In Australia and New Zealand, Anzac Day is the day we remember our war dead. On April 25, 1915, troops from Australia and New Zealand were sent to take a strategic position at Gallipoli in Turkey. They were landed at the wrong place, and the result was a ghastly and pointless slaughter. Some countries commemorate their victories, some the end of hostilities, but Downunder we commemorate the futility of war and the suffering and misery it causes.

This morning I walked in darkness to our local war memorial to join the silent crowd for the Dawn Parade. You would think that an occasion that commemorates a tragic battle nearly a century ago would not attract many people, but greater numbers than ever before turn out each year, as our yearning for peace becomes stronger and stronger.

World War One was supposed to be The War to End All Wars. As long as people continue to parade peacefully towards this end, in full knowledge of the consequences to us all if it is not achieved, we may yet attain that which those long fallen heroes strived for.

Peace be with us all.