Anzac Day 2024: Patriotic Australians line the streets to honour our Anzac heroes as colourful marches get underway across major cities

Huge crowds have lined the streets in Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide for Anzac Day marches.

In Melbourne, many of the thousands who gathered for dawn services made their way to Swanston Street near Federation Square to watch the march from 9am as former and serving soldiers headed down St Kilda Road towards the Shrine of Remembrance.

The RSL ACT Branch Veterans’ March began at 9.30am in Canberra on the Australian War Memorial’s newly built Parade Ground.

In Brisbane, the parade marched along Adelaide Street, between George Street and Creek Street, from 9.45am to 12.30pm.

Meanwhile in Adelaide, the march will take a route from the intersection of Gawler Place and North Terrace along King William Rd to the Cross of Sacrifice memorial at Pennington Gardens East.

A remembrance service will then be held at the memorial along with an RAAF fly past.

Queensland’s State Library launched the AI chatbot ‘Charlie the virtual veteran’ and invited Aussies to ask him questions about WWI.

‘See history come to life as you chat with Charlie and ask him questions about World War I,’ the library said.

But less than 24 hours after the bot was launched, users figured out how to break Charlie’s programming.

Many shared screenshots of their bizarre conversations with the ‘soldier’ – most of which had nothing to do with war.

One person asked the bot to play the role of a ‘ditzy blonde’ while explaining the statute of frauds in contract law.

‘It’s this old law thingy … to prevent fraud and stuff … But remember I’m not a lawyer, just a ditzy blonde,’ Charlie responded.

A Greens councillor from NSW has been accused of politicising Anzac Day after showing up to a dawn service wearing a piece of clothing that has become a symbol for Palestine nationalism.

Rafaela Pandolfini lay a bouquet of flowers at a moving service in Coogee, in Sydney eastern suburbs, on Thursday morning while wearing a keffiyeh.

While the traditional Arab headress has long been worn by Palestinians, the choice to wear it to an Anzac service amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza was questioned by many.

Earlier this week a Teachers for Palestine group in Victoria linked Anzac Day to the conflict saying it was ‘part of the same Imperial push’.

Cynthia Clifford joined thousands of Army, Air Force and Navy personell marching through Brisbane on Anzac Day.

The spritely 100-year-old served as an anti-aircraft gunner in Western Australia during the Second World War.

She said her children and grandchildren would be marching with her and that ‘it was an important day for the family’.

She enlisted in the Australian Women’s Army Service on October 21, 1943 and was going to be sent to do office work but instead insisted she wanted to do field work.

Lines were already wrapping around the block at pubs across Sydney by 9am on the Anzac Day public holiday.

Thousands of Australians are partaking in the tradition of heading to the pub, with many expected to revel in the once-a-year tradition of playing two-up.

Bondi Lines – an Instagram page which has updates on the length of lines outside the city’s most popular venues – shared video from outside the Clovelly Hotel in the eastern suburbs from just after 9am, when the pub opened.

Traffic will be impacted in most major cities as Anzac Day marches are held across Australia, especially in the country’s two largest hubs Sydney and Melbourne.

In Sydney Elizabeth Street has been closed from 6am. The march will finish at 12.30pm but the streets will not return to normal until mid-afternoon.

Pedestrians wanting to cross Elizabeth St should make their way to designated crossings at Park St, Bathurst St and Hunter St or use Musuem Station to cross.

In Melbourne, motorists will be affected in the CBD, Southbank and along St Kilda Rd as well as around Kings Domain and the Botanic and Alexandra gardens until about 2pm.

Publc transport is running and encouraged in both cities though some services could also be affected.

A crowd of more than 1,000 gathered at the South Australian National War Memorial for the dawn service opened by RSL SA chair Ian Smith.

Wreaths were laid at the memorial by Premier Peter Malinauskas, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and SA Senator Simon Birmingham among other dignitaries.

A service to honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who served in Australia’s Defence Force has been held in Canberra and attended by former Labor leader and Australian War Memorial chair Kim Beazley.

The service was hosted by members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans and Services Association (ATSIVSA) at the ‘For Our Country’ pavilion.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is commemorating Anzac Day by walking part of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

He attended a dawn service at the Isurava memorial following a two-day 16km hike along the trail.

He was joined by PNG Prime Minister James Marape and a crowd of 400 people at the service on Thursday morning.

The Isurava memorial is the site where Australian and Papuan forces fought desperately against Japanese soldiers in August 1942.

‘We are gathered in a place that has known the most pitiless ferocity of battle, fought with bullet, bayonet, mortar, and the desperation of bare hands,’ Mr Albanese said.

‘It is also a place that has seen the unadorned strength of the Australian spirit.’

Mr Albanese also thanked the people of PNG for coming to the aid of Australian soldiers.

‘We thank every one of them who helped Australians in the face of retribution and sometimes unfathomable cruelty,’ he said.

‘The troops, the coast watchers and the shipping pilots.

‘The villagers who risked their own lives to feed and guide and shelter Australians in desperate need. The stretcher bearers whose courage was matched only by their kindness.

‘To the people of PNG, I offer Australia’s promise: We will never forget.’

Thousands arrived at Elephant Rock in Currumbin on the Gold Coast on Anzac Day to honour those who served their country.

Melburnians braved the darkness and brisk weather to mark the 109th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli in World War I and honour those who have served in other conflicts and peacekeeping missions.

More than 40,000 people filled the area around the war memorial, which was lit up in red before dawn.

Premier Jacinta Allan, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, Opposition Leader John Pesutto and Victorian Governor Margaret Gardner were amongst the official party.

Master of ceremonies Justin Smith paid particular tribute to Australian peacekeepers, who had ‘little recognition’.

‘Many times against their training, our peacekeepers could not fight back and this brought its own trauma, as they witnessed human beings at their worst,’ he said.

‘Their enemies weren’t always clear, and their allies weren’t always reliable.’

Mr Smith also remembered the boy soldiers, as young as 14, who lied about their ages to join Australia’s war effort and ended up in Gallipolli.

This is the first year veterans of peacekeeping operations will lead Melbourne’s Anzac Day march.

More than 10,000 are expected to take part, similar to last year.

– Australian Associated Press

Major supermarket retailers like Coles, Woolworths and Aldi will be open on Anzac Day but opening hours vary.

Coles and Woolworths will mostly be open from 1pm, as well Westfield shopping centres.

Two-up was played by Australian soldiers during the First World War, and has since become an Anzac Day tradition.

The game is illegal in venues across most of the country on most days except Anzac Day – which falls on 25 April each year – but the exact rules depend on the state or territory you are in.

Generally, a match manager known as a ‘ringkeeper’ or ‘ringie’ will select a person to be the ‘spinner’.

The spinner will stand in the ring, which is a designated circle in the venue in which only the spinner is allowed.The spinner will place two pennies on a wooden bat, known as a ‘kip’.

Someone will yell ‘come in spinner’ and on that cue, the spinner will toss both pennies up in the air.

They must land within the boundaries of the ring.

Before the coins are tossed, the spinner or other punters will select an amount of money to bet on and find someone in the crowd to match their bet, with one betting on both coins landing heads up, and the other betting on both coins landing tails up.

The spinner will continue to toss the pennies until both land either tails up or heads up.

The ringie will call the result.

The ringie’s decision is final and the winner takes all.

Thousands of Australians have set their alarms early to attend dawn services on this year’s Anzac Day.

Emotional scenes were seen across the country early on Thursday as services were held outside war memorials in major cities.

Australian Governor-General David Hurley lay a wreath at a service outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, while state premiers also attended services before sunrise.

Anthony Albanese delivered a moving speech from the the dawn service at the Isurava memorial along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea on Thursday.