Anzac Day 2025: Marking 110 Years Since the Gallipoli Landings

• by Arlen Fitzpatrick
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The 110th Anzac Day: Remembering Gallipoli and Beyond

For many Australians, the first light of Anzac Day brings a sense of history and solemnity that’s hard to describe. In 2025, the nation marked Anzac Day with even deeper emotion, as it was the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. This year, tributes reached new heights, drawing crowds before dawn and connecting millions through shared remembrance.

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra carved out a powerful space for reflection. The day began long before sunrise. At 5:30 AM, the Dawn Service brought veterans, families, and people of all ages together. There was a chill in the air and the kind of quiet that settles only when thousands stand shoulder-to-shoulder, united by memory. Before the ceremony, the Memorial’s façade came to life with projections—old, grainy photos telling stories of ANZAC soldiers and more recent images from Australia’s ongoing defense missions. The visuals were hard to ignore, reminding everyone that the past and present are always linked.

At 7:30 AM, attention shifted to Indigenous soldiers, often overlooked in older histories. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans Association held a commemorative ceremony, bringing their stories to the front. This event made space for families whose connection to service spans not just generations, but centuries. It’s not often these stories get national attention, but on Anzac Day, everyone listened.

Honoring Sacrifice, Past and Present

The morning continued with the National Commemorative Service at 9:30 AM. The RSL ACT Branch Veterans’ March swept through the Memorial’s grounds, with former and current service members receiving cheers from the crowd. You could feel the community pride as badges, medals, and uniforms caught the sunlight.

The day’s schedule balanced tradition with fresh recognition. In the afternoon, the Last Post Ceremony at 4:30 PM focused on Captain Edward Frederick Robert Bage. By spotlighting individual soldiers like Bage, the event turned abstract numbers—so often recited on war memorial plaques—into personal stories. Families and visitors could place flowers and pay respects up close.

This year, nostalgia got a modern twist. If you couldn’t make it to the War Memorial, the ABC had you covered. From 12:30 PM AEST, households all over Australia—and expats overseas—could watch the Gallipoli Dawn Service live. Seeing the sun rise over Anzac Cove, hearing the bugle call, and watching those in Turkey gathered as one: that experience reached laptops, TVs, and phones everywhere. It bridged the distance between past battlefields and everyday lives.

Even as Australia honored the fallen at Gallipoli, there was a bigger theme running through the commemorations: acknowledgment of every person, past and present, who’s served in uniform. This included soldiers in World War I, peacekeepers in East Timor, sailors at sea, and aviators flying aid missions or defending the country’s interests. The message was straightforward—the debt owed to veterans isn’t just for one day or one historic event. It stretches across decades and lives on in families, communities, and the country as a whole.

Anzac Day 2025 set a high bar for remembrance. There was tradition, community, and new focus on stories that tend to get lost in the bigger picture. Through dawn services, marches, and technology bringing the story home, Australia showed it’s in no danger of forgetting the legacy of Gallipoli—or those who kept the commitment alive since then.