Commemoration of Anzac Day across the years
First Anzac Day
While the Gallipoli Campaign was still being fought, the landing was already becoming etched into the minds of many Australians and New Zealanders as a defining moment in both countries’ history.
When the first Violet Day, a remembrance and fundraising day for wounded soldiers, was held in South Australia 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 son's sons, and still further on.’
In 1916, Australia’s Acting Prime Minister, George Pearce, officially named 25 April as 'Anzac Day'.
The first Anzac Day commemorations were held on 25 April 1916, throughout Australia and elsewhere in the world.
A convoy of wounded soldiers and nurses from Gallipoli were driven through the streets of Sydney while soldiers in Egypt, many of them veterans of the campaign, held services in the morning followed by a sports day.
Some 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of London — the newspapers dubbed them the ‘Knights of Gallipoli’.
For the remaining years of the war, Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns while serving members of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) paraded in most cities and held services overseas.
After the First World War
During the 1920s Anzac Day became the nationally recognised day of commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during the First World War. By the late 1920s, every state observed Anzac Day as a public holiday.
By the mid–1930s all the rituals associated with Anzac Day ceremonies — dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two–up games — were an established part of Anzac Day culture.
During the same time the Returned Services League (RSL) called for greater acknowledgement of living veterans. The focus of the Anzac Day ceremony shifted from a day of mourning to a day on which veterans commemorated their own war service.
The Second World War and beyond
Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942. A small service was held as government orders at the time prevented mass public gatherings in case of Japanese air raids.
Second World War veterans participated in marches around the country during and after the war, and in the following years, they and First World War veterans were joined by those who had served in the 1950s and 1960s conflicts in Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
In the 1960s and 1970s, some Australians returning from the Vietnam War felt their service was not appropriately recognised. Some veterans felt that they were not considered part of the Anzac tradition, and chose not to march on Anzac Day for many years. A special Australian Vietnam Forces Welcome Home Parade was held in Sydney on 3 October 1987, which along with other events for Vietnam veterans held across Australia that weekend, sought to provide more appropriate recognition.
National dawn service and ceremony
Today, Anzac Day ceremonies and marches commemorate all wars, conflicts and peace operations and the marchers include veterans from allied countries.
Each year in Canberra, the Anzac Day Dawn Service and RSL Veterans' March are held at the Australian War Memorial.
Gallipoli service
PPilgrimages to Gallipoli have taken place since the 1920s, however, it was in the 1980s that an increased number of Australian travellers began to gather at Anzac Cove in Türkiye for the official Anzac Day ceremony.
In 2015, on the one hundredth anniversary of the landings, more than 10,000 Australians and New Zealanders attended the Gallipoli Dawn Service.
Gallipoli remains an important place in the collective memory of many Australians. People visit to connect with family stories and celebrate their Australian identity.
Overseas services
The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) supports Anzac Day services overseas. These commemorative ceremonies include:
- Anzac Day Service, Gallipoli, Türkiye
- Anzac Day Service, Villers-Bretonneux, France
- Anzac Day Service, Hellfire Pass, Thailand
- Anzac Day Service, Sandakan, Malaysia
- Anzac Day Service, Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery and Isurava Papua New Guinea
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these activities were modified.