ANZAC Day, 25th of April, is the most important date in Australia’s and New Zealand’s calendar. Across the length and breadth of Australia and New Zealand people turn out to salute, honour and pay their respects to the fallen and to the surviving servicemen who willingly offered their lives to the service of their country.
The (acronym) name ANZAC became famous with the landing of the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps on the Gallipoli Peninsula at the Dardanelles, Turkey, on 25th of April 1915. It has since become synonymous with the determination and spirit of our armed forces. The significance of the day, and the acronym, in Australia’s heritage is probably best stated by Dr. C. W. Bean in the following excerpt from his official Australian history of World War One:
“It was not merely that 7600 Australians and nearly 2500 New Zealanders had been killed or mortally wounded there, and 24,000 more (19,000 Australians and 5,000 New Zealanders) had been wounded, while fewer than 100 were prisoners. But the standards set by the first companies at the first call – by the stretcher-bearers, the medical officers, the staff, the company leaders, the privates, the defaulters on the water barges, the Light Horse at The Nek – this was already part of the tradition not only of ANZAC but of the Australian and New Zealand peoples. By dawn on 20 December, ANZAC had faded into a dim blue line lost amid other hills on the horizon as the ships took their human freight to Imbros, Lemnos and Egypt. But ANZAC stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat”.
Anzac Cove 1915
No comments:
Post a Comment