Traditional Anzac Day services give way to the ‘new normal’ as crowds stay away
Australians are remembering Anzac Day in emotional and innovative ways under COVID-19 lockdown, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
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Aussies commemorate Anzac Day online and under social distancing
‘Today is our most sacred day’: PM Scott Morrison
Morrison and G-G David Hurley Morrison attend War Memorial
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Australians around the country have joined together to remember the Anzacs a little differently this year, physically separate but together as one.
PM Scott Morrison has addressed the nation live from Canberra, with no trace of the usual crowds that would otherwise flock to commemorate our fallen soldiers.
“This year out Anzac Day traditions have been interrupted, but not for the first time,” he said.
“But our heroes still walk amongst us.
“We’re all in this together, we always have been, we always will be.”
Scott and Jenny Morrison have laid a commemorative wreath, followed by Dame Anette King, the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia, and opposition leader Anthony Albanese.
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“Australians all lest we forget those who were so young who have made us so free,” The PM Scott Morrison said.
“Today is our most sacred day, at our Australian memorial.
“Through these 102,000 men and women and the millions more who have worn our nation’s uniform, we come to understand what love of family, community and country truly means.
“The service and sacrifice we remember today, has always been expressed in hardship.
“Australians have faced the very worst, and they have done so for us.
“To defend our land and protect our people.
“Today at this dawn, in this place, or wherever you are today, let us listen, let us open our hearts again to their stories and draw upon their inspiration.”
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COMMEMORATIONS IN LONDON
Anzac Day services across London have gone online amid coronavirus restrictions which also forced the cancellation of traditional services at Anzac Cove and the Lone Pine cemetery in Turkey.
The regular service at Westminster Abbey, home of the grave of the Unknown Warrior, will be replaced by a statement issued by Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK, George Brandis.
He will deliver an address from his home, Stoke Lodge, as Australians were determined to continue to honour the fallen despite the pandemic.
“On this ANZAC DAY, of course, we conduct our remembrance in a very different way than we have become accustomed to doing,” Mr Brandis was due to say on Saturday, according to a copy of his speech.
“This year, the crowds solemnly gathering at Dawn Services and cheering along parade routes are replaced by countless acts of quiet, solitary remembrance.
“But the way we remember matters little. It is what we remember that counts.”
The disastrous Anzac Day attack was launched on the beaches of Turkey 105 years ago.
Britain, and its allies including Australia, tried a doomed assault with plans to ultimately take Istanbul.
But Turkish soldiers were able to dig in on the steep, rocky cliffs above the beaches, leading to a bloody slog which claimed more than 8000 Australian lives before a retreat.
“While the Gallipoli campaign might have failed in its military objectives, the actions of those brave Australian and New Zealand soldiers over a century ago left a powerful legacy,” Mr Brandis will say.
“A legacy which, in the challenging times in which the world unexpectedly finds itself, has perhaps never been more important.”
Thousands of Australians had been due to travel to Turkey this year for the moving services, including many younger people.
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They would have all camped out for the dawn service at Anzac Cove.
But the Department of Veterans Affairs cancelled the events in March as travel restrictions were sweeping the world.
Craig Roach, an Australian expat in Turkey, said it was disappointing the services were cancelled and he hoped some would make individual pilgrimages.
“There is a lot of logistics involved in staging the event,” he said.
“Security, the scaffolding, the training of volunteers from Australia and Turkey and of course those in Turkey who would’ve been affected financially by the cancellation,” he told Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper.
“For the pilgrims, or clients, the cancellation of the 2020 event isn’t something we can put off until September, it’s date specific, it’s April 25th.
“We can only hope that people will decide to come for an individual visit in the meantime.
“Travel is a strange creature. We’ve seen it rebound back after natural disasters, man made disasters, economic disasters, and we’ll see that again I’m sure. It just means there may be fewer service providers.”
Originally published as Traditional Anzac Day services give way to the ‘new normal’ as crowds stay away
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