Dawn Service

The Dawn Service is one of the most popular observances of ANZAC Day. It is timed to coincide with the initial landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The time is also poignant for veterans who recall the routine dawn “stand-to” of their war service. The darkness breaking into sunrise adds to the symbolism of the occasion and makes for an emotional experience.

A typical observance includes a parade, the sounding of Last Post and Reveille, a minute's silence, the ANZAC Dedication, and Laurence Binyon's famous lines:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.