With various members of staff originating from Australia and New Zealand, it is usually tradition to celebrate Anzac Day. Find out how our Australian and New Zealand staff commemorated this year.

Mrs Jacobs tells us more about Anzac Day and how she honored this day:

“Anzac Day, held on the 25th April, is probably Australia and New Zealand’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces during World War One and commemorates all the conflicts that followed.

Australian and New Zealander nationals, wherever they are in the world, will always respect this day and remember the Anzacs (Australian & New Zealand Army Corp).

Many of the SVS staff, including myself, commemorated this day on Saturday by holding their own Dawn service.

Why at Dawn?

A dawn service was held on the Western Front by an Australian battalion on the first anniversary of the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1916, and historians agree that in Australia dawn services spontaneously popped up around the country to commemorate the fallen at Gallipoli in the years after this.

2020 Anzac Day

Unfortunately, this year most Anzac Day marches and ceremonies were cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In true Aussie style, that didn’t stop this special day being remembered. The national Anzac Day ceremony was watched by thousands on Saturday morning — broadcast from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, as people stay home amid coronavirus restrictions. Australians and New Zealanders stood outside their houses in their driveways with candles and listened to the Dawn Service on the radio. Many locals who could play the last post on trumpets did, ‘giving a togetherness and we stand together to remember our heroes feel!’ ”

The staff who live on-site also gathered on the morning, at 5.30am on the Headmaster’s Terrace, to observe our own version of ANZAC Day.