St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

Introduction

On the 25th day of April each year, a day known as ‘Anzac Day,’ Australians across the world remember the service and sacrifice of Australian military personnel who served and fought in the First and Second World Wars and in subsequent conflicts. The original Anzac Day ceremonies established in 1916 were intended to remember the terrible sacrifice of Australian soldiers—members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)—killed or wounded in the militarily disastrous campaign in 1915 to secure the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey during the First World War. More than 2000 Australian and New Zealand casualties (deaths and injuries) were experienced on the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, 25 April 1915. That day saw the Anzacs land at dawn at an isolated Turkish beach—later to become known as ‘Anzac Cove’ —in the face of fierce resistance. The Anzac Day commemorations were timed each year to coincide with the date of the dawn landings and were originally designed to commemorate the Gallipoli campaign. But, over the years, Anzac Day in Australia became an opportunity to remember all Australian Defence Force personnel who have served with honour—and in many cases given their lives—in the service of their country. The original Anzacs at Gallipoli, and the Australians who followed them in other conflicts, gave rise to what has become known as the ‘Anzac legend.’ This is a belief that Australian servicemen and women have served their country with certain distinguishing qualities which have made them outstanding warriors in all of the engagements in which they have taken part. These qualities include courage and tenacity in battle and endurance in the face of physical hardship. They also include a tradition of humour, egalitarianism and shared ‘mateship’ for their comrades. St John’s Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane has long cherished the memory of Australians, and particularly Queenslanders, who have fought and served in the Anzac spirit. The Cathedral was one of the first institutions to commemorate the dawn landings at Gallipoli, conducting a requiem Eucharist for “The Fallen” on 10 June 1915, a mere 46 days after the landings. Since then the Cathedral has recognised Australia’s sailors, soldiers and air force personnel—as well as British, American and other allied personnel who fought alongside them—in several ways. Two of the buildings in the Cathedral Precinct were on different occasions erected in memory of those who had served in times of war.

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