Anzac Day

Gallipoli

ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On 25 April 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire, part of an Allied expedition to open the Dardanelles to the Allied navies. What was planned as a bold strike became a stalemate that dragged on for eight months; the Allied forces were evacuated at the end of 1915, and more than 8,000 Australian soldiers had died. The campaign failed in its military objectives, but the “Anzac legend” became an important part of the identity of both nations.

The first commemorations were held on 25 April 1916, including a march of more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops through London. In 1927 every Australian state observed some form of public holiday for the first time, and by the mid-1930s the rituals still associated with the day — dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions and two-up games — were firmly established. The day now remembers Australians who died in all the wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations the country has taken part in. It is also a public holiday in New Zealand.

From dawn to afternoon

The dawn service is often traced to the army’s “stand-to”: soldiers were woken in the dark so that they were alert at first light, a favoured time for attack. After the First World War returned soldiers sought the comradeship of those quiet moments, and dawn vigils became the basis of commemoration. In the early services a lone bugler played the Last Post, followed by two minutes of silence and the Reveille; many now also include hymns, readings, wreaths, the national anthems and the fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon’s “For the Fallen”, the Ode of Remembrance.

Later in the day, veterans, serving members of the Defence Force, cadets, Scouts and Guides march through the state capitals and many smaller towns, and the marches are televised live. In Canberra the National Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial begins at 10.30 am. Afterwards veterans meet in pubs and RSL clubs, often over two-up, a gambling game popular with the Anzac soldiers — in most states it is legal only on Anzac Day. Since 1995 the Australian rules football clubs Collingwood and Essendon have played an Anzac Day match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.