Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders in Turkey commemorate the day troops surged ashore as anniversary events follow the dawn across the world

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

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More than 10,000 Australians and New Zealanders have stood together on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula at a formal ceremony to honour the Anzac troops who fought and fell in Turkey a century ago.

A sea of pilgrims and dignitaries from both nations as well as hosts Turkey, Britain and other countries gathered at Anzac Cove on Friday night and into the dawn hours of Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of Australian and New Zealand soldiers landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, his New Zealand counterpart, John Key, Prince Charles and Prince Harry were among those in attendance.

The Australian defence force chief, Mark Binskin, told the thousands gathered of the horror the Anzacs were confronted with on the day they came ashore in Turkey a century ago.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Charles lays a wreath during the dawn service at Anzac Cove. Photograph: Tolga Bozoglu/EPA

“The quiet stillness of dawn and the gentle sound of the waves on this beach gave way to the flash and roar of gunfire over the painful cries of the wounded,” he said.

“For so many the rising sun that day would be their last.”

He told too of the fears that gripped the men as they battled to shore under unrelenting gunfire: a fear they would be cut down, as too many were, but also a fear that they might let their mates down.

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“This is where the Anzac legend was born at great cost,” he said.

“Here, so many died and dreams died with them. Here, they lie in sacred soil. Here, we honour their spirit, the spirit of Anzac which lives among us. Here, we will remember them.”

Key told the gathering of the challenges the Anzacs faced as they came ashore on that bloody day a century ago.

“Instead of the open spaces that have been described to them, they landed here with steep hills rising in front of this narrow beach,” he said.

He said the opposing forces who set upon one another with such devastating results had something in common: they believed what they were doing was right and necessary, and both sides conducted themselves with courage and bravery.

“The campaign waged here ensured that the name of this place would be written into the histories of New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Turkey and the many other countries that fought here, never to be erased,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Key addresses attendees of the dawn ceremony. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

He spoke too of the unbreakable bond forged between Australia and New Zealand.

“To us Gallipoli is also a byword for the best character of Australians and New Zealanders, especially when they work side by side in the face of adversity.”

Abbott said a century had passed since Australians and New Zealanders splashed out of the sea and into a terrible conflict that ultimately resulted in an enduring gift.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tony Abbott speaks at Anzac Cove. Photograph: Tolga Bozoglu/AFP/Getty

“In volunteering to serve they became more than soldiers, they became the founding heroes of modern Australia.”

Abbott said every Australian had a duty to the Anzacs. “They did their duty, now let us do ours. They gave us an example, now let us be worthy of it. They were as good as they could be in their time. Now, let us be as good as we can be in ours.”

Prince Charles read the words of Lieutenant Ken Millar, of the 2nd Battalion, who wrote of the grief surviving Anzacs felt as they left their dead mates buried so far from home.

“We lived at Gallipoli with our dead alongside us. Owing to the lack of space our cemeteries were always under our eyes,” the digger wrote.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A small section of the crowd at the the Gallipoli dawn service. Photograph: Tolga Bozoglu/AFP/Getty

The Australian army’s Monsignor Glynn Murphy led the gathering in the Prayer of Remembrance and The Lord’s Prayer.

Prince Charles laid a wreath in memory of the dead, followed by Abbott and Key who jointly laid a tribute in acknowledgment of the bond forged at Gallipoli.

New Zealand’s defence force chief, Tim Keating, read the Ode of Remembrance, before the Last Post was played followed by a minute’s silence and Reveille.

Earlier, ceremonies marking the centenary of the Gallipoli landings and Anzac Day took place across Australia and New Zealand, at Hellfire Pass in Thailand on the route of the notorious second world war Thai-Burma railway built by Japan using war prisoners as slaves, until dawn arrived in Turkey.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People gather for Anzac Day in Hellfire Pass, Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, on the route of the Thai-Burma railway. Photograph: Sakchai Lalit/AP

The commemoration at Anzac Cove was followed by a further solemn service attended by thousands in France at the Australian first world war memorial outside the town of Villers-Bretonneux.

In Australia an estimated 120,000 people lined the mall in front of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for an Anzac Day dawn service that reflected on the “awful cost” of armed conflict.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Victoria Cross recipient Daniel Keighran speaks during the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Army Corporal Dan Keighran, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for protecting a comrade by deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire in Afghanistan in 2010, said he felt an affinity with the Anzacs.

“World War One was a vast human tragedy. It had profound, devastating, enduring consequences for all Australians. Fourteen years after federation Australia was thrown out into the international stadium; they wanted to prove themselves,” Keighran said.

“One hundred years on we do think back – and I do myself – to the sacrifices, the courage, the tenacity that those original Anzacs had to go through. It’s truly amazing.”

The spirit of mateship remained strong in the Australian defence force, Keighran said.

Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, people turned out in record numbers for Anzac Day services, with an estimated 20,000 flocking to the dawn service at the new Pukeahu National War Memorial in Wellington, the capital.

In Auckland a crowd of 34,000 gathered at the War Memorial Museum, easily exceeding the previous record of 20,000, and big numbers were also reported in Dunedin and Christchurch.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest People stand behind crosses for the fallen at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on Anzac Day. Photograph: Shirley Jit/Demotix/Corbis

Governor general Sir Jerry Mateparae spoke to those assembled in the capital of a day for New Zealand and Australia to “pause and reflect, to honour and remember all those who have served their country in all wars”.

The ceremony was also attended by the Australian governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, New Zealand’s acting prime minister, Bill English, Turkish ambassador Damla Yesim Say and Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata.



Cosgrove said: “Today we stand side by side, from this dawn to dusk in New Zealand, Australia, and Turkey.”

Later in the day a crowd of approximately 7,000 attended the national commemorative service in the capital before the governors general left to attend an Anzac Day dusk service in Canberra.

In London, a poignant dawn service at the Wellington Arch was told the Anzac troops of Gallipoli campaign would never be forgotten.

Sir Lockwood Smith, New Zealand’s high commissioner, told the congregation of thousands, including Princess Anne, who had begun gathering well before sunrise: “We will always remember, be always inspired [by the Anzacs].”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Australin and New Zealand army hats placed on a memorial at the Wellington Arch in London for Anzac Day. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty

Sir Lockwood added: “No family was left untouched. My own grandmother’s first fiance, the first real love of her life, lies buried at Lone Pine - a Kiwi alongside his Australian mates.”

The service was staged midway between the Australian and New Zealand war memorials on the large traffic island at Hyde Park Corner.

The event is one of a series in Britain to mark the 100th anniversary, including the Duke of Edinburgh, patron of the Gallipoli Association, joining the congregation at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday for a service of remembrance and the Queen, joined by Philip and Prince William, leading a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph, followed by a service of commemoration at Westminster Abbey.

AAP and the Press Association contributed to this report