Anzacs were 'Australians at our best'
Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who journeyed to Gallipoli have marked the centenary of the Anzac landings at an emotional dawn service.
Many of the crowd of more than 10,500 including 8160 Australians, had arrived yesterday afternoon and spent a cold night on the grass or in stands, filling every vantage point before the service got under way.
The service was attended by Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, and many other international dignitaries.
Prince Charles offered a reading, and Mr Abbott said the Anzacs lived with death and dined with disease and became “the founding heroes of modern Australia.”
Mr Abbott said the Anzacs represented “Australians at our best” by displaying the qualities of perseverance, conquest of fear and readiness to sacrifice their life for their friends.
Mr Key said the Turks would have seen the Anzacs as aggressors and Gallipoli had become a symbol of the healing power of time.
As the leaders spoke a line of 11 military vessels from Turkey and Australia slipped majestically past the commemorative site.
After a sombre overnight program which included readings by students and documentaries on the Gallipoli campaign, the morning ceremony got under way to the haunting strains of the didgeridoo, played by William Barton, one of Australia’s leading didgeridoo players.
ANZAC COMMEMORATIONS FROM GALLIPOLI TO KINGS PARK
Event host Warren Brown then spoke about the landing 100 years ago as mood lighting played over the water from which the Anzacs had arrived.
The names and epitaphs of many Anzacs who died at Gallipoli were presented on two big screens before a respectful silence gave way to a Maori call to gathering.
Chief of Australia’s defence force, Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin, said that the men who landed on April 25, 1915, each harboured their own fears and apprehensions, worried about how they would perform when confronted by the enemy, and hoped they would not let their mates down.
“This is where the Anzac legend was born,” he said.
Among those who took their seats early were Jo Beavis, from Yanchep, and her mother Gaelene Gore, from Tasmania.
Mrs Gore’s father Charlie Stevens had tried to enlist at the age of 15 to join the battle at Gallipoli, but had been stopped by his father, so after turning 16 he jumped on a boat to Melbourne, put his age up and went on to serve on the Western Front.
Mrs Gore’s great uncle had fought at Gallipoli and been seriously wounded.
She said he had been stunned in the battle and given up for dead, but had been carried to safety by Simpson and his donkey, however he still ended up losing an arm.
Ms Beavis said they left Istanbul by bus at 6.30am to get to the site in time.
“It’s an amazing place,” she said. “The soldiers jumped off the boats onto an obstacle course.”
Out on the grass were father and son Craig and Nathan Butler, from South Perth.
Craig Butler said he usually went to the Dawn Service at Kings Park, and was excited to be at Gallipoli this year.
David Butler, from Melbourne, no relation to the other Butler men, wore his Vietnam war medals, the medals his father had earned in World War II, and replicas of medals won by four great uncles.
Three had fought at Gallipoli and one on the Western Front, and incredibly, all survived.
He said it was the first time he had been to Anzac Day at Gallipoli.
“The emotions are really starting to kick in,” he said.
Anne Griffiths and her son Rob Klatt arrived carrying a wreath to lay at Lone Pine on behalf of the 11th Battalion Association of WA.
Mrs Griffith’s father John (Jack) Aloysius Faulkner landed on April 25, 1915, with the 11th Battalion and was wounded several days later.
He recovered and returned to Gallipoli before being evacuated again with a back injury, but later served in France.
Mrs Griffiths’ uncle William Francis Faulkner also joined the 11th Battalion, also fought at Gallipoli but was killed in France.
She said that getting to Gallipoli for Anzac Day had been “a mission.”
“It’s amazing, simply amazing,” she said.
She said if she got cold then “so what?”
“Think of them in the trenches,” she said. “This is the least we can do.”
The crowd had crammed into the site from late Saturday afternoon, armed with sleeping bags, blankets, flags and snacks.
