ANZAC Day

Every year on April 25th, communities throughout Australia gather to pay homage to Australia's servicemen and women, and to the nation and ideals they helped create and continue to uphold. On this day we remember the sacrifice made by those original ANZACs who landed at Gallipoli in 1915.

By honouring those who have served for Australia we keep alive a vital link to our collective heritage. ANZAC Day services contribute to a deeper understanding of what it means to be Australian, and a deeper faith in ourselves.

ANZAC Day Dawn Service

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. Dawn services were originally very simple and followed the operational ritual; in many cases they were restricted to veterans only.

Western Australia's link to the Dawn Service is a special one, for it was in Albany, Western Australia that the tradition of the Dawn Service was born. On 25 April 1923, the Reverend White led a party of friends in what was the first ever observance of a Dawn parade on ANZAC Day, thus establishing a tradition which has endured, Australia wide ever since.

Reverend White was serving as one of the padres of the earliest ANZACs to leave Australia with the First AIF in November 1914. The convoy was assembled in the Princess Royal harbour and King George Sound at Albany WA. Before embarkation, at four in the morning, he conducted a service for all the men of the battalion. When White returned to Australia in 1919, he was appointed relieving Rector of the St John's Church in Albany. It was a strange coincidence that the starting point of the AIF convoys should now become his parish.

No doubt it must have been the memory of his first Dawn Service those many years earlier and his experiences overseas, combined with the awesome cost of lives and injuries, which inspired him to honour permanently the valiant men (both living and the dead) who had joined the fight for the allied cause. 'Albany', he is quoted to have said, 'was the last sight of land these ANZAC troops saw after leaving Australian shores and some of them never returned. We should hold a service here at the first light of dawn each ANZAC Day to commemorate them.'

That is how on ANZAC Day 1923, he came to hold the first Commemorative Dawn Service.

As the sun was rising, a man in a small dinghy cast a wreath into King George Sound while White, with a band of about 20 men gathered around him on the summit of nearby Mount Clarence, silently watched the wreath floating out to sea. He then quietly recited the words: 'As the sun rises and goeth down, we will remember them'. All present were deeply moved and news of the Ceremony soon spread throughout the country; and the various Returned Service Communities Australia wide emulated the Ceremony. (Source: http://www.defence.gov.au)

Today, families and young people are encouraged to take part in Dawn Services held across the state.

The annual Dawn Service will be conducted in the State War Memorial Precinct. This precinct encompasses the State War Memorial Obelisk, Court of Contemplation, the Eternal Flame of Remembrance and Pool of Reflection. The conduct of the Dawn Service comprises:

• Arrival of the Official Wreath Layers at the Memorial.
• The sounding of the 'Still' - 6:00 a.m.
• Laying of Official Wreaths
• 'Last Post'
• 'Silence'
• Reveille'
• 'Ode'

The reciting of the 'Ode' signifies the completion of the protocols of the Dawn Service. At the conclusion of the Dawn Service an address will be delivered by an invited personage.

ANZAC Day Parade Information - Perth Western Australia

For more information regarding the Dawn Service at the State War memorial and services in your local area, contact the RSL

For more of the history of ANZAC Day: Department of Veterans Affairs