Wartime snapshot
Since the first Anzac Day commemorations on 25 April 1916, Australians have paused on the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings to honour those who have served in our country’s armed forces.
During the First World War and in the following decades, Australians gathered in villages, towns and cities around the country and overseas to observe Anzac Day’s commemorative rituals. On this day, from the smallest rural settlement to crowded city suburbs, hundreds of thousands of people awake in the pre-dawn darkness and make their way to their local site of commemoration.
At the foot of each memorial, floral wreaths tell of communities that have suffered loss in times of war and conflict since 1915. They also tell of the central role that rural and regional Australians have played in maintaining a tradition of commemoration, now more than a century old. Community Anzac Day ceremonies remind us that no part of the country has been unaffected by Australia’s involvement in wars and conflicts since 1915.
Anzac Day has experienced decline and revival over more than a century. Today, it remains Australia’s most sacred secular occasion. It is a day to reflect on war’s cost and the service and sacrifice of those who have worn our country’s uniforms since the first members of the Australian Imperial Force sailed for the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East.
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