ANZAC Day is one of the most important holidays on the national calendar. All over Australia, from the biggest cities to the smallest country towns, people rise from warm beds to brave the pre-dawn chill at dawn services to pay their respects to the boys and men who lost their lives at Gallipoli.
As the sun rises over the horizon and those gathered stand in silence, it is difficult not to picture Australians landing in Turkey or congregated on the beach.
While we look forward to breakfast at the RSL or dash home for a nana nap, the WWI Anzacs were aware they faced almost certain death that morning in 1915.
No movie, documentary or sepia-toned photograph can convey the fear those men must have experienced or the horror they encountered seeing wave after wave of their mates cut down.
Too many listed mum or dad as next of kin – this shows how young they were when they died so far from home. In all, 2000 died on landing day and another 6500 by the week’s end. About 10,000 never came home.
When we think of the Anzacs, a picture of the typical digger comes to mind but it was not just white Aussie men who gave their all at Gallipoli. The word Anzac serves as reminder that New Zealanders also paid a price. We must also acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers who fought for a king and country that treated had them poorly and would continue to do so after the war.
This year, veteran marches at big centres will be led by women. No women served in the military in 1915, but many have since. Today is also an opportunity to remember 2000 Australian nurses tended the injured and dying on the front lines of WWI.
Anzac Day neither glorifies war or celebrates a battle that was an epic failure. Rather, it honours ideals that forged the Australian way of life – mateship, larrikinism and having a go even when the odds are stacked against us.