ANZAC DAY

Each year on 25 April we commemorate Anzac Day. It’s a time to honour Australian service personnel, past and present, who have served in wars, conflicts and peace operations.

A brief history of ANZAC Day

The Anzac legend was born on 25 April 1915, when some 16,000 soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps (ANZAC) landed under fire on the shores of Gallipoli, Türkiye.
The Anzacs on Gallipoli helped shape the Australian story. Once used to refer to those who fought in the First World War, as time has
passed, the meaning of ‘Anzac’ has changed. The term ‘Anzac’ expresses the characteristics that are seen as important
to Australians and those serving in the Australian Defence Force, including
courage, endurance, equality and mateship. While the relevance of the Anzac legend
in today’s multicultural society may at times be debated, there is little doubt that
these characteristics and the meaning of Anzac will endure.

The first ANZAC Day

The landing on Gallipoli was already etched into the minds of many people
while the Gallipoli Campaign was still being fought. It became a defining
moment in Australia’s history. At the first event to commemorate the war
dead on 2 July 1915, the South Australian Governor, Sir Henry Galway, said:
If any day is to be chosen for Australia’s day I think it should be April 25 …
Those heroes will hand down the finest traditions to their sons and their sons’
sons, and still further on … In 1916, the Acting Prime Minister,
George Pearce, officially named 25 April as ‘Anzac Day’.
The first anniversary of the landing was observed in Australia, New Zealand and
England. In London, more than 2,000 Australians marched through central
London to Westminster Abbey. King George V, Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes
and Allied military leaders attended the service. Australian troops in Britain, Egypt
and France attended local services to commemorate the landing at Gallipoli.

How ANZAC Day has evolved

In Australia during the First World War, morning church services were followed by
fundraising events and recruiting rallies featuring returned soldiers. After the war,
many veterans who wanted to put those years behind them avoided Anzac Day.
In some parts of Australia, there were no large public ceremonies for several years
until a revival in the 1920s. People felt the need to honour veterans and to mourn
the dead, but it was also a day for returned service men to reunite and reminisce.
By 1927, Anzac Day was a public holiday in every state of Australia.
Sometimes, Anzac Day has been a vehicle for protest. In 1929 as the Great Depression
struck, some veterans marched under a banner reading: ‘Unemployed Returned
Soldiers. We had a job in 1914-1918. Why not now?’.
Others felt excluded from Anzac Day by the focus on returned men at the expense
of those who had lost their lives, and families at home.

In 1938, bereaved women protested not being part of the ceremonies by joining
returned soldiers at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, much to the annoyance of
some veterans. Early in the Second World War, Anzac Day
acknowledged a new generation of service personnel and celebrated Allied victories. In
1942, with Japan threatening, there were no official dawn services or marches. When
events were reinstated in 1943, veterans of two wars were taking part. Never again would
Anzac Day be an occasion dedicated only to the memory of the Great War.
By the 1950s, after two World Wars and the Great Depression, people were wearying of
reminders of darker times. Some veterans perceived Anzac Day as a glorification of war
and refused to participate. This view gathered some momentum as Australia’s involvement
in the Vietnam War became increasingly unpopular.
The Gallipoli Campaign’s 50th anniversary in 1965 initiated a revival of Anzac Day. By the
1970s, there was greater academic and popular interest in the First World War.
Anzac Day came to be seen through the prism of war as a cause of misery, pain and suffering.
In the late 1970s, protesters again called into question the commemoration of Anzac Day.
Some groups who felt excluded from the Anzac story, such as First Nation Australians,
brought their experiences into the spotlight.
In the 1980s, new groups were allowed to join the march, including the descendants
of veterans and members of the defence forces of Allied nations who had migrated to
Australia.
Today, Anzac Day also honours those who have served through recent conflicts and on
peacekeeping missions. The day reflects the diversity of modern military operations as
young veterans join with veterans of earlier wars, connected by the experience of service.
Now a tradition over 100 years old, Anzac Day has become Australia’s most important
secular occasion.

‘Anzac’ or ‘ANZAC’?

Historically, ANZAC was an initialism for the Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps devised by Major General William Birdwood’s staff in Cairo in early 1915. It was
used for registering correspondence for the new corps. A rubber stamp was cut using
the letters ‘A.&N.Z.A.C.’.
After the landing at Gallipoli, General Birdwood requested that the position held
by the Australians and New Zealanders on the peninsula be called ‘Anzac’ to distinguish
it from the British position. The small bay where most of the corps had come ashore
on 25 April 1915 was named ‘Anzac Cove’. The original initialism had already found a use
beyond that of a military code word or corps designation.
Since that time, ‘Anzac’ and ‘ANZAC’ have been used interchangeably. However, the
Australian-preferred term is ‘Anzac’ for all usage except when referring to the
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The word ‘Anzac’ is protected by legislation.