ANZAC DayDawn Service At dawn on the 25th of April each year, Australian Veterans "old diggers",
servicemen and the families of people who have served in the armed forces gather with the general public to
remember the fallen soldiers of past wars. These wars include World War I (1914-1918), World War II
(1939-1945), Korean War (1950-1953), Malaya (1950-1960), Borneo (1962-1966) and the Vietnam War (1962-1973).
In Perth people gather at the State War Memorial in Kings Park for the ANZAC service. The Western Australian
State War Memorial Centotaph is an 18m tall obelisk which is a replica of the Australian Imperial Force
Memorials erected in France and Belgium. As the sun rises over the City of Perth the Australian flag is
raised to the masthead (top) and then immediately lowered to half mast. The protocol for the dawn service in
Perth includes the arrival of the Official Wreath Layers at the Memorial, the sounding of the "Still", the
playing of the "Last Post", one minute silence, the playing of the Reveille and finally the reciting of the
"Ode". On the playing of the first note of the Reveille the Australian flag is raised back to the masthead.
After the ceremony the flag is returned to half mast and is raised to the masthead at noon. Following the
Dawn Service is the ANZAC Day March through the streets of Perth. The march includes veterans and/or
representatives of the veterans.
Brief History
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The acronym ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) was first used in
World War I as a simple code in Egypt to identify the Australian and New Zealand Corps who were stationed
there prior to Gallipoli. ANZAC was later used to denote where the Corps had landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula
at the Dardanelles on the 25th of April 1915. The ANZAC Day Dawn Service origins began on 25th April 1923 on
Mt Clarence in Albany, Western Australia when Reverend Arthur Ernest White gathered 20 men at 4am in the
morning to conduct a small service to remember all the ANZAC troops. Reverend White thought it appropriate to
have the ceremony in Albany as it was the last sight of land that the ANZAC troops saw before leaving
Australia for war in 1914.