Australia remembers: Thousands gather for Anzac Day services
Australians around the world have attended services to commemorate Anzac Day and pay tribute to the men and women who have fought and died in war.
From Dawn Services in capital cities and country centres around Australia, to the beaches of Gallipoli and the fields of France, tens of thousands have paid tribute to those who have served their country.
A much lower-than-expected crowd of just 4400 people turned out at Anzac Cove for this morning’s Dawn Service.
This was about 1000 fewer than expected, while there were 5200 attending last year.
Organisers believe numbers were down as people were waiting to see if they could secure a ticket to the 2015 commemorations.
Moving Anzac Day commemorations have also been held at Villers-Bretonneux in the north of France.
Today marks the 99th anniversary of the first landings of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli in 1915.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke of his awe for the Anzac generation, as marches took place across the country to honour our fallen diggers.
Leading commemorations at the national Anzac Day ceremony in Canberra, Mr Abbott said the landing at Gallipoli was part of a great tide of events that helped shape the Australian nation in the 20th century.
"As someone who has never served in the armed forces, never faced a shot fired in anger and never lost close family members in war, I am in awe of the Anzac generation, who were tested almost beyond endurance," he said.
Anzac Day marks the landing at dawn at Gallipoli in 1915, but represents so much more, he told the crowd - which included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - outside the Australian War Memorial on Friday.
"This was just one day, and Gallipoli was but one campaign in a four-year war," he said.
"On the 99th anniversary of Australia's baptism of fire we remember that fateful day.
Canberra
In Canberra, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a late decision to join a record Canberra crowd at the treasured and traditional dawn service.
The couple had not been expected at the Australian War Memorial until mid-morning on Friday but under the cover of darkness made a discreet entry just after 5am (AEST).
The ever increasing crowds were joined by the nation's leaders, royalty and Governor-General Peter Cosgrove - himself a former chief of the Defence Force - to pay tribute to the Anzac legend.
The Australian War Memorial estimates 37,000 people turned out for its dawn service on Friday, an increase of some 2000 from 2013.
Wreaths were laid, while all eyes were on Prince William and wife Catherine who added poppies to the wall of remembrance, placed flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier and planted a tree.
From a population of five million, 417,000 Australians enlisted for World War I service with some 62,000 killed and 152,000 wounded.
During a dawn service address, Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith spoke of Australia's longest war, that in Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of 40 soldiers.
These were men who like their forefathers believed our safety, freedom and way of life were more important than their own suffering and loss.
"Proud, willing and capable men who did what needed to be done," he said.
Corporal Roberts-Smith said Australia's war in Afghanistan was coming to an end but for those wounded it would never end.
He asked that Australians never forget those who have fought for their country.
"We are Australians, we are born of the Anzacs. We are the custodians and stewards of their spirit now and into the future. We must take good care of them."
Corporal Roberts-Smith was joined by fellow VC recipients, Warrant Officer Keith Payne, and Corporals Daniel Keighran and Mark Donaldson, to lead the veterans' march.
Sydney
In Sydney, thousands braved the rain to honour servicemen and women at Sydney's Anzac Day march, with new veterans joining old diggers in the parade.
People holding umbrellas and waving flags formed a guard of honour along George Street in the city centre for veterans taking part this year.
Among them were Rex Bayley and his wife, Fay, who took an early train from Gymea Bay so they could reserve their favourite vantage point along George Street.
Watching on as more than 15,000 NSW RSL serving and former defence force members paraded past, 75-year-old Rex said he wasn't deterred by the soggy Sydney weather.
A little further down the street, Dellane and Rodrick Stewart seized the opportunity to teach their nine-year-old grandson Mackenzie some family, as well as national, history.
Mr Stewart, 78, followed his own father into the armed services, with stints in Borneo, Malaysia, New Guinea and Vietnam during a 19-year career.
With his great-grandfather's medals pinned to his chest, young Mackenzie is just starting to grasp what that means.
Earlier, a record crowd of up to 10,000 people crammed around The Cenotaph in central Sydney for a Dawn serviced lauded by soldiers as one of the best of the Anzac commemorations.
Crowds filled Martin Place, standing sombrely as dignitaries, veterans and serving defence personnel arrived in the early morning dark.
The service officially began when NSW Governor Marie Bashir entered, the last time she will do so in office.
Hymns were sung and memorial poems read before Ms Bashir pronounced The Dedication and laid a wreath on behalf of the NSW public.
Giving the commemorative address, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie said it was important to remember the sacrifices made by diggers from all conflicts and their families.
"Their sacrifice, their ideals and their fame will continue to influence our society and give us great courage for the future," he said.
"It has been written that a nation that cannot remember its dead will soon cease to be worth dying for."
Mark James Weston served in Afghanistan with the fifth Australian Regiment from October 2010 to July 2011.
He's been attending Anzac commemorations since he was a kid but it's the first time he's been to the service at Martin Place.
"Normally I just go to the Campbelltown one but it was very good," he said, standing proud in a grey suit with his service medals over his heart.
"It was a different atmosphere. It's good to see so many people here and a lot of kids as well."
Afghanistan veterans will lead this march, expected to feature about 20,000 former and current defence personnel, and retired private Weston thinks this is a "good tribute" to the younger soldiers.
"A lot of people can easily recognise older veterans but I think it's only been in the past decade younger veterans have had started coming into it," he said.
"It's nice to see the public seeing younger veterans more out the front and more common place."
Brisbane
More than 20,000 people turned out for the dawn service in in Anzac Square in Brisbane.
Lights throughout the heritage-listed park were turned off and in blackness the crowd prayed for peace.
Only the lights shining bright on the Shrine of Remembrance lit the inner city park.
Governor Penelope Wensley addressed the crowd to recount past wars and the 400 soldiers still in Afghanistan helping with the country's rehabilitation.
Melbourne
In Melbourne, thousands lined Swanston Street in the CBD to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers.
Earlier, An estimated 60,000 people braved a cold morning to attend Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn service to honour Australia's servicemen and women.
In the darkness of Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn service, headlights shone over volunteers selling badges, poppies and pins.
"They pay me triple time and a half times nothing," quips volunteer Tony Comley, whose father, Alfred Comley, was captured during World War II.
"That's a little Anzac humour from the Burma-Siam railway of death," he said.
"Humour is the only thing the Japanese couldn't take away from them. They only had a piece of string around their waist and a loincloth. Their clothes had rotted away."
Alfred Comley was sent to Changi prison before being moved to work on the Burma-Siam railway, along with Edward "Weary" Dunlop in 1943.
"Weary Dunlop saved many men's lives by amputating limbs, but he saved hundreds more by having them dragged from the front line," Mr Comley said.
His father was one such man. He weighed just 32kg when he was sent back to Changi prison to recover.
Like many of the estimated 60,000 who gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance for the 99th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, Mr Comley displayed a chest full of medals.
Louise Percival, who went to the dawn service for the first time, also proudly decorated herself with medals honouring her grandfather, Donald McKenzie, who fought at Gallipoli.
Next year she will represent him in the centenary march.
"It was quite emotional," Ms Percival said. "A very beautiful service."
Relatives of World War I veterans will be front and centre in 2015, but this year Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Denis Baguley says servicemen and women from later conflicts are being recognised.
Post-1975 veterans will lead the 2014 Anzac Day parade.
Graham Connor, a Vietnam War veteran, is hosting a party of 10 relatives and friends who have flown from Perth for the dawn service.
"They've come to push me," said Mr Connor, who will navigate the Melbourne parade route in a wheelchair.
After his father's stroke in the late 1990s, Tony Comley asked Anzac House for a wheelchair.
"I thought they would give me a push wheelchair. They gave us an electric wheelchair," he said, growing tearful.
"I thought what could I do for them? I wanted to do better than just buy a $10 badge. So I sell them."
Adelaide
In Adelaide, thousands cheered on a dwindling number of World War II veterans taking part in the Anzac Day march.
In many cases army, navy and air force units were reduced to just a handful of participants while some had no local survivors at all.
Among those still able to complete the march from the city's war memorial to the cross of sacrifice were veterans who served in the Middle East, Europe and the Pacific, cheered on by several thousand people lining the route.
More significant in number were those from more recent conflicts, with Vietnam veterans among the largest contingent.
This year's march also allowed defence scientists to take part for the first time wearing the Australian Operational Service Medal received for serving for more than 30 days on an overseas mission.
Chief defence scientist Alex Zelinsky said scientists had always provided exceptional support to Australian troops.
"They have been on the ground, shoulder to shoulder with their defence colleagues, giving scientific advice and carrying out specialised tasks to assist commanders on the battlefield," he said.
"They have earned the right to march in the Anzac Day parade under the defence civilians banner."
Acting Premier John Rau and Opposition Leader Steven Marshall had previously urged South Australians to attend the march.
"As we honour our war dead and past servicemen and women, we also remember and pay tribute to the brave Australian Defence Force men and women who are currently serving overseas," Mr Marshall said.
"Today is an important day to recognise and appreciate the enormous contribution of all soldiers who fought for Australia, many of whom paid the ultimate price to secure the future of our great nation."
After the traditional dawn service and march, Adelaide's Anzac Day ceremonies were completed with wreaths laid at the cross of sacrifice.
ROYALS IN UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE
Prince William and wife Catherine have again honoured Australia's military personnel, joining a record Canberra crowd at the treasured and traditional dawn service.
The couple had not been expected at the Australian War Memorial until mid-morning on Friday but under the cover of darkness made a discreet entry just after 5am (AEST).
William, who was a lieutenant in the RAF, wore two service medals and a sprig of rosemary as he stood abreast Governor-General Peter Cosgrove.
He and Catherine later attended the national ceremony, watching the procession and laying a wreath at the stone of remembrance.
After visiting the tomb of the unknown soldier and placing a poppy on the wall of remembrance, they planted a tree at the War Memorial, a specimen cultivated from the historic Lone Pine at Gallipoli.
In one of only two speeches made by William during the couple's 10-day tour of Australia, the second-in-line to the British throne spoke of the nation's bravery and engagement in numerous conflicts.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott thanked the royal couple for their involvement.
"Your presence reminds us of all our comrades in arms," he said.
The couple, along with nine-month-old Prince George, jet out of Australia on Friday afternoon.
TODAY'S EVENTS
CANBERRA
The Anzac Day National ceremony takes place at the Australian War Memorial from 10.15am to 12 noon.
Allocated seating has reached full capacity but standing room is available on the day.
Alternatively, the ceremony will be shown on Channel Seven.
SYDNEY
Following this morning’s Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Cenotaph at Martin Place, a Consular Wreath Laying will take place at 8.30am.
The Anzac Day March commences at 9am before the Commemoration Service at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park at 12.30PM, followed by the veterans Tour and Star Ceremony.
The NRL Anzac Day match takes place at 4PM and the Sunset Service, at the Cenotaph in Martin Place, at 5PM.
There will also be free travel for veterans and their families.
ADELAIDE
A Dawn Service was held at the SA National War Memorial on North Terrace.
At 9.30am, diggers will then march along North Terrace and up King William Street to the Cross of Sacrifice in Pennington Gardens, North Adelaide, where a remembrance service is held at the end of the march.
MELBOURNE
After this morning’s Dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, the March begins at 9AM at the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Street along St Kilda Road to the Shrine led by Australian servicemen and women who have served since 1975.
BRISBANE
Queensland's main Dawn Service was held at Anzac square at 4.28am.
Brisbane's parade will begin at 10am on the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets..
Units will proceed up George Street, right into Adelaide Street and then right again into Creek Street and continue to the railway station in Ann Street.
GALLIPOLI COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES
1.30PM (AEST) - Dawn Service, Anzac Commemorative Site, North Beach
6PM - Australian Service, Lone Pine
7.45PM - New Zealand Service, Chunuk Bair
New generation of Anzacs remembered
Overseeing Australian army operations in Afghanistan and other dangerous places, Lieutenant General Ash Power knows first-hand the ongoing, devastating consequences of war.
In his time as Chief of Joint Operations, 18 Australian soldiers have died in Afghanistan with many others wounded.
General Power will lead the Call to Remembrance at the Anzac Day dawn service in Villers-Bretonneux in France on Friday and, like so many, he has a close personal connection to the area.
His grandfather Hab Power fought on the Western Front in World War I and General Power said Anzac Day was a time to honour diggers past and present.
"If you look back to attrition warfare, the trench warfare of the First World War, thank heavens we've moved a long way from that," General Power told AAP on Thursday.
"But it's still traumatic, and each of these people we lose is a human being.
"Each of them have mums and dads, brothers and sisters, some have their own kids and the loss is significant for each of those families.
"Thankfully the scale has changed but it is a time to not only remember those remarkable generations of the two world wars but to remember the ultimate sacrifice made by so many up to today."
This is the first Anzac Day since Australia started pulling out of Afghanistan, where 40 Australian solders have died since 2001.
But General Power said the Australian Defence Force would remain busy and Australians continued to risk their lives every day in minor operations at places such as Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula and South Sudan.
General Power has also overseen the ADF's role in the search for the missing plane MH370, a task he will resume after Anzac Day.
He admitted he wasn't optimistic that an end to the search was in sight.
"The Indian Ocean is huge and if someone's done this deliberately to try and hide it, it's probably the best place on the surface of the earth to do it," he said.
"It's really remote and very difficult. There's not much going for us but we'll continue to work at it for a little while yet."
Foreign minister Julie Bishop will also attend Friday's ceremony in France.
