Crowds honour Anzacs at WA parades

Nearly 3000 people turned out to commemorate the Anzac Centenary in Broome this morning to mark the milestone anniversary of Australia's involvement in World War I.

Community members and visitors rose early to attend the dawn service and remembered those who sacrificed their lives.

Tributes kicked off yesterday afternoon with a special Anzac Day eve commemoration at Town Beach, featuring the Broome Surf Life Saving Club and a lone piper from the WA Police Pipe Band.

This morning's highlights included the unveiling of the newly upgraded war memorial, a moving performance tribute to the Anzacs by St Mary's College dance and drama students, a representative of the WA Police Pipe Band and a flypast by three RAAF No. 4 Squadron PC-9 aircraft.

Thousands of people gathered in Albany to watch the Anzac Day parade.

Kununurra Anzac Day dawn service. Picture: Rourke Walsh

The coastal town has a special place in Anzac history because King George Sound was the last spot in Australia that many troops saw before going to fight in WWI.

Padre Arthur Earnest White also held Australia's first official dawn service in Albany in 1930.

Edith Webb, 94, had an uncle who fought in Gallipoli and later died in France.

Members of the Pilbara Regiment in Dampier. Picture: Peter de Kruijff

For many years, it was too emotionally difficult for her to attend the Anzac parade but this year she attended with her family.

Trevlyn and Graeme Smith brought their twin daughters, aged three, and seven-year-old son Sean, to teach them about the Anzac spirit and their family history.

"Sean is learning about it at school now and he's starting to understand it more," she said.

Neil Walker from the WA Police Pipe Band and members of the Broome Surf Life Saving Club in Broome. Picture: Glenn Cordingley

Sean said it was important for him to attend the parade because the diggers "fought for us".

John Klaebe and Paul Andrews travelled from Queensland to attend the Albany commemorations.

Mr Klaebe spent 20 years in the airforce, and Mr Andrews seven years in the navy.

Both said it was an honour for them to be in Albany.

A surreal silence fell upon the 4500 crowd gathered atop Mount Clarence as the final note of the Last Post trembled in the cool Great Southern air.

With chests adorned with service medals and red poppies, men, women and children from all over the country and the world amassed in historical Albany to pay tribute to the past and present service men and women of Australia and New Zealand.

The Anzac Day dawn service reached capacity before 4am.

Heads were bowed and tears welled in eyes as Colonel Mike Page ADC RFD took to the podium to address the passionate crowd before him.

"Together in the dawn of a new day we individually and as a nation collectively pause to remember the men and women taken in that crucible that was war," he said.

As dawn approached and the temperature dropped these words were absorbed and reflected on in silence.

"As the dawn breaks over Albany, a shore that for some would be their last sight of Australia, you being here ... is evidence enough of the importance of Anzac Day in remembering the human cost of war and the ultimate sacrifice that our service men and women have made," he said.

Albany, which was the final departure place for more than 40,000 of the first Anzacs, claims to be the birthplace of the dawn service tradition when Padre White led his congregation to the top of Mount Clarence to mourn and remember the fallen in 1930.

Up to 1800 people are estimated to have attended Kununurra's Anzac Day dawn service.

Private Amy Thomson at the Kununurra dawn service on Anzac Hill. Picture: Rourke Walsh

The scheduled start time of 4.30am had to be pushed back by 10 minutes as volunteers scrambled to fit an unprecedented number of vehicles into the makeshift carpark.

At one point traffic could be seen banked back more than 3km from the Anzac Hill memorial to the Diversion Dam Bridge.

The service was one of the earliest in WA because of Kununurra's early sunrise.

When commemorations got underway, they were led by local man Peter Letchford, who spoke of the emotion surrounding his visit to Gallipoli two years ago with his family.

The massive crowd was also addressed by Captain Steve McNaughton, who served in Afghanistan.

Kununurra RSL president Kevin Anderson said he was thrilled by the massive community response.

"There were a lot of people there," he said.

"We're chuffed, it had a nice feel to it and I think it all started with Peter Letchford, the MC."

"You could hear the feeling he had in his voice right from the start, and just walking around and talking to people after it they all said it had a great feel."

Private Lincoln Haycroft at the town service. Picture: Rourke Walsh

Mr Anderson said it wasn't just townspeople who turned out, with dozens of tourists and backpackers also in attendance.

"There were even a few who had come all the way up from Warmun for the service," he said.

The dawn service was followed by the traditional gunfire breakfast before many made their way to the town centre for the march.

Other Kimberley towns and locations including Wyndham, Halls Creek, Lake Argyle and Home Valley Station also held Anzac Day dawn service commemorations.

Anzac Day commemorated from Gallipoli to Kings Park