and he along 136 men are on the cenotaph and we remember and honour them today''-

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''They were ordinary men who did extraordinary things. They will always be in our mind.''''We will never forget them''-

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Record crowds attended the day service and guest speaker Brigadier C.E. Stephens AM questioned the common perception that Australia was fighting someone else's war, saying it was unlikely Australia would have remained a free country if Britain was defeated.-

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"We were fighting for our own existence," he said.-

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"The peace, prosperity and liberty we enjoy did not come by chance."-

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He spoke about how, despite Australia's defeat at Gallipoli,the 25th had become Australia's own Independence Day.-

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"The Turks chose a different day and a different battle, the English hardly acknowledge it at all. how has this day evolved to become a day where we mark all our wars?"-

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"I tend to agree with those that say this day is more significant than January 26 or Federation Day in 1901.-

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"It has become everybody's day," he said.-

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"It was the first time we fought for Australia for the sort of world and country we wanted it to be."-

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He said that for the generations to come he hoped they remembered the many lives lost when they looked at the memorials that can be found in each country town and took a minute to reflect each year.-

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"Sometimes we must be prepared to fight for it and put our nation above ourselves.-

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"They set us the highest example."-

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Chris Stephens served as an armoured personnel carrier troop leader in South Vietnam, as an ADC to the then Governor General Sir John Kerr, as an Observer with the United Nations in the Middle East, instructing at the Army Staff College, commanding the 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (QMI) and served in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.-

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He retired from public service in 2010 and settled in Canberra.-

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Wellington sub branch vice president Roy Holmes said the men who went into battle showed great courage, determination, mateship.-

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''They set the standard for generations to follow''-

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''That day and what followed brought people together forever''