ANZAC Day 2025
The 2025 ANZAC Day Dawn Service, marches and remembrance parade takes place on Friday 25th April 2025.
It was 110 years ago (1915) that our brave ANZAC sons landed at Gallipoli in an event that has gone onto shape Australia and its people.
The 25th of April marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.
What's Open ANZAC Day
Why is this day so special to Australians?
When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only fourteen years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world.
In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany.
They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.
At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships.
Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.
The idea that some sort of "blood sacrifice"was a necessary rite of passage or initiation ceremony in the birth of a nation was common in the late Victorian and Edwardian period.
In attempting the daunting task of storming the Gallipoli peninsula the ANZACs created an event which, it was felt, would help to shape the new Australia.
What does it mean today?
Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national commemoration. Commemorative services are held at dawn, the time of the original landing, across the nation.
Later in the day ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around the country.
It is a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.
Australian War Memorial - www.awm.gov.au
Red poppies
The Flanders poppy has been a part of Armistice or Remembrance Day ritual since the early 1920s and is also increasingly being used as part of ANZAC Day observances. During the First World War, the red poppies were seen to be among the first living plants that sprouted from the devastation of the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Soldiers folklore had it that the poppies were vivid red from having been nurtured in ground drenched with the blood of their comrades.
Now each year, poppies adorn the panels of the Memorials Roll of Honour, pushed in beside names as a small personal tribute to the memory of any one of the thousands of individuals commemorated there. This practice originates from a spontaneous gesture made by people waiting to pay their respects at the funeral of the Unknown Australian Soldier on 11 November 1993. After the main service the public were invited to file through the Hall of Memory and lay a single flower by his tomb. To do this they had to queue along the cloisters, beside the Roll of Honour, and at the end of the day hundreds of RSL poppies were found to have been pushed into the cracks between the panels.
ANZAC Day by state
Ceremonies in our capital cities..
Brisbane
The Anzac Day Dawn Service starts at 4.28 am at Brisbane City's Shrine of Remembrance, Anzac Square, between 285 Ann and Adelaide Streets. This is followed by a FREE marching parade of past and present serving soldiers where the Governor of Queensland takes the salute. The 2024 Nurses Memorial Candlelight Vigil will be held in ANZAC Square , Brisbane City on Wednesday 24 April 2024 from 5.30-7.15 pm, as a public event.
Sydney
The Sydney CBD Commemoration Events start at 4.20 am for the Dawn Service at The Cenotaph, Martin Place, Sydney. This is followed at 9.00 am with the Sydney CBD March, along Elizabeth Street. At 12.30 pm there is another Commemoration Service, at Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park. Ceremonies conclude at 5.00 pm with a Sunset Service at The Cenotaph, Martin Place.
Melbourne
The Melbourne dawn service will be held at the St Kilda Road Shrine of Remembrance. For one day a year, the traditional, cheeky "two-up" game is legal and will be played at the Flemington Races. The Melbourne Cricket Ground will also host the traditional Collingwood vs Essendon football game at the "G".
Adelaide
The Adelaide Anzac Day Committee hosts the Anzac Eve Youth Vigil, Dawn Service, March and Cross of Sacrifice Remembrance Service in Adelaide.
Perth
In the West, the Anzac Day Perth dawn service starts at 4 am at the cities' State War Memorial in Perth's Kings Park. The Cenotaph is the centre stage for these proceedings.
Canberra
The Australian War Memorial is the national war memorial and museum dedicated to all Australians who died during the war. The AWM is located in Campbell, a suburb of the Australian capital of Canberra.
No more significant place is there to commemorate Anzac Day. The 2024 commemorative program at the Australian War Memorial includes Dawn Service at 5.30 am and the RSL ACT Branch Veterans' March at 9.30 am. There is also a last post-ceremony at 4:30 pm.
Public Holiday
Each state and territory's public holiday rules are set out in local laws.
❊ When ❊
Date: Friday 25th April 2025
❊ Web Links ❊
→ ANZAC Day 2025→ anzacsite.gov.au
❊ Also See.. ❊
➼ ANZAC Appeal 2025
➼ What's Open ANZAC Day 2025
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