Updated 15 April 2016

PDF version [4MB]

David Watt
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Section

This ‘Anzac Day Kit’ has been compiled over a number of years by various staff members of the Parliamentary Library, and is updated annually. In particular the Library would like to acknowledge the work of John Moremon and Laura Rayner, both of whom contributed significantly to the original text and structure of the Kit. Nathan Church contributed significantly to the 2016 edition of this publication.

Introduction

On 25 April, the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915, Australians and New Zealanders honour the men and women who have served and died in wars, peacekeeping and other defence operations. It is now 101 years since the landing, and 100 years since Anzac Day was observed for the first time in 1916.

The date of 25 April was etched into the national consciousness with the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. The Anzacs forged a tradition of service and sacrifice that has continued to this day. We remember that more than 1.5 million Australians have served their country in wartime, and more than 100,000 have lost their lives.

Anzac Day is our national day of commemoration to remember veterans and those Australians who have died in war, and show support for serving members of the Australian Defence Force. Later in the year on 11 November—Remembrance Day—we pause for a second time, sharing with other countries the tradition of observing the anniversary of the Great War’s armistice to remember the dead of all wars.

What is this kit?

This kit is produced to assist Members and Senators with their representational and ceremonial duties on Anzac Day. It can be accessed by members of the public, but for copyright reasons many linked items are available to Members of Parliament only.

The kit comprises eight sections:

Section 1: Speeches

Section 2: The relevance of Anzac

Section 3: Gallipoli

Section 4: The Western Front

Section 5: Remembering and honouring: memorials and heritage

Section 6: Anniversaries

Section 7: Australian peacekeeping

Section 8: Statistics, links and further reading

For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.

© Commonwealth of Australia

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.

In essence, you are free to copy and communicate this work in its current form for all non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to the author and abide by the other licence terms. The work cannot be adapted or modified in any way. Content from this publication should be attributed in the following way: Author(s), Title of publication, Series Name and No, Publisher, Date.

To the extent that copyright subsists in third party quotes it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the publication are welcome to webmanager@aph.gov.au.

This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.

Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library‘s Central Entry Point for referral.