Report to Government

Anzac Day services

Recommendation 16

The Board recommends in relation to Anzac Day services that efforts be made to:

• 
  increase involvement of Australian Defence Force personnel and young Australians at all 2015 Anzac Day services, in Australia and overseas, including through creative initiatives such as a youth choir and visits by young servicemen and servicewomen to regional communities to tell their stories and share their experiences
  
• 
  without altering the core, formal elements of the Anzac Day services, develop a small number of appropriate complementary activities in recognition of the special status of the 100th anniversary at Gallipoli. In particular, this should include the design and organisation, in collaboration with Turkey, of a suitable Hands of Friendship component for either the 2015 Anzac Day Lone Pine service or the 2015 Anzac Day dawn service at Gallipoli. Also, possible inclusion of a special and compelling Gallipoli Centenary Oration at the national service in Canberra, reflecting upon Australia’s wartime service and sacrifice
  
• 
  explore options to increase the opportunity for engagement with the Centenary at Gallipoli. This would include encouragement of visits on other key anniversary dates through the length of the eight-month Gallipoli campaign (paragraphs 3.7–3.12 and 3.17).
  

Centenary of the outbreak of the First World War

Recommendation 17

The Board recommends that on 4 August 2014, the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War be recognised by a small number of symbolic national events, which all Australians may witness through national broadcasts, with some elements designed for direct participation (paragraph 3.13).

Australia’s first military campaign

Recommendation 18

The Board recommends that in September 2014, Australia’s first military campaign of the First World War, which removed the German forces and subsequently occupied German New Guinea, be recognised by an appropriate commemoration. This was also the occasion of the loss of HMAS AE1—the Royal Australian Navy’s first submarine and the Navy’s first wartime loss (paragraphs 3.14).

Albany convoy commemoration

Recommendation 19

The Board recommends that on or around 1 November 2014, the departure of the first convoy carrying Australian and New Zealand troops be recognised by an appropriate commemoration in Albany, Western Australia; and the role of HMAS Sydney off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in protecting the convoy also be appropriately commemorated (paragraphs 3.27–3.32).

Program of commemorative events

Recommendation 20

The Board recommends that an annual program of major domestic and international commemorative events be developed and made public, as early as practicable, for each successive year of the Centenary to assist Australians in planning to attend events and services (paragraph 3.18–3.23).

Arts and culture

Recommendation 21

The Board recommends that arts bodies and cultural institutions, including state and territory arts festivals, consider how they might support development, performance and/or exhibition of a diverse range of high-quality artistic creations with an Anzac Centenary theme. The Board especially recommends support for:

• 
  the Gallipoli Symphony
  
• 
  an Australian War Requiem
  
• 
  a Joint Australian-New Zealand War Art Exhibition
  
• 
  the ‘Black Diggers’ project (Sydney Festival)
  
• 
  an Australian Defence Force play, based on the experiences of troops with veterans of recent operations participating in the project (paragraph 4.1–4.9).
  

Funding

Recommendation 22

The Board recommends that a proportion of corporate donations made to the Anzac Centenary and collected in the Anzac Centenary Public Fund be available for funding state and territory Anzac Centenary proposals:

• 
  this funding pool be distributed to states and territories according to a consistent and equitable approach
  
• 
  the Board to provide strategic advice to the Government on the priorities for the disbursement of donated funds (paragraphs 5.10–5.13).
  

Merchandise

Recommendation 23

The Board recommends that development and retail of quality official Anzac Centenary merchandise be supported, including through adoption of the Board’s merchandising principles (paragraph 5.14–5.16).

Recommendation 24

The Board recommends that any surplus generated by the sale of official merchandise and any remaining donated funds at the conclusion of the Centenary be contributed to worthwhile charities associated with military service, such as scholarships for children of contemporary veterans (paragraph 5.15).

Implementation

Recommendation 25

The Board recommends that the scale, complexity, duration, required dignity and quality of the Anzac commemoration, and the high level of public expectations, be acknowledged. To move effectively from 2013 onwards through the next stages of planning, preparation and delivery will require an adequately resourced organisational structure, which is able to draw upon expertise from both within and outside government. This includes the need to draw upon an experienced director/coordinator for an artistic program (paragraphs 7.1–7.3).

Century of Service

	Australians stand over the grave of their comrade, mortally wounded in the Boer War in January 1902. (AWM A04945)
	Crew of HMAS Sydney pose on deck after sinking the German raider Emden, November 1914. (AWM EN0211)
	Men of the AIF in a trench at Lone Pine after the battle, with Australian and Turkish dead on the parapet, Gallipoli, August 1915. (AWM A02025)
	Members of the 53rd and 54th Battalions at a machine-gun post in Peronne, France, September 1918. (AWM E03183)
	Australian and New Zealand service nurses arrive in Crete after evacuation from Greece, some bearing wounds from a bombing raid, April 1941. (AWM 007614)
	A member of the 2/48th Battalion rests after carrying casualties from the front line, Tarakan, Borneo, May 1945. (AWM 089463)
	Crew members of No. 467 Squadron RAAF celebrate the 100th operation of Lancaster bomber S for Sugar, Lincolnshire, England, May 1944. (SUK12337)
	Crew of HMAS Australia examine parts of a Japanese kamikaze plane that crashed into the ship during the battle of Lingayen Gulf, January 1945. (AWM P02018.346)
	Having chased Chinese forces out of hilly country in central Korea, men of the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, carry out their casualties, February 1951. (AWM HOBJ2082)
	A gun crew of HMAS Murchison fires while on patrol in the Han Estuary, Korea, 1951. (AWM P03069.001)
	A RAAF Forward Air Controller pilots a Cessna Bird Dog over a forward area, Vietnam, c. 1967. (AWM P01953.010)
	Members of the 5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, evacuate a casualty of a booby trap grenade, Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam, October 1966. (AWM COA/66/0877/VN)
	Australians land at Suai Beach as part of INTERFET, East Timor, October 1999. (Dept of Defence V99_100_24)
	Members of Combat Team Quintus hold position on a patrol in Al Muthanna Province during Operation Catalyst, Iraq, March 2006. (Dept of Defence 20060320adf8099240_001)
	Members of Combat Team Tusk establish patrol formations as they step off during operations in the Baluchi Valley in southern Afghanistan, March 2009. (Dept of Defence 20090331adf8185016_0017)
	Crew of a RAAF Hercules from No. 37 Squadron conduct a search and rescue operation in the Solomon Islands, July 2010. (Dept of Defence 20100724adf8114832_028)

Part One

The Anzac Centenary and Australia’s preparations