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ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day is Australia's most important national holiday. It stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

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It marks the anniversaryof the first major military action fought on the GallipoliPeninsula by Australianand New Zealand forcesduring the First WorldWar.

In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expeditionthat set out to capturethe Gallipoli peninsulato open the way to theBlack Sea for theallied navies.

They landed atGallipoli on 25 April,meeting fierceresistance from the Turkishdefenders.

The campaign dragged on for eightmonths.At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuatedafter both sideshad suffered heavycasualties andendured greathardships.

Over 8,000 AustralianSoldiers were killed.News of the landing atGallipoli made aprofound impact onAustralians at homeand 25 April quicklybecame the day onwhich Australiansremembered thesacrifice of those whohad died in war.

Early commemorationsMarches were heldall over Australia in 1916.Wounded soldiersfrom Gallipoli took part in theSydney March inconvoys of cars,attended bynurses.

The date 25 April,was officiallynamed ANZAC Day in 1916 and was marked by a widevariety ofceremonies andservices in Australia.

The first year inwhich all Australian statesobserved someform of publicholiday togetheron ANZAC Day was 1927.

By the mid-1930s all the rituals we todayassociate with the day like dawn vigils,marches, memorialservices, and reunionswere firmly established as part of the ANZAC Day culture.

What does it mean?

Australians recognise25 April as an occasion of national commemoration.Commemorative servicesare held at dawn – the timeof the original landing –across the nation.

Dawn ServiceThe first official Dawn Service was held at the SydneyCenotaph in 1927.Dawn services wereoriginally verysimple and followedthe “stand-to”operational armyroutine.

The Anzac Day Service

A typical ANZAC Day servicecontains thefollowing features:introduction, hymn,prayer, laying ofwreaths, a period ofsilence, and thenational anthem.

All over Australia on ANZAC Daywreaths/sheaths of flowers are placed on memorialmonuments to commemoratewar veterans.

Poppies adorn thepanels of theMemorial'sRoll of Honour. Theflowers are insertedin the plaque as asmall personal tributeto the memory ofany one of thethousands ofindividualscommemorated there.

The Roll of Honour in Camberra