Well, Pops & I went to Palmerston North yesterday but we through towns such as Kaitoke, Whangaehu, Turakina, Bulls (We walked through shops), Sanson, Awahuri and Newbury, before we approached Palmy so we had to go to the plaza then we headed over to the gas station & met up one of Poppa's friends so we had lunch at Cafe Esplanade then we had a walk there to see the river before we went back home so I watched a bit of Super Rugby then played Rugby Challenge on the Playstation 4 by managing to create a British & Irish Lions team then we had sausage curry for dinner & dessert before I went to sleep.
And today is Anzac Day (Well, we missed the traditional dawn service so we were sleeping) so this is the final part of the Cardinal Sin trilogy which is Aerials/Chop Suey!/Toxicity: Traditions Of The Cardinal Sin (Blog 103: The Final Chapter) which is the 25th of April this year in 2017 so I will be doing a blog today about the ANZAC invasion at Gallipoli in Turkey according to Wikipedia about Anzac Day (Well, 102 years have since been passed so I've already wrote on my previous blog about that 2 years ago that I was in the Coromandel with Nan & Pops because we were about to leave the town so we headed to Taupo for the night (Although we had afternoon tea at the motel we stayed which is Catelli's (Although the motel was renamed) went swimming as well as going to an Indian restaurant for dinner & watched a Super Rugby game between the Crusaders & Blues on TV) before we headed back home on the 26th of April, 2015):
Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand, a rare instance of two sovereign countries not only sharing the same remembrance day, but making reference to both countries in its name. When war broke out in 1914, Australia and New Zealand had been dominions of the British Empire for thirteen and seven years respectively.
In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was an ally of Germany during the war. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Army commanded by Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk). What had been planned as a bold strike to knock the Ottomans out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. The Allied casualties included 21,255 from the United Kingdom, of which were some 4,000 Irish soldiers from the Royal Irish Fusiliers, an estimated 10,000 deceased soldiers from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand, and 1,358 from British India. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in the war.
Though the Gallipoli campaign failed to achieve its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war, the actions of the Australian and New Zealand troops during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an "Anzac legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This has shaped the way their citizens have viewed both their past and their understanding of the present. The heroism of the soldiers in the failed Gallipoli campaign made their sacrifices iconic in New Zealand memory, and is often credited with securing the psychological independence of the nation.
On 30 April 1915, when the first news of the landing reached New Zealand, a half-day holiday was declared and impromptu services were held.
In South Australia, Australia's first built memorial to those killed in the Dardanelles was unveiled by the South Australian Governor on "Wattle Day", 7 September 1915, just over four months after the first landings. The monument was originally in an area called "Wattle Grove" on Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue in the South Parklands but was later moved to a lawned area off South Terrace near the junction with Anzac Highway. Remnant seedlings of the original wattles still grow in "Wattle Grove". Also in South Australia, Eight Hour Day, 13 October 1915, was renamed "Anzac Day" and a carnival was organised to raise money for the Wounded Soldiers Fund.
The date 25 April was officially named Anzac Day in 1916; in that year it was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia and New Zealand, including a commemorative march through London involving Australian and New Zealand troops. In New Zealand it was gazetted as a half-day holiday. Australian Great War battalion and brigade war diaries show that on this first anniversary, units including those on the front line, made efforts to solemnise the memory of those who were killed this day twelve months previously. A common format found in the war diaries by Australian and New Zealand soldiers for the day commenced with a dawn requiem mass, followed mid-morning with a commemorative service, and after lunch organised sports activities with the proceeds of any gambling going to Battalion funds. This occurred in Egypt as well.
In Queensland on 10 January 1916, Canon David John Garland was appointed the honorary secretary of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee of Queensland (ADCCQ) at a public meeting which endorsed 25 April as be the date promoted as “Anzac Day” in 1916 and ever after. Devoted to the cause of a non-denominational commemoration that could be attended by the whole of Australian society, Garland worked amicably across all denominational divides, creating the framework for Anzac Day commemorative services. Garland is specifically credited with initiating the Anzac Day march, the wreath-laying ceremonies at memorials and the special church services, the two minutes silence, and the luncheon for returned soldiers. Garland intended the silence was used in lieu of a prayer to allow the Anzac Day service to be universally attended, allowing attendees to make a silent prayer or remembrance in accordance with their own beliefs. He particularly feared that the universality of the ceremony would fall victim to religious sectarian disputes.
In London, over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of the city. A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The Knights of Gallipoli". Marches were held all over Australia in 1916; wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, accompanied by nurses. Over 2,000 people attended the service in Rotorua. For the remaining years of the war, Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and marches of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities. From 1916 onwards, in both Australia and New Zealand, Anzac memorials were held on or about 25 April, mainly organised by returned servicemen and school children in cooperation with local authorities.
Anzac Day was gazetted as a public holiday in New Zealand in 1920, through the Anzac Day Act, after lobbying by the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, the RSA. In Australia at the 1921 State Premiers' Conference, it was decided that Anzac Day would be observed on 25 April each year. However, it was not observed uniformly in all the states.
During the 1920s, Anzac Day became established as a National Day of Commemoration for the 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders who died during the war. The first year in which all the Australian states observed some form of public holiday together on Anzac Day was 1927. By the mid-1930s, all the rituals now associated with the day—dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, sly two-up games—became part of Australian Anzac Day culture. New Zealand commemorations also adopted many of these rituals, with the dawn service being introduced from Australia in 1939.
And finally the 2017 Formula 1 season heads to Mother Russia at Sochi where Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel (Germany) is leading the World Championship by 7 points (Although Vettel claimed both victories in Australia & Bahrain compared to Hamilton's win in China) ahead of his Mercedes adversary Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) so here's the circuit guide to the Sochi Autodrome in Sochi who will host Round 4 of the Russian Grand Prix according to Collins Grand Prix circuits book that I've still got:
''After many false starts elsewhere, Sochi became the 1st Grand Prix in Russia. Built off the back of the 2014 Winter Olympics, using the same site with permanent pit & paddock facilities. 3rd longest circuit on the F1 calendar. Government backing ensures permanent prescence for time being.''
So that is my 103rd blog of the year 2017 (MMXVII), so I've broken the record now for most blogs in a month with 7 now.
#AnzacDay
Lest we forget
No comments:
Post a Comment