Australia — 110 YEARS OF SERVING OUR NATION

The Aus­tralian Army cel­e­brates its 110th birth­day today, start­ing birth­day activ­i­ties with an ear­ly morn­ing com­mem­o­ra­tive ser­vice at the Pool of Remem­brance in the Aus­tralian War Memo­r­i­al, Can­ber­ra.
The ser­vice was fol­lowed by a birth­day break­fast, the cut­ting of Army’s birth­day cake and the release of a com­mem­o­ra­tive coin, Army’s 110th Anniver­sary Medal­lion, designed by Army Reservist Pri­vate Joel Shad­dock.

In address­ing the Can­ber­ra based Army per­son­nel and their fam­i­lies, the Chief of Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Gille­spie, recog­nised that the sol­diers and their fam­i­lies are what make the Army work, as both a mil­i­tary force and as a respect­ed nation­al institution. 

Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Gille­spie also expressed his sin­cere thanks to the Aus­tralian com­mu­ni­ty and its con­tin­u­ing sup­port of the Army’s oper­a­tions at home and abroad. 

“We tru­ly appre­ci­ate the won­der­ful sup­port the Aus­tralian com­mu­ni­ty affords to our Army. Our peo­ple are deployed on oper­a­tions in Aus­tralia and over­seas, includ­ing Afghanistan, the Mid­dle East, East Tim­or and the Solomon Islands.,” Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Gille­spie said. 

Brigades around Aus­tralia will also hold com­mu­ni­ty birth­day events. Can­ber­ra based activ­i­ties, which include the launch of two mil­i­tary his­to­ry books, will cul­mi­nate with a pub­lic con­cert, ‘Music on the Lawns’, to be held at the Aus­tralian War Memorial’s West­ern Court­yard at 6.30pm on Fri­day, 4 March 2011. The Roy­al Mil­i­tary Col­lege Band will also fea­ture a spe­cial guest, coun­try music leg­end Lee Kernaghan. 

Media Note:
The Chief of Army’s speech is avail­able at: 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter