When did Australians first begin to celebrate Remembrance day?

Answer 1

Remembrance Day was first called Armistice Day and was first observed in Australia in 1919 on the first anniversary of the armistice ending the hostilities of World War I. This was done also by most nations that had been involved in the fighting of WWI. In 1945, after World War II, England and Australia changed the name to Remembrance Day. The United States changed the name to Veterans Day but the meaning of Remembrance Day is more similar to the US Memorial Day.

Answer 2

ANZAC Day commemorates the anniversary of the first military action in a World War by combined Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli, Turkey, on 25th April, 1915.

ANZAC Day was first officially recognised on 25th April 1916. The day was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian military camp in Egypt (WW1 was still being fought by the Australians and New Zealanders).

In London over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets. A London newspaper headline dubbed them "the knights of Gallipoli".

Marches were held all over Australia; in the Sydney march, convoys of cars carried wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended by nurses.

For the remaining years of WW1, ANZAC Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF (Australian Imperial Forces) were held in most cities.

During the 1920's ANZAC Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who had died during WW1.

In 1927, for the first time, every state observed some form of public holiday on ANZAC Day.

By the mid-1930's, all the rituals we now associate with ANZAC day - dawn vigils (at war memorials), marches, memorial services, reunions, and games of two-up - were firmly established as part of ANZAC Day culture.

With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in that war.

In subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include Australians killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.