B2B with a Twist Publication - Work • Stay • Play October Edition Work • Stay • Play April-May 2017 Edition | Page 5

What does it mean today? Australians recognise 25 April as a day of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held across the nation at dawn – the time of the original landing, while later in the day, former servicemen and servicewomen meet to take part in marches through the country’s major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are more formal, and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, Anzac Day is a time at which Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war. The Dawn Service It is often suggested that the Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in a military routine still followed by the Australian Army. The half-light of dawn was one of the times favoured for launching an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the “stand-to”. As dusk is equally favourable for battle, the stand-to was repeated at sunset. After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn vigil became the basis for commemoration in several places after the war. It is difficult to say when the first dawn services were held, as many were instigated by veterans, clergymen, and civilians from all over the country. A dawn requiem mass was held at Albany as early as 1918, and a wreathlaying and commemoration took place at dawn in Toowoomba the following year. In 1927 a group of returned men returning at dawn from an Anzac Day function held the night before came upon an elderly woman laying flowers at the as yet unfinished Sydney Cenotaph. Joining her in this private remembrance, the men later resolved to institute a dawn service the following year. Some 150 people gathered at the Cenotaph in 1928 for a wreathlaying and two minutes’ silence. This is generally regarded as the beginning of organised dawn services. Over the years the ceremonies have developed into their modern forms and have seen an increased association with the dawn landings of 25 April 1915. The National Ceremony At the Australian War Memorial the National Ceremony begins with the traditional order of service including the veteran’s march, Commemorative Address, laying of wreaths, hymns, the sounding of the Last Post, and observance of one minute’s silence, and the national anthems of New Zealand and Australia. www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac-tradition/ For Anzac day events, please see page 6 we THINK business solutions we CARE about you and your business we UNDERSTAND business challenges “The Numbers Nurturers” Hunter Region Business Bookkeeping 2/94 Blackwall Road, Woy Woy, NSW 2256 3/211 Dowling St, Dungog NSW 2420 Business Consulting 02 4341 0422 02 4992 3946 Business Training 02 4344 3727 02 4344 3727 [email protected] PROUD MEMBER OF THE Accountants | Registered Tax Agents | Business Advisors www.mycpartners.com.au Central Coast Business Accounting 5