Australian elected officials will honour the country’s fallen veterans at dawn services at Gallipoli, the Western Front and the Kokoda Track this Anzac Day.
Four federal ministers will travel to significant sites, including in Turkey, France and Papua New Guinea to attend dawn services on Tuesday, as the country pauses to remember the sacrifice of its veterans.
At the dawn service in Gallipoli in Turkey, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh will deliver the commemorative address on Anzac Day morning.
Some 8700 Australians died during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, where 75,000 Anzac troops fought in perilous conditions for eight months, in a battle that has defined Australia’s national identity.
Assistant Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite will attend a dawn service at the Western Front, in Villers-Bretonneux in France, honouring the 46,000 Australians who died in the First World War.
In Papua New Guinea, International Development Minister Pat Conroy will commemorate the day at the Kokoda Track and Bomana War Cemetery, honouring more than 600 Australians killed during one of the most significant conflicts involving Australian troops during the Second World War.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Andrew Giles will attend a service at Hellfire Pass in Thailand, where Australian prisoners of war were held during the Second World War.
As the country remembers the fallen on the 108th Anzac Day, federal MPs will also attend services in their local communities.
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- Open Arms 1800 011 046
