Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told the centenary dawn service at Gallipoli that the Anzacs represented "Australians at our best".
"Few of us can recall the detail but we have imbibed what matters most: that a generation of young Australians rallied to serve our country, when our country called, and they were faithful, even unto death," Mr Abbott said.
The prime minister addressed a silent crowd of 10,500 people gathered at the Australian Commemorative Site on Gallipoli's North Beach for the 100th anniversary of the fateful Gallipoli landings on April 25, 1915.
"Most of us have never worn our country's uniform, we have not climbed the steep cliffs of Gallipoli," he said.
"But we are better for those who have."
"They were as good as they could be in their time, now let us be as good as we can in ours."
Mr Abbott also paid tribute to Australian personnel who have served in wars and peacekeeping missions since.
New Zealand prime minister John Key told those gathered that, if the situation of the invasion had been reversed, Kiwi men would have been willing to lay down their lives to defend their coastline.
To New Zealanders, Gallipoli didn't just mean the hills and coast, but the names and stories of the men who died here, and the parents, wives and family that grieved for them, he said.
"Gallipoli symbolises too the pity of war ... It was a place of unspeakable suffering on both sides of fighting."
Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin AC, read the Call to Remembrance.
"Each man who landed on these shores harboured his own fears and apprehensions," he said.
"They worried how they would perform when they confronted the enemy and hoped that, when the time came, they would not let their mates down."
About a quarter of the Australians and New Zealanders who won ballot passes to the ceremony are direct descendants of the men who fought at Gallipoli.
Prince Charles and Prince Harry attended the dawn service along with political leaders and ministers from New Zealand, Turkey, Ireland, Canada, Nepal, Greece, India and Germany.
Mr Key, Mr Abbott, Prince Charles and Prince Harry will attend an Anzac breakfast after the dawn service before heading to the Australian service at Lone Pine and the New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair.
About 130,000 men died during the eight month Gallipoli campaign, including 87,000 Ottoman soldiers, 8700 Australians, 2779 New Zealanders and 21,000 British.
© AAP 2024
