Gunnedah's annual "diggers dinner" was well-attended on Anzac Day following the mid-morning march and service.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Former prime minister John Anderson was the guest speaker and said his father, a war veteran, "passed on to me a deep abhorrence of war" and he "profoundly" believes the Chinese proverb "if you want peace, prepare for war".
Mr Anderson said while it was "wonderful to see that so many young Australians ... turn out in ever greater numbers on Anzac Day", Australia is now "confronted by enemies both within and without and our future cannot be taken for granted".
"It seems our culture is at war with itself," he said.
"Many of those who educate our young seem determined to ensure that they are not clearly instructed in their own history, and all too often, our children are in fact taught that somehow we are an oppressive and even inferior society, unworthy of admiration."
Mr Anderson said we are "asleep at the wheel", lacking "urgency and realism" in defending our nation.
"We rightly revere today those who secured our freedoms and those who paid such a terrible price to defend them in order that we might live freely," he said.
"But the question must be asked as to whether our children and grandchildren will similarly revere us, or end up cursing us for lacking our forbear's noble commitment to our freedom."
