ANZAC WAS the name given to a combined force of First Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Army troops who landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula at around dawn on Sunday April 25 1915, barely nine months after the outbreak of World War I.
Galvanised by the example of courage and sacrifice demonstrated on that bloody battlefield, on January 10 1916 a public meeting of Brisbane citizens voted unanimously to establish the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee to lay the groundwork for a nationwide, solemn day of public remembrance on the first anniversary of the landings.
Every April 25 for the past 100 years, “ANZAC Day” has been observed in Australia and New Zealand, and this year it will also be marked in Galway - the first time it will be commemorated in Ireland outside of Dublin.
On Wednesday April 25 at 8pm, Cois Cladaigh will present a concert to commemorate ANZAC Day at St Nicholas' Collegiate Church. The concert, entitled Dark Hour, will include works by acclaimed American contemporary composer Eleanor Daly, New Zealand composer David Hamilton, and Australian composer Gordon Hamiltons’ setting of Australian PM Billy Hughes' 1916 speech in which he expressed the ANZAC experience at Gallipoli.
The Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Richard Andrews, will be in attendance. Admission is free of charge and all are welcome.
