"DEATHLESS STORY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 106, 7 May 1935, Page 6

"DEATHLESS STORY."

ANZAC DAY IN SYDNEY.

MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN EVER.

j C (From Our Own Correspondent.) t* SYDNEY} April 30. d The commemoration of Anzac Day ii j Sydney last Thursday should be regarded af a great historical event. As the 20th anni d versary of the heroic feat of arms at Gallipoli e a special effort had been made to celebrate if d with appropriate inipressiveness, and tile results exceeded all expectations. Arrangementis had been made to provide free trans port and accommodation for all "Diggers' it who could conic to Sydney from the countrj i- districts to take part in the procession, and /' though over 20,000 wore expected, that liumbci h fell far below the actual attendance. In all e over (10,000 men marched through the streets e of Sydney —one for every Australian killed i- in the Great War—and the procession alone 2 provided a spectacle which, as the secretary t of the K.S.L. said, Sydney is never likely tc see again. , Major-General Sir Charles Rosenthal, wnc was in command, told the Legacy Club that f this day was oiie of the greatest experiences ,i of his life and that this gathering of GO.OOD e "Diggers" seemed "incredible" after the lapse n of twenty years. Like the soldiers, Mr. Robb ;, president of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' ;, League, and his colleagues seemed almost n overwhelmed by the magnitude of their own i. success; but they were careful to remind the , people of Sydney that this wonderful demon - stration was the outcome of a very special 1 effort, that it could not be repeated annually, r and that, in the natural order of things, the - number of "Diggers" available for such a - "march past" must inevitably diminish with 2 the passing years. But no such reflection was allowed to interfere with the grave enthusiasm with which the "Diggers" participated in this great ceremonial or the earnest ihtenti ncss with which every phase of it was fol--1 lowed by countless thousands of spectators. Demeanour of the People. j As a mere spectacle the march past of , those 00,000 men, twelve abreast, through the city and down Martin Place —it took 10i3 minutes to pass the Cenotaph—was a sight never to be forgotten. But even more moving i than the sight of the "Diggers" and the asso- • ciations that it was the demeanour . of the people—the grave attention with which , they watched the men pass by, and the digni- . fled solemnity with which they played their . appropriate part in the proceedings. Prom the first ceremony at the Cenotaph—where i long before dawn a crowd of more than 20,000, > many of whom had waited there from midnight, thronged Martin Place—throughout the great march through the city, and through the united service in the Domain, where a congregation of 230,000 ringed round the "Dig- ' gers" and took part in the religious obser- ■ vances—the keynote of the celebrations was a grave but earnest solemnity which revealed more impressively than any louder demonstration the spirit of the people and showed that even among the" less responsible sections of the younger generation, the lesson of selfsacrifice and devotion taught by the Anzaes had not been recorded in vain. There were many features of this anniversary that deserved special notice. One of the most pathetic of all these onnual celebrations is always the service held every Anzac Day at the Gates of Remembrance in "Woolloomooloo Bay, wl ere a simple stone memorial marks the spot at which so many thousands of mothers and daughters stood to watch "the boys" march up the gangways to the transports and wave their last good-bye. This year the attendance at the Gates oi Remembrance was larger than ever before; and not less impressive was the throng which from daybreak till evening paced slowly down Martin Place past the Cenotaph—scores v of thousands of men, women and children making this short pilgrimage to catch a brief glimpse of the memorial and the immense masses of wreaths, each with its ribbon and inscription, banked up on staging for many yards around it. At St. Andrew's Cathedral at St. Mary's Cathedral, at the great Synagogue, and at many other churches, special services were held, and for the first half of the day the whole atmosphere of the city seemed appropriate to an occasion which for so many of our people must always remain the most siicred anniversary of the year. Seventy Special Trains. But it should not be forgotten that one of fhe objects of the celebration was to bring the "Diggers" together and to revive that <$plrit of comradeship and unity which made tlie Anzaes the heroes that they were. There were difficulties in the way, and there had been some dissatisfaction which was hard to overcome. Some of the men were aggrieved because the women and children, though they were welcomed at the Cenotaph service, were not allowed to take part in the march; and many, failing to realise the enormous obstacles that had to be overcome, complained at first of the inadequate arrangements for their transport and accommodation; Of course, the Railways Department had not nn unlimited amount of rolling stock at its disposal, but it was compelled to send nearly seventy special trains into the country to bring down about 30,000 "Diggers," many of them with wives and children; and even'then some were left behind. In the city the influx of more than 30,000 visitors, over and above the enormous number of guests that Sydney had been entertaining for the show and the races, threatened, for the moment, serious congestion. At mid-day many hundreds of "Diggers" were still doubtful where they would sleep that night. But great efforts were made to supply food and shelter, and in the end satisfactory provision was made for all concerned. In some quarters it was feared that the presence of so many men in the city renewing friendships which in many cases had been broken since Armistice Day might lead to a certain amount of disorder. But the general testimony is to the effect that the behaviour of the "Diggers" on the whole was admirable, and that though some "celebrated" their reunions a little too freely, there was very little to complain about during their stay. One very judicious step which may have obviated many difficulties was the enrolment of some hundreds of "military police," who voluntarily undertook the task of "shepherding" such "Diggers'* as appeared to require their attention, and gave useful information to all who needed it. In this way the "Diggers" were shielded from any contact with the regular authorities, which they possibly might have resented.

A Tradition that Lives. There is one important aspect of Anzac Day which in view of the extraordinary impressi vcness of these celebrations it would be a mistake to ignore. After the war closed many people appeared to believe that the commemoration of this anniversary would soon become merely an official formality and would speedily drop into oblivion. Now after the interval of twenty years the ceremony is held 011 a grander scale and with a wider popular and national appeal than ever before. The chief reason for this remarkable development is probably, as the "Sun" lias pointed out. the arrowth of the Anzac tradition. The younger generation, which lias grown up since the war. has learned the lesson of Anzac with such success that it has como to accept "the deathless story" as a patriotic legend, and to treasure it just as our ancestors cherished the stories of Crecv and Agincourt and the Armada fijjht and the other great conflicts by which their s glory was enlninced and its fujedom secured.