Anzac Day 2025: meaning of Australia and New Zealand day of remembrance, date - what does ‘Anzac’ stand for?

Today, 25 April, marks Anzac Day - a day of remembrance for New Zealand and Australia.

Kiwis and Australians will greet the morning with commemorative dawn services, and acts of remembrance will be taking place throughout the day. Here’s all you need to know about Anzac Day, from the Gallipoli Campaign to what 'Anzac' actually stands for.

What is Anzac Day?

Anzac Day is a broad day of remembrance commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in conflicts, wars and peacekeeping operations, recognising their sacrifices and suffering.

Observed on 25 April annually, the date was originally chosen to honour those Australians and New Zealanders who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in the First World War.

‘Anzac’ was an abbreviation for the ‘Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’ - a battalion of soldiers who served in the Gallipoli Campaign.

What was the Gallipoli Campaign?

The Gallipoli Campaign was an attempt by the Allies to allow their ships to pass through the Turkish Dardanelles Strait, capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) and knock Ottoman Turkey out of the First World War.

Separate landings were made by the Anzacs, the British and the French troops on 25 April 1915, though they were quickly contained by Ottoman troops, rendering the Allies unable to advance further. Mirroring trench warfare on the western front, fighting quickly broke out, with heavy losses suffered on both sides.

The losses included more than 8,700 Australians and 2,700 New Zealanders - nearly a sixth of those who had landed on the peninsula.

The hot summer weather also made conditions particularly unbearable, causing mass sickness and rendering food inedible fast. In spite of fresh attempts at attack by the Allies, the campaign ultimately failed and troops were forced to evacuate.

How is the day being marked in New Zealand and Australia?

Usually at dawn each year, people in Australia and New Zealand honour their fallen servicemen and women with a service.

And as usual hundreds of thousands of people gathered across Australia and New Zealand on Friday for dawn services and street marches to commemorate Anzac Day, a day of remembrance shared by the two nations to remember those lost to war.

However, at least two Australian services were disrupted by protests, with hecklers disrupting services in Melbourne and Perth. A small group of hecklers disrupted a dawn service attended by 50,000 people at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne with boos and jeers.

The booing began when Indigenous man Mark Brown started the service with a so-called Welcome to Country — a ceremony in which Indigenous Australians welcome visitors to their traditional land.

What has been the UK royal family’s involvement in Anzac Day this year?

The Princess Royal has remembered “brave Anzacs” in their own words during a dawn service in north-west Turkey where thousands fell 110 years ago.

On a day when the sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand forces who were killed in the Gallipoli landings in 1915 was recognised in services across the world, the Princess Royal laid a wreath on that fateful coastline.

In a message on social media Charles, who attended the dawn service in Gallipoli on Anzac Day in 2005 and 2015, said he wanted to pay a special tribute to Australian and New Zealand veterans, and those who are on active service today.

“Through the generations, you have continued to enact the indomitable spirit of Anzac – forged in terrible conflict and preserved in peace – of courage, mateship and sacrifice,” he said.

Will the day be marked in the UK?

In the United Kingdom, Anzac Day commemorative services usually mirror those in New Zealand and Australia. Some organisations like the New Zealand society will hold special events and receptions for expats in London.

Royal Family members, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have also historically marked the day, with Prince William paying tribute to the “indomitable spirit” and “courage” of Australian and New Zealand forces.