Today, we gather to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day.

 

A day that brought peace to a world torn by conflict and marked the end of the most direct threat ever faced by the Australian people. After six long years of war, Japan surrendered, and the guns finally fell silent.

 

For Australia, the war in the Pacific was not just a distant campaign. It came to our shores.

 

We remember the bombing of Darwin – the largest single attack ever mounted on Australia – and the submarine attack in Sydney Harbour, which brought the reality of war into our cities and our homes.

 

We remember the fall of Singapore in February 1942, once thought to be an impregnable British fortress. With much of our Army fighting with the British in Europe and North Africa, Australia was exposed. Great Britain was overextended, unable to offer the defence we needed.

 

In our hour of need, Australia looked to the United States, a decisive shift in our foreign policy that would shape our future. That alliance, forged in wartime necessity, remains a cornerstone of our national security to this day.

 

In those early days of 1942, fear was real. A full-scale Japanese invasion was not just imagined, it was planned for. Australians dug trenches, volunteered for civil defence, and braced for the worst.

 

But over the course of the war, our servicemen and women stood firm.

 

William Frederick McEwan was one of them. William was born in Camden and lived his life as a salesman in Sydney. He had already served as a young man in the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War.

 

When he returned, he married Ellen and from 1935 he oversaw the Burns Philp Grocery department in Rabaul. Soon after the onset of war in the Pacific, he re-enlisted in the Australian Army serving in the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles.

 

Sargeant McEwan stood as one of our first lines of defence, defending the northern flank at Rabaul, engaging Japanese forces as they landed. But vastly outnumbered, and outgunned, the Australians were forced to withdraw and retreated through the jungle with little to no supplies.  

 

William was captured at Taliligap and became a Prisoner of War. As a prisoner, he assisted in the hospital and was known by his fellow PoWs for “fussing about in his usual energetic manner”.

 

Tragically, William never returned home to Ellen. On July 1, 1942, he, along with nearly one-thousand civilians and Prisoners of War were aboard the Japanese merchant ship, Montevideo Maru, when it was torpedoed and sunk.

 

His final resting place known only to God.

 

Nearly one million Australians, one in seven of our population at the time, served in the war effort – 39,000 making the ultimate sacrifice. Of those, some 17,000 lost their lives fighting against Imperial Japan. 

 

A campaign in which Australian troops fought from Singapore to Papua New Guinea, Borneo to the Philippines. Victory was far from assured, even in the final days of the war, Australians were still in the fight. Our troops were preparing to invade Japan, had surrender not come. And our soldiers were still engaged in Borneo in the days following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Then, on August 15, 1945: Victory in the Pacific. Across Australia, church bells rang, people poured into the streets, and strangers embraced.  For many, it was a day of joy and relief. For others, it was a day marked by grief and remembrance. But for all Australians, it became a turning point in our national story.

 

Victory in the Pacific was not just a military triumph. It was a national achievement. It proved that even as a small nation, we could play a pivotal role on the world stage.

 

Australia did not choose this conflict. But when the threat came to our shores, we met it with determination and resolve. We stood with our allies, and we did so not out of obligation, but out of conviction.

 

Today, we reflect on the legacy of those who served in the Pacific and recommit to the values they defended.

 

To the veterans of the Pacific campaign still with us – thank you. Your service remains a lasting part of our national story.

 

To the families of those who never returned, we honour their sacrifice and hold their memory close.

 

I urge all Australians today to carry forward the torch of memory.

 

Stand firm for the freedoms secured by the courage of others.

 

Eighty years ago, Australians stood firm.

 

Let us live worthy of their sacrifice.

 

Lest we forget.

 

ENDS.