Remembrance: It's ANZAC Day Round the World

Brisbane, Australia, 25 April 1916

Thousands lost their lives during the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Ottoman Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about one in six of those who served on Gallipoli.  Citizens of the two nations, at home and abroad, gather to remember the fallen on ANZAC Day,  the anniversary of the initial landings at  Gallipoli, 25 April 1915.  and thousands make a pilgrimage to the site of the original landings at ANZAC Cove for a sunrise service each year.

New Zealanders Parade in London, 25 April 1916

On its first anniversary in 1916, Anzac Day was commemorated in different ways around Australia. All states held a commemorative service, after which Gallipoli veterans and new enlistees (volunteers for the war) would march down the streets of their town or city. Most states then held festivities of some kind in the evening. In Victoria Anzac Day focused on raising money for soldiers through big celebrations.

Anzac Sunrise Ceremony, U.S. WWI Memorial, 2022

In New South Wales the Lord Mayor of Sydney spent £1000 on lighting public buildings but was criticised by families of soldiers who had died. However, many returned soldiers wanted the day to be as happy as possible, as they felt that this was what the Anzacs who died would have wanted.

Berlin, Germany, 2023

In London 2000 Anzacs marched through the streets and were cheered by the locals, before attending a commemorative service. Anzacs in Egypt attended a morning commemoration and then played cricket, swam in ‘a great Aquatic (swimming) Carnival’, attended a concert and watched a play about the ANZAC landing.

Dawn Service, North Beach at Anzac, 2018

In 1927 Anzac Day became a public holiday in every Australian state for the first time. By the mid-1930s many of the rituals that are now practiced on Anzac Day were created. These included dawn vigils, marches, two minutes’ silence, memorial services, wreath-laying ceremonies and reunions. The most sombre (serious and sad) ceremonies took place in Queensland, under the leadership of military Chaplain David Garland. Garland’s sombre forms of commemoration would become the most common by the 1930s.

Sydney, Australia, 2023

New Zealanders also demanded some form of remembrance on the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. This became both a means of rallying support for the war effort and a public expression of grief – for no bodies were brought home. On 5 April 1916 a half-day holiday for 25 April was gazetted, and church services and recruiting meetings were proposed. The New Zealand Returned Soldiers' (later Services') Association, in cooperation with local authorities, took a key role on the day, organising processions of servicemen, church services and public meetings. The form of the ceremony on 25 April was gradually standardized.

Auckland, New Zealand, 2023

Sources:  Numerous Australian and New Zealand historic and news sites were drawn on for this article.