Australia’s ANZAC Day Dawn Service tradition began in Sydney at the Martin Place Cenotaph. In the early hours of 25 April 1927, five members of the Association of Returned Sailors and Soldiers Clubs who had been attending the Association’s Anzac eve annual general meeting and dinner in the Martin Place Blue Tea Rooms (between Castlereagh and Pitt Streets), were wending their way home when they saw an elderly lady moving to place a sheaf of flowers on the then bare granite plinth of the Cenotaph in Sydney’s Martin Place.
When she stumbled and dropped the flowers they helped her and awkwardly watched her place the flowers; when she commenced to pray they silently joined her; these five men were Jim Davidson, Ernie Rushbrooke, George Patterson, Len Stickler and Bill Gamble. They recounted their experience, and to old soldiers it brought back memories of other dawns.
Commencement of building the Cenotaph had heightened consciousness of commemoration of the Great War and, in response to a motion by Rushbrooke, its honorary secretary, the Association decided to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on Anzac Day 1928 at 4.30 am, which was when the landing commenced at Anzac Cove on 25th April, 1915. A small number attended this first service, including the five men mentioned; Patterson, who was then the President of the Association, laid the wreath. The service was most simple but its solemnity created a deep impression and ensured its continuance. With the completion of the Cenotaph in 1929, attendance grew rapidly, so that by 1931, it was up to 800.
The following provides a picture of the development of the Sydney Dawn Service:
| 1929 |
Prayers were introduced and led by the Anglican Dean of Sydney, the Very Reverend Albert Talbot, who was a veteran of Gallipoli. |
| 1930 |
The Association, now the Australian Legion of Ex-Service Clubs, decided to make the Dawn Service an annual ceremony and appointed Rushbrooke as the organiser with Stickler as his assistant; the bugle call Reveille was introduced. |
| 1931 |
The Governor of New South Wales (then Sir Phillip Game) was invited to attend and laid the wreath; special train and tram services were provided. |
| 1932 |
Station 2GB commenced to broadcast the service and (Uncle) Frank Grosse became the announcer – a service he provided until 1964. Howard Craven succeeded him before handing over to Leon Becker in 1995. Lieutenant Colonel John Moore took over as announcer in 2006 until 2017. In 2018, Gareth McCray became the announcer. |
| 1933 |
Governor Sir Phillip Game delivered the dedication; the Sydney Male Choir sang for the first time Lead Kindly Light. Original members of the 3rd Brigade (the first Brigade to land at Anzac Cove) were invited and travelled from all over Australia to attend. |
| 1935 |
There is No Death sung by the choir for the first time; |
| 1939 |
Even with the threat of World War II, 20,000 people attended and although conditions limited attendance during the war years, the Service continued to be conducted every year. |
| 1942 |
Due to national security restrictions the official ceremony was held indoors. A small gathering of veterans, soldiers, and a widow, organised by founding Legion member The Marrickville Anzac Memorial Club, laid a wreath at the Cenotaph at 4.30 am. |
| 1986 |
The 75th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy and Rear Admiral David Martin (later Governor of New South Wales) proposed the Navy’s participation by way of providing a band, catafalque party and chaplain. This established a precedent for the Australian Defence Services to provide that assistance and also the guest speaker. |
| 2000 |
The Anzac Day Dawn Service Trust formed; |
| 2005 |
To cope with increasing attendances, which now extended well up Martin Place, a television screen was positioned east of Pitt Street facing up Martin Place. The NSW Government classified the Service as an event of major state significance. Since then the NSW Government has continued to provide generous support, especially by allowing its events specialists to assist the Anzac Day Dawn Service Trust (established by the Legion). |
| 2014 |
To mark the Centenary of Anzac, the NSW Government projected historical images and portraits of soldiers on to Challis House, adjacent to the Cenotaph; New Zealand took a more prominent role by laying the first wreath together with the NSW Governor and providing a Maori choir to sing a Song of Sorrow; the NSW Premier opened the Service with a poem; the Service included an Indigenous ‘Welcome’ and Legacy children, representing Australian youth, recited The Ode. |
| 2015 |
The Centenary of the landing at Gallipoli was commemorated with a large crowd numbering in the tens of thousands requiring the provision of additional television screens. |
| 2017 |
The Lament, Gallipoli, composed by Graham Wood, the first Australian Commemorative Lament, was performed for the first time. |
| 2020 |
Government Public Health Orders prevented the conduct of an official ceremony. In its place, the President and Vice President of the Trust, and a representative of the Legion, laid wreaths at the Cenotaph at 4.30 am. |
There have been two notable changes over the long life of the Service – to the darkness and the silence. Until the 1970s the service was conducted in darkness, and, in the early years there was no band, the veterans assembled in Macquarie Street and the first sound of their footsteps (without any accompaniment) heralded the start of the Ceremony, their tramp becoming louder and louder as they marched down Martin Place. It was both eerie and very moving; subsequently the veterans assembled in Pitt Street and marched on to face the northern side of the Cenotaph. However, by 2009, the veterans’ march on had deteriorated and it was replaced by a recording of the stamp of feet in remembrance of the march down Martin Place by the Great War veterans. Since 1998 high school students are now invited to recite the Ode.
To ensure the continuance of the tradition the Australian Legion of Ex-Service Clubs, whose representatives were aging, obtained the assistance of the National Servicemen’s Association NSW Branch, and in 2000, formed a new body The Anzac Day Dawn Service Trust Inc.
It is noteworthy that, after the ‘Last Post’ and a minute’s silence, the ‘Reveille’ is sounded in contrast to the ‘Rouse’ which is the bugle call played at all commemorative ceremonies other than the Dawn Services.
It did not take long for others to follow – Perth in 1929 and may suburbs and towns and in every other capital by 1933; however the Melbourne Service differed by originally being wordless and by being restricted, as advertised in the newspapers: ‘Men who are not returned soldiers and women were requested not to attend this ceremony’.
