- Terror threats put aside in the true spirit of ANZAC Cove -
25.04.2003 14:17:55
It was so typical of the ANZAC spirit. Despite warnings of terrorist attacks,
they came to this strip of land known as Gallipoli.
Yes, the numbers were significantly down – from 12,000 last year to about 6000 yesterday.
The place was also crawling with police and soldiers.
"Mum was worried but she never told me not to go," Heath Bryans, from Adelaide, said. "If you`re an Aussie or a Kiwi you should come, it is more of a pilgrimage than just another trip."
He, like so many other young Australians and New Zealanders, lived up to the spirit of the original ANZACs – once described by historian Charles Bean as "reckless valour in a good cause, enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never admit defeat".
About 16,000 men landed on the peninsula early on the morning of April 25, 1915.
Many gave up their lives.
Evacuation of ANZAC troops December 1915
"Actually being in Gallipoli puts ANZAC Day in perspective and being in a foreign country adds to that," Helen Hindmarsh, from Bundaberg in Queensland, said.
"Even though it was 88 years ago, the sacrifice that they made is still important," she said.
The travellers at the intimate ANZAC Cove ceremony this year ranged from the veteran dawn service attendees to the first-timers.
"I`ve never been to a dawn service at home but I will go now," said Adrian Tan, from Adelaide.
In 2000, the size of the group attending the ceremonies forced authorities to move it from its traditional site at the Ari Burnu War Cemetery to a larger location 300m to the north.
The new location is a prominent escarpment that was named the Sphinx by the ANZACs, who had spent four months training in Egypt.
It was the site of the Australian First Division headquarters throughout the campaign and it also provided the location of the famous Not A Man Lost evacuation in December 1915.
Over 11 nights a force of 35,000 men stole away with just one casualty, duping the enemy with rifles rigged by the escaping soldiers to keep firing as they left.
Today, a group of sombre and often speechless travellers stood on the site as the first light of dawn trickled over the horizon and a lone bugler sounded the haunting notes of the Last Post.
The small group shared the experience in silence, many overwhelmed by their emotions. "The ceremony showed the cold reality of what happened 88 years ago," Ms Hindmarsh said. "I`m glad I came. They didn`t have a hope in hell."
Treasurer Peter Costello attended the ceremony.
"We pay homage to the original ANZACs and we pay homage to the nation and the ideals that they helped to create," he said.
acknowledge:
by The Advertiser
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au
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