Cane-twirling veteran Colin Moir leads Anzac Day march in Sydney

From major cities to regional towns and suburban centres in between, Australians have gathered to commemorate the nation’s veterans on Anzac Day.

On the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, tens of thousands of people attended Dawn Services and marches before the more solemn activities gave way to traditional games of two-up at the pub.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Thousands attend Anzac march through Sydney CBD.

Veteran serviceman Colin Moir, 102, won hearts as he twirled his cane while leading the 1.2km march alongside Vincent Ball in Sydney.

Moir was a member of the 36th Infantry Battalion that served in Papua New Guinea and New Britain during WWII.

“A whisky a day keeps the doctor away,” Moir told the crowd, as reported the Daily Telegraph.

Among the crowd at the Sydney Dawn Service was Gwen Cherne and her children, who lost their husband and father Peter to suicide in 2017 after a long and distinguished military career.

She now serves as Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner, saying she personally understood the sacrifices of veterans and their families who “make sure our society doesn’t crack”.

While the majority of the morning’s events were sombre and respectful, a handful were disrupted with interjections, booing and heckling.

At Melbourne’s Dawn Service, a self-professed neo-Nazi was arrested after booing and calling out during a Welcome to Country from an Indigenous elder in actions that were widely condemned.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, said there was no place for those who disrupted the service.

“A neo-Nazi disrupting Anzac Day is abhorrent, un-Australian and disgraceful,” he said.

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh described the behaviour as disgraceful.

A heckler also disrupted a Welcome to Country in Perth during commemorations, while an attendee at the Canberra event shouted “free Palestine” before the national anthems were played.

Bouts of heavy rain in Sydney and Brisbane were no deterrent as large crowds gathered for early services and subsequent parades.

Anzac Day, held annually on April 25, recognises the more than 1.5 million Australians who have served in wars and peace operations, including 103,000 who lost their lives.

At Elephant Rock on the Gold Coast, a solemn acknowledgement of sacrifice was held with the ashes of veterans who had recently died given a ceremonial burial at sea during one of Australia’s most poignant Dawn Services.

Albanese, who like his political opponents suspended election campaigning on Friday for the commemorations, said Anzac Day was a day to contemplate the debt today’s citizens owed to those who served.

“Each year, we renew our vow to keep the flame of memory burning so brightly that its glow touches the next generation and the generation after that,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton laid a wreath at a Dawn Service in his electorate of Dickson in Brisbane’s northern suburbs, alongside his wife Kirilly.

He said commemorations in 2025 were particularly significant, coming on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

“Barely a city or town, a suburb or street, a community or citizen was unscathed in some way by the catastrophe of that all-encompassing conflict,” Dutton said.

Dawn Services and marches across the nation honoured the enduring contributions of service personnel at Gallipoli and the 110 years since, RSL Australia national president Greg Melick said.

“The Gallipoli campaign was the first major military action involving Australian and New Zealand forces,” he said.

“They held their ground against almost impossible odds for eight months in the ravines and gullies of that rugged battleground, suffering terrible casualties.

“They fought with endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, and mateship.”

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, whose father served in the army for four decades, is the most senior Australian representative at a Dawn Service at Gallipoli Cove.

Services are also being held across many European battlefronts from World War I where Australians fought, including Villers-Bretonneux.