Australia, New Zealand hold vigils to mark Anzac Day

A lone bugler playing The Last Post on the steps of the Sydney Opera House yesterday, as Australians and New Zealanders held Anzac Day vigils at dawn from the isolation of their own driveways to honour their armed forces.

Parades were cancelled and ceremonies were closed to the public because of coronavirus shutdowns.

As the sun rose, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was among those observing vigils at the end of their driveways, while Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended an official Canberra ceremony behind closed doors.

Anzac Day marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on the Gallipoli peninsula in an ill-fated World War I campaign against German-backed Ottoman forces.

Some 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen were killed in the failed military campaign, but it shaped the close friendship that binds the two countries.