The last of the Gallipoli diggers has gone. In 2006, for the first time since the Gallipoli Campaign, no Gallipoli surviror marched in an Anzac Day parade.
There was only a riderless horse. The Gallipoli veterans are gone.
Other conflicts, other wars
There have been other wars since Gallipoli and other areas of conflict — World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Somalia, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan — and today Anzac Day honors the soldiers of these battles as well.
The main focus of national Anzac Day commemorations is the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
In Sydney, the main Anzac Day Dawn Service is held at the Cenotaph at Martin Place in the heart of the city. This traditional Anzac Day rite is duplicated in the major suburbs and in towns and cities throughout the land.
Painful remembrance
Later in the day, those who fought in the wars gather again for the massive Anzac Day parade which in Sydney ends in Hyde Park at the Anzac Memorial.
The rest of Anzac Day is spent reminiscing and carousing at the Returned Services League clubs and at the many pubs in the city. And police turn a blind eye to gambling in the streets, with here and there a game of two-up in progress.
Anzac Day, the One Day of the Year when the horrors of war and the friendships and courage in battle are crystalised into painful remembrance, is also the day when the yearning is deepest for an end to wars in any part of the world.
