[9][10] 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.

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.

[20] 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.

[25] The date 25 April was officially named Anzac Day in 1916;[26] in that year, it was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, New Zealand and London.

[29] 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.

The 1919 Sydney parade was cancelled as a result, but a public commemorative service was held in the Domain, where participants were required to wear masks and stand three feet apart.

Commemorative services and marches are held at dawn, the time of the original landing, mainly at war memorials in cities and towns across both nations and the sites of some of Australia and New Zealand's more-recognised battles and greatest losses, such as Villers-Bretonneux in France[49] and Gallipoli in Turkey.

"[7] In recent years, there has been greater recognition of the often overlooked role that women, immigrants and Indigenous Australians played in the wars, in the news and in the arts.

Black Diggers, which premiered at the Sydney Festival, told the stories of the Aboriginal men who enlisted, whose sacrifices were ignored, and who were quickly forgotten upon their return.

He created a Facebook group Aussies and Kiwis for ANZACS, and Ashleigh Leckie, a Navy veteran, combined their ideas and put forth what we now know as the Driveway at Dawn movement.

[64] The end of pandemic restriction meant crowds returned to pre-pandemic levels in Queensland[65] New South Wales[66] South Australia,[67] Victoria, The ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory where Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles (representing Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese who was sick with COVID at the time) attended a dawn service.

Some of the ceremonies have also become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, prayer readings, laying of wreaths, laments and the playing of the Australian national anthem, but others have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to.

[84] These events are generally followed by social gatherings of veterans, hosted either in a public house or in an RSL club, often including a traditional Australian gambling game called two-up, which was an extremely popular pastime with ANZAC soldiers.

[85] (In most Australian states and territories, gambling is forbidden outside of licensed venues; however, due to the significance of this tradition, two-up is legal only on Anzac Day.

[88][78] Although commemoration events are always held on 25 April, most states and territories currently observe a substitute public holiday on the following Monday when Anzac Day falls on a Sunday.

[89] This followed a 2008 meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation in which the states and territories made an in-principle agreement to work towards making this a universal practice.

A prior act passed in 1949 prevented the holiday from being Mondayised (moved to the 26th or 27th should the 25th fall on a weekend),[114] although this drew criticism from trade unionists and Labour Party politicians.

That year, a monolith installed at Ari Burnu Cemetery (ANZAC Beach) was inscribed with a quotation attributed to Kemal Atatürk in 1934: Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Of the 10,500 people who could be safely, securely and comfortably accommodated at the Anzac Commemorative Site, in 2015 this comprised places for 8,000 Australians, 2,000 New Zealanders and 500 official representatives of all nations involved in the Gallipoli campaign.

[124] The Australian Borneo Exhibition Group organises annual trips for ANZAC veterans and students to commemorate World War II in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

[191] For decades, there have been concerns that the participation of young people in Anzac Day events has injected a carnival element into what is traditionally a solemn occasion.

In a time when the line between being online and offline is increasingly blurred, there has been a turn towards commemorative activities that seek to generate empathy and connection between contemporary audiences and historical subjects through digital media.

These online forums, and their capacity for personalised feedback, have disquieted some historians, who are concerned about the distance, solemnity and critical perspective of traditional Anzac Day commemorations being lost.

[200][201] Equally others emphasise how, particularly young people, using these technologies of the present, play a role in connecting wider communities of Anzac Day commemorators.

[203] One controversy occurred in 1960 with the publication of Alan Seymour's classic play, The One Day of the Year,[204] which dramatised the growing social divide in Australia and the questioning of old values.

[206][207] In October 2008, former Australian prime minister Paul Keating stated that he believes it is misguided for people to gather each year at Anzac Cove to commemorate the landing at Gallipoli, because it is "utter and complete nonsense" to suggest that the nation was "born again or even, redeemed there".

[209] Some critics have suggested that the revival in public interest in Anzac Day amongst the young results from the fact that younger Australians have not themselves experienced war.

[7] Other criticisms have revolved around a perceived overzealousness in Australian attachment to the event, either from participants unaware of the loss or when the focus is at the expense of remembrance of the contribution of New Zealand.

[195] In 2005, John Howard was criticised for shunning the New Zealand Anzac ceremony at Gallipoli,[217] preferring instead to spend his morning at a barbecue on the beach with Australian soldiers.