Anzac Day

Today is Anzac Day - a public holiday, and the closest thing New Zealand has to a national day. It's a bit like Remembrance Sunday and St. George's Day rolled into one. Iain's got the day off work, so we were planning on going out somewhere, but it's been tipping it down solidly since 6 am, and it looks as if the rain's settled in for the day.

Here's a piece giving the background to Anzac day, taken from the official Anzac Day site (the footnotes are mine).

On 25 April 1915, eight months into the First World War, Anzac* soldiers landed on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula**. They and other Allied troops were there as part of a plan to open the Dardanelles Strait so that the Allies could threaten Constantinople (now Istanbul), capital of Germany's ally the Ottoman Empire. This, it was hoped, would force a Turkish surrender.

But the Allies encountered unexpectedly strong resistance from the Turks. Both sides suffered enormous loss of life and after nine months the Allies abandoned the campaign and withdrew their surviving troops. A total of 130,000 Allied and Turkish soldiers had died. Nearly 3000 of them were New Zealanders.

The anniversary of the landings has been commemorated in New Zealand since 1916 and Anzac Day has been a public holiday since 1921. On this day New Zealanders acknowledge the sacrifice of all those who have died in warfare, and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.

* Australia and New Zealand Air Corps
** in what is now Turkey


After the Gallipoli campaign, the 'soldiers' biscuits' that mothers used to send their sons in the army were renamed 'Anzac biscuits'. Because they don't contain any eggs they keep for several months if kept in an airtight container. You can buy commercially produced Anzac biscuits here and they're delicious. They're certainly much more appetising than the 'hardtack' biscuits the UK army and navy used to get. I tried one once on a school history visit, and it tasted like sawdust.

As you can't buy Anzac biscuits in the UK here's a recipe in case you fancy trying them.

Anzac biscuits

125g flour 1 cup coconut 100g butter 1/2 teaspoon Bicarb of Soda	150g sugar 1 cup rolled oats 1 tablespoon golden syrup 2 tablespoons boiling water
1. Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats. 2. Melt butter and golden syrup. 3. Dissolve Bicarb Soda in boiling water and add to butter and golden syrup. 3. Make a well in the centre of the flour, stir in the liquid. 4. Place spoonfuls on a greased tray. 5. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

P.S. A 'cup' is a measure of volume and is approximately 235 ml.

Helen