Today, 25th April, is Anzac Day, commemorating when ANZAC troops landed at Gallipoli during World War I.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Every year Australians and New Zealanders celebrate ANZAC Day to commemorate the troops landing on 25 April 1915 at Gallipoli on the Turkish Aegean coast. Of the 1500 men who waded ashore that first day, 755 remained in active service at the end of the day. The remainder were killed or wounded. Establishing a foothold, the ANZACs found an advance to be impossible. After eight months of stalemate, the Allies withdrew from the peninsula, leaving over 8000 dead amongst the troops.
From 1916 onwards, in both Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC services were held on or about April 25. In Australia, it was decided at the 1921 state premiers conference that ANZAC Day be observed on April 25 each year.
In Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC Day commemoration features solemn “dawn services”, Marches by veterans from all past wars are held in capital cities and towns nationwide. This is usually followed 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 past-time with ANZAC soldiers. Although the last ANZAC veteran has now died, the tradition lives on as Australia and New Zealand choose to remember the sacrifice of their young men during WWI.
The State Library of New South Wales holds extensive collections of materials relating to World War 1 and the Anzacs, including soldier’s diaries, maps, posters and art works.
Read more in our feature article Writing at Gallipoli by Elise Edmonds.
“Allied troops remained on the Gallipoli peninsula until the evacuation on 19 and 20 December. The landing of troops on that morning in April continues to be an enduring and powerful milestone in Australia’s history. The myths and realities of the landing site, the nature of the landing, and how far inland the troops got on that first day are still being debated by historians 100 years on.
The Gallipoli campaign cost Australia 26,111 casualties, including 8,141 deaths.”
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