This Anzac Day is like no other.
Instead of marking the solemn day by going to a dawn service, Australians this year marked it in their driveways.
The cancellation of large gatherings and the need for social distancing during the Corona virus pandemic have prevented people from attending Anzac ceremonies, but that didn’t stop them marking the occasion by listening to a dawn service on thier radios in their driveways.
All over the country people brough a candle and a radio to their front fence and stood silently watching the sun come up as the Ode was recited, a trumpeter played the Last Post and one minute silence was observed.
Most broadcasts of the dawn service kept microphones open during the one minute’s silence, broadcasting ambience to ensure that program fail alarms did not kick in and play the emergency tape. Listeners to ABC Radio’s coverage of the dawn service would have noticed the sounds of Canberra’s morning ambience and a chorus of birds above the War Memorial, which is usually crowded with people, but this year was only open to the participants in the service.
Many people photographed their driveway dawn service moment and posted it on social media for it to be captured by the NSW State Library, which is documenting this unusual day. To have your photo saved for posterity, post images of your driveway commemorations on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #NSWathome as well as #Anzacathome.
Free audio, to be played later today at the time when there would have been a march, can be downloaded here.
Driveway Picture: M Smith, Sydney
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