ANZAC day is in many ways the most important day in the Australian calendar.
On the 25th of April it commemorates the day in 1915 when soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) went into action in the ill fated Dardanelles Campaign of World War I.
A mere 14 years after Australian Federation the casualties that fell in that campaign and the rest who fell before the end scarred our fledgling nation. Of a population of just over 4 million people in 1914, 330,000 Aussie soldiers served (all volunteers). It is said that Australian troops had the unenviable record of having the highest casualty rate during that bloody war. What is known is that of the 330,000 who served 221,000 were killed or seriously wounded.
So 96 years later we still commemorate ANZAC day.
The day begins with the Dawn Service. The title of the post refers to an ode (part of a longer poem) which is recited at the service:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Last year I went to the ANZAC day parade and posted about that.
This year I did not want to battle the crowds so Deb and I made our way into the city in the evening.
It seemed quite fitting that we approached the Shrine of Remembrance as the sun was setting.
We approached from the city along the Ceremonial Avenue.
When we reached the forecourt the stone of the Shrine was bathed with the rich colour of the sunset. 
In the forecourt is the Eternal Flame
and the World War II memorial.
Every instant the light changed. 
I turned to catch the light painting this white barked eucalyptus orange.
Then as the last glow of the sun went…
The shrine faded to its usual grey
Deb and I turned back to go along the avenue toward the city.
Lest we forget how personal these events are…
Someone’s private remembrance of a lost Grandfather.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them.
