The price of Liberty

At 11.00 am on 11 November 1918 the guns fell silent as hostilities ceased on the Western Front, ending four years of death and destruction. Earlier that day, at 5.00 am, the Germans signed an armistice in a railway carriage at Compiègne. In the following year the Treaty of Versailles made the cease-fire permanent.

People celebrated across the world. Others reflected with great sadness the extraordinary losses and suffering from many nations. More than 60,000 Australians had been killed. More than 45,000 died on the Western Front in France and Belgium and over 8,000 on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Over 416,000 Australians volunteered for service in World War I, of which 324,000 served overseas.

In October 1997, the Governor-General issued a proclamation declaring 11 November as Remembrance Day and urging Australians to observe one minutes silence at 11.00 am on Remembrance Day each year to remember the sacrifice of those who died or otherwise suffered in Australias cause in wars and war-like conflicts.

They gave us their lives, we can give them 60 seconds.

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