The ANZAC Biscuit, a partnership between the RNZRSA and manufacturer Unibic, was officially launched by Prime Minister Helen Clark at a special function aboard the ANZAC-class frigate HMNZS Te Kaha in Wellington on 19 March 2002.
By purchasing these biscuits New Zealanders will be directly assisting the RNZRSA to continue its community work, which includes veteran support, funding for drug and alcohol education for youth through Life Education Trust, and assistance with the sponsoring of a guide dog for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. The first guide dog puppy has been selected and is appropriately named ANZAC.
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A tangible link to our ANZAC heritage The ANZAC Biscuit, as it is known today, owes its origins to the Scottish oat cake and was baked by mothers and sweethearts for soldiers serving in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 (as well as for sale at home to raise funds for the war effort). |
Since then the ANZAC Biscuit has been a household favourite, in fact, it has become an icon in both New Zealand and Australia. The tasty non-perishable ANZAC Biscuit was a welcome addition to the basic rations issued to our soldiers at Gallipoli, not least the much-loathed Army Biscuit. |
In his 1919 official history The army biscuits can never be forgotten...their hardness was beyond belief...so hard that it was nibbled round the edges and tossed into No Man's Land. |
To understand just how much the ANZAC Biscuit and other food parcels from home must have been welcomed by our soldiers read the light-hearted description of the infamous Army Biscuit contributed by Private Ormond Burton of the NZ Medical Corps to The Anzac Book. | |||
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