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My first experience of an Anzac Day dawn service was cold, wet, and about the only time I’d ever been up early enough for the McDonald’s breakfast menu. Suffice to say it was the thought of hotcakes rather than heroes of war that had gotten me out of bed that morning.
Anzac Day had always seemed like an anachronism. In our comfortable twenty-first century world, we play Medal of Honour and Modern Warfare on our PlayStations. We watch distant conflicts being broadcast on TV from the safety of our living rooms. War is generally a non-existent threat in our everyday lives. Yet Anzac Day somehow remains relevant. As I stood in the Queen’s Gardens on the morning of April 25, the “Anzac spirit” of 1915 swept over me and I actually found myself caught up in the atmosphere. The floodlit cenotaph, kept guard by the ghostly silhouettes of soldiers. The sombre silence, broken by the sudden shock of the rifle volleys. The haunting tones of “The Last Post”, and the reciting of those immortal words, Lest We Forget. It is nearly one hundred years since the first Anzac Day service was held. So much has changed since then – but we have never forgotten.

 
After so many years, why does Anzac Day remain so significant to New Zealanders? George Davis of the History Department has recently undertaken the task of answering this question in his PhD, exploring the changing meanings of Anzac Day throughout the twentieth century. “It’s one of the ‘landmark’ days,” he says, “It’s a significant day in New Zealand’s history, a date that people have looked back at and ascribed issues of national identity to. It’s also a day where military service can be given due respect.”

One of these changes is the increasing presence of young people at Anzac Day services. It is an observable fact that baffles the media. “More young people honour the Anzacs”, and “Young and old present at Anzac Day” are splashed across the headlines each year. There is confusion, even suspicion; why are young people taking time out of their busy alcohol-fuelled, couch-burning schedules to attend Anzac Day? What is their hidden agenda? Davis thinks we deserve more credit than that. “I think there are not many occasions which allow young people to participate in an issue of community spirit. Deep within themselves, I think young people innately recognise that which is
 important and good.”
 

Davis uses the work of the Student Volunteer Army following the Canterbury Earthquake as an example. “It is just amazing that about 18,000 students picked up shovels and helped clean up their city. This to me indicates that young people enjoy doing tough things together – tough things, awkward things, things that sometimes give them blisters. What else can young people get up to? Anzac Day provides another opportunity in the year where they can go along with friends and join in something that is quite different from their everyday lives.”

 
This sentiment hauntingly echoes that of the many young people who volunteered for World War I in the first place. They wanted to “get up to something” - go on an OE, an adventure – something they believed would be one of the most exciting events in their lives. It just so happened that their event was one of the most deadly and destructive events of the twentieth century. Davis suggests that one reason why young people are ever present at Anzac Day ceremonies is because we appreciate the fact that many of the people who lost their lives were just like us. “Around the university here, there are many memorial plaques dedicated to those who served and lost their lives. I think younger people are becoming more aware of that. You begin to realise that a lot of these people were in the same age group as you are – many of them were just in their twenties.”

 
History lecturer Professor Tom Brooking recognises the genuine interest that students have in Anzac Day, and offers a paper on the topic, “Anzac and its legacy: New Zealand and the First World War”. He thinks a reason for Anzac Day’s resurgence in popularity is time and distance from the wars. “My generation went off it, because we got so sick of having World War II rammed down our throats. It was all over the place, and that’s what we rebelled against. When I started teaching New Zealand history in 1978, hardly anyone wanted to do anything on the First World War. Then when I introduced the course in the late 1990s, there was a big interest. There was a sea change there – something happened.”
 

One significant thing that happened, Professor Brooking argues, was an increase in visual representation of World Wars I and II. “There have been a lot of good documentaries, and films. Maori TV has done a big push on this stuff. There have been Australian movies as well, like [Peter Weir’s] Gallipoli, then the Anzac TV series. Continually, interest is being re-digged.” Davis agrees, “I think the images of the past have a big impact on young people. You see all these images of soldiers gathering for war, taking part in conflict, and burying their mates. To vivify this, you go to Anzac Day ceremonies.”
 

Some of us will even attend the Anzac Day services at Gallipoli. Since 1990, tens of thousands of young Australians and New Zealanders have made the pilgrimage to Turkey each year as part of their big OE, which has naturally increased interest in the subject. “The involvement of the Turks and the ability to travel overseas has become a huge modifying factor,” argues Davis. “Yes, the fact that you might be able to go and ‘do Anzac’ in Turkey,” concurs Professor Brooking. “There’s been a big growth of genealogy and family history in New Zealand, so suddenly people discover they’ve got somebody buried in all these places, and then on their OE they want to go and check it out. I’m sure most young Kiwis do that.” Says Davis, “Young people go to Gallipoli wearing flags draped over their shoulders. It’s great fun. It’s a big party occasion in Turkey, and young New Zealanders are aware they are welcome there.”

 
Unfortunately, Anzac Day has turned into such a “party occasion” at Gallipoli that a recent Lonely Planet travel guide has advised young Kiwis and Australians to stay away. As Anzac Day has moved into modern times, it seems to have not escaped the modern value of commercialism. “In Turkey, with all the vendors selling souvenirs, has commercialisation intervened in Anzac Day? Well, yes, it has,” states Davis. In 2005, a road upgrade on Anzac Cove to accommodate tourist numbers created huge controversy, when it was said to have disturbed the bones of soldiers buried beneath the soil. On the actual event of Anzac Day in that same year, organisers at Gallipoli were criticised for playing a rock concert style programme on large video screens in the hours before the dawn service, including the Bee Gees’ song ‘Stayin’ Alive’. Afterwards, the area was left strewn with rubbish, infuriating Returned Services associations. Many believe that such events are an insult to Anzac Day, and that it should be restored to its traditional format.
 

But Davis believes that this would be missing the point. Perhaps the greatest threat to Anzac Day is apathy, which was a problem for the traditional Anzac Day, when it was monopolised by the military. “It was under a cloud in the 1960s and 1970s, when most university students during this time associated Anzac Day with a certain brand of aggressive militarism,” notes Davis. The good thing about modern Anzac Day, he argues, is its inclusive quality, “where the civic society has taken it over. The military may still run it, but civic society has adopted it more. It doesn’t separate soldierly from civic – it mixes them together.”

 
The most important thing we should take away from Anzac Day? “In war, everybody suffers. Nobody benefits from it.” Davis believes the fact that young Kiwis and young Turks can nowadays stand side by side with no animosity is also a crucial message. “We’ve moved on to know that not only can we respect the service of our military personnel, but now we can respect the part that was played by the enemy. What we share is a mutual interest in commemoration.”

 
In our modern world, are we capable of showing the respect required of Anzac Day? “I think this generation of young New Zealanders is eminently capable of showing that. We have a generation of young people who are generous and have strong spiritual values. You’ll find if you shake them enough – they believe in some very strong things, and they know what is good. If tragedy occurs, they will step up to the mark.”

 
I guiltily mentioned to Mr. Davis my fondness for the less than traditional post-dawn service Macca’s breakfast. Was it inappropriate – honouring the military, then having a McMuffin? Was I committing Anzac sacrilege? “Should young people go to McDonald’s after Anzac Day?” he pondered. “Why not? It’s one of the freedoms that has been created by the people whom we are respecting.”