The ANZAC (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) tradition began in memory of the 25th of April 1915 when ANZAC troops stormed the beach now known as ANZAC Cove on the peninsula at Gallipoli in Turkey.  This day became known as Anzacday and has been become a special day for all Australians and New Zealanders living around the world who come together to commemorate on Anzacday for the sacrifices made by those Anzac's that fought in Gallipoli.

ANZACDay was first celebrated with a Dawn Service in 1923, a tradition that has continued to the present day. ANZACDay remembers the fallen of all the conflicts in which Australia and New Zealand have participated and the term `ANZAC´ refers to all soldiers of New Zealand and Australia.  For many years now Anzacday has also become the day that thousands of New Zealanders and Australians make the Anzacday pilgrimage to Gallipoli to take part in the special Anzacday commemorations there which starts with the Anzacday Dawn Service at Anzac Cove early on the 25th April and then the Australian and New Zealand Anzacday services at Lonepine and Chunuk Bair.

The move was designed to secure the sea passage through the Dardanelles (a straight joining the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and which leads to Istanbul) as part of the strategy of the Allies to defeat the Central Powers of the First World War. The ANZAC forces landed not on the flat beaches expected but faced with narrow beaches and steep dunes. Five Turkish Divisions were entrenched and waiting, and following fierce fighting in appalling conditions, both sides suffered severe losses in the following weeks. In the eight months that followed before the Allies withdrew, 8,597 Australians lost their lives and over 19,000 were injured.