ANZAC SEREMONIES

Beginnings of the Memorial Day

ANZAC Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym (ANZAC) stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers quickly became known as ANZACs themselves. The pride they took in that name endures to this day, and ANZAC Day remains one of Australia and New Zealand's most important national occasions.

When war broke out in 1914, Australia had a Federal Commonwealth for only thirteen years, and the new National Government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The plan was to capture Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

Though the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Istanbul and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand troops' actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an "ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and their future.

On 30 April 1915, when the first news of the landing reached New Zealand, a half-day holiday was declared and impromptu services were held. The following year a public holiday was gazetted on 5 April and services to commemorate were organised by the returned servicemen.

The date, 25 April, was officially named ANZAC Day in 1916; in that year it was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia and New Zealand, a march through London, and a sports day for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt. The tiny New Zealand community of Tinui, near Masterton in the Wairarapa was apparently the first place in New Zealand to have an ANZAC Day service, when the then vicar led an expedition to place a large wooden cross on the Tinui Taipos (a 1200ft high large hill/mountain, behind the village) in April 1916 to commemorate the dead. A service was held on the 25th of April of that year. In 2006 the 90th Anniversary of the event was celebrated with a full twenty-one gun salute fired at the service by soldiers from the Waiouru Army Camp. In London, over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of the city. A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The Knights of Gallipoli". Marches were held all over Australia in 1916; wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, accompanied by nurses. Over 2,000 people attended the service in Rotorua. For the remaining years of the war, ANZAC Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities. From 1916 onwards, in both Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC services were held on or about 25 April, mainly organised by returned servicemen and school children in cooperation with local authorities.

ANZAC Day was gazetted as a public holiday in New Zealand in 1921, after lobbying by the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association, the RSA. In Australia at the 1921 State Premiers' Conference, it was decided that ANZAC Day would be observed on 25 April each year. However, it was not observed uniformly in all the States.

One of the traditions of ANZAC Day is the 'gunfire breakfast' (coffee with rum added), which occurs shortly after many dawn ceremonies.

During the 1920s, ANZAC Day became established as a National Day of Commemoration for the 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders who died during the war. The first year in which all the States observed some form of public holiday together on ANZAC Day was 1927. By the mid-1930s, all the rituals now associated with the day — dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, sly two-up games — were firmly established as part of Australian ANZAC Day culture. New Zealand commemorations also adopted many of these rituals, with the dawn service being introduced from Australia in 1939.

With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well and in subsequent years, the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those killed in all the military operations in which the countries have been involved.

ANZAC Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942, but due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack; it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service. ANZAC Day has been annually commemorated at the Australian War Memorial ever since.

Australians and New Zealanders recognise 25 April as a ceremonial occasion. Commemorative services are held at dawn, the time of the original landing, across both nations. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centers. Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around both countries. It is a day when Australians and New Zealanders reflect on the many different meanings of war.

Commemoration
In Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC Day commemoration features solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around both countries, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle. The fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen (known as the "Ode of Remembrance") is often recited.


Australia
ANZAC Day is a National public holiday and is considered one of the most spiritual and solemn days of the year in Australia. Marches by veterans from all past wars, current serving members of the Australian Defence Force, cadets, scouts, guides and other uniformed service groups, are held in capital cities and towns nationwide. The ANZAC Day Parade from each state capital is televised live with commentary. These events are followed generally by social gatherings of veterans, hosted either in a pub or in an RSL Club, often including a traditional Australian gambling game called two-up, which was an extremely popular pastime with ANZAC soldiers. The importance of this tradition is demonstrated by the fact that though most Australian states have laws forbidding gambling outside of designated licensed venues, on ANZAC Day it is legal to play "two-up".

Although Australia's official National day is in fact Australia Day, many Australians have now come to regard ANZAC Day as the true National day of the country. Despite federation being proclaimed in Australia in 1901, many argue the "National identity" of Australia was largely forged during the violent conflict of World War I , and the most iconic event in the war for most Australians was the landing at Gallipoli. Dr. Paul Skrebels of the University of South Australia has noted that ANZAC Day has grown in popularity ; even the threat of a terrorist attack at the Gallipoli site in 2004 could not deter some 15,000 Australians from making the pilgrimage to Turkey to commemorate the fallen ANZAC troops, The Age newspaper reported .

Footy
Since 1975 the VFL/AFL has celebrated ANZAC Day and the ANZAC spirit with matches of Australian rules football, though the modern day tradition began in 1995 and is played between traditional Australian Football League rivals Collingwood and Essendon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. During many wars, Australian rules football matches have been played overseas in places like northern Africa and Vietnam as a celebration of Australian culture and as a bonding exercise between soldiers.. Essendon and Carlton contested a once-off match on ANZAC day in 1975 (which Essendon won) in front of a large crowd of 77,770 at Waverley Park. The annual blockbuster game began in 1995 and has become the biggest match of the AFL season outside of the AFL Grand Final typically selling out in advance; 91,234 people attended the match in 2006. The best on ground is awarded the Anzac Day Medal (which has been won by James Hird three times, the most of any player).

Beginning in 1997, the ANZAC Test, a rugby league test match has commemorated ANZAC day, though it is typically played a week prior to ANZAC day. The match is always played between the Australian and New Zealand national teams, and has drawn attendances between 20-45,000 in the past.

Since 2002, the National Rugby League (NRL) have followed the lead of the Australian Football League, hosting a match between traditional rivals St George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters each year to commemorate ANZAC day.

New Zealand
New Zealand's Commemoration of ANZAC Day is similar, though on several occasions the day has become an opportunity for some groups for political protest. In 1967, two members of the left-wing Progressive Youth Movement in Christchurch staged a minor protest at the ANZAC Ceremony, laying a wreath protesting against the Vietnam War. They were subsequently convicted of disorderly conduct, but that was not the last time that the parade was used as a vehicle for protest. In 1978, a women's group laid a wreath dedicated to all the women raped and killed during war, and movements for feminism, gay rights, and peace used the occasion to draw attention to their respective causes at various times during the 1980s.

The number of New Zealanders attending ANZAC Day events in New Zealand, and at Gallipoli, is increasing. For some younger people, the sombre focus of the day receives less emphasis than do the more celebratory aspects of a National holiday. For most, though, the day is an occasion on which to formally pay tribute and to remember.

Dawn Parades and other memorials Nationwide are typically attended by the New Zealand Defence Force, the New Zealand Cadet Forces, members of the New Zealand Police, New Zealand Fire Service, Order of St John Ambulance Service (Youth and Adult Volunteers) as well as Scouting New Zealand, Guides New Zealand and other uniformed community service groups.

ANZAC Day now promotes a sense of unity, perhaps more effectively than any other day on the National calendar. People whose politics, beliefs and aspirations are widely different can nevertheless share a genuine sorrow at the loss of so many lives in war.

Paper poppies are widely distributed by the Returned Services Association and worn as symbols of remembrance. This tradition follows that of the wearing of poppies on Remembrance Sunday in other Commonwealth countries

Turkey
In 1990, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, Government officials from Australia and New Zealand as well as most of the last surviving Gallipoli veterans, and many Australian and New Zealand tourists travelled to Turkey for a special Dawn Service at Gallipoli. The service at dawn in Gallipoli has since become popular to attend on ANZAC Day. Upwards of 15,000 people have attended services in Gallipoli. Until 1999, the Gallipoli Dawn Service was held at the Ari Burnu War Cemetery at ANZAC Cove, but the growing numbers of people attending resulted in the construction of a more spacious site on North Beach, known as the "ANZAC Commemorative Site".


Other overseas ceremonies
 

• In Turkey the name "Anzac Cove" was officially recognised by the Turkish government on Anzac Day in 1985. The Anzac Day dawn service was held at Ari Burnu Cemetery within
•  the cove until 1999 when the number of people attending outgrew the site. A purpose built "Anzac Commemorative Site" was constructed nearby on North Beach in time for the year 2000 service.
• In London, a Dawn Service is held at the Australian War Memorial, and more recently constructed New Zealand War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner.
• In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea there is a dawn service at the Bomana War Cemetery. Bomana is the location of thousands of graves of Australian and New Zealand Servicemen who were killed during the New Guinea campaign of World War II.
• In Newfoundland, the Gallipoli offensive is commemorated each year on 25 April by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who hold a march from Government House through the streets of St. John's ending at the National War Memorial. Members of both the Australian and New Zealand armed forces are invited each year to participate in the march and wreath laying ceremonies. Other Canadian communities also mark ANZAC Day; Calgary has had a Cenotaph Service annually with participation from the local military.
• In Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands and Niue, ANZAC Day is also commemorated to honour their soldiers who participated in the campaign.
• ANZAC Day is commemorated in France in the towns of Le Quesnoy and Longueval and in the town of Villers-Bretonneux (on the next closest weekend) because on April 25, 1918, the village of Villers-Bretonneux was liberated by the ANZAC.
• Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women commemorate ANZAC Day at a Dawn Service at the Korean War Memorial in Washington DC on April 25 each year.
• A small mid-morning tribute to ANZAC Day is commemorated in New York, USA on the roof garden of 620 5th Avenue on the Sunday nearest April 25. The locale is in the British Empire Building in Rockefeller Plaza and overlooks St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is an annual tradition that has been celebrated at this locale since 1950.
• In Indonesia, ANZAC Day is commemorated in Jakarta, Balikpapan, Bangka Island, Bandung, Denpasar and Surabaya.
• In Hawaii the Marine Corps hosts an ANZAC Ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as "The Punchbowl", where several dignitaries from many countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S. attend to commemorate the memory of all who have fallen for their country

The Ode
This is the verse of the ode that is said during the minutes of silence on ANZAC Day:

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.


Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), For the Fallen (1914), stanza 4



Criticisms
ANZAC Day has in the recent past been criticised by Australians and New Zealanders who feel it is no longer a day of commemoration for the dead at Gallipoli or a sombre reflection on war but instead a glorification of nationalism and the military. ANZAC Day has also been marked by protests against contemporary wars; for instance, protests against the Vietnam War were common ANZAC Day occurrences during the 1960s and 1970s, and recent years have featured protests against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Criticism began in earnest in 1962, prior even to the Vietnam War protests, with the publication of Alan Seymour's classic play, "The One Day of the Year", which dramatised the growing social divide in Australia and the questioning of old values. In the play, ANZAC Day is critiqued by the central character, Hughie, as a day of drunken debauchery by returned soldiers and as a day when questions of what it means to be loyal to a Nation or Empire must be raised. The play met with huge controversy on its release, including a bomb threat at its premiere. Since that time, it has been repeatedly revised and also studied in various school curricula.

As a day to reflect on the futility of war, it has been argued that enemy combatants and, more especially, conscientious objectors, should be allowed to march but the powerful lobbying of the Returned Services League and RSA has prevented this. In 2007, the issue of allowing conscientious objectors to march was raised again in New Zealand, with Peace Action Wellington being reported as saying that "conscientious objectors are the real heroes of ANZAC Day, which ... has ceased to be a day when people commit to 'never again' wage war and instead has become a celebration of the military and armed conflict".

The importance of Anzac Day, and of the Anzacs themselves remains contentious in terms of defining contemporary nationalism in Australia, and to a lesser extent, nationalism in New Zealand. This is because the mythology of the Anzacs' actions on the battlefield is tied to themes which remain the subject of contemporary debate. The issues which are in dispute are not related to the level of bravery or battlefield success of the Anzacs, but rather about the extent to which it is appropriate for contemporary Australians and Kiwis to celebrate the military adventures of colonial soldiers who fought to further the aims of the British Empire.

Anzac Day celebrations in Australia and New Zealand have, over time, de-emphasised the colonial links to the British Empire, in favour of celebrating the less controversial issue of the bravery of Anzac soldiers.

ANZAC Day in recent years has drawn record crowds. This has largely been seen as the younger generations of Australia wanting to honour their family connections to the sacrifices made by the previous generations