About this record

This is a black-and-white photograph of the first Anzac Day march, held in Brisbane on 25 April 1916 to mark the first anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand troops on Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. The photograph was taken outside Brisbane’s General Post Office in Queen Street. It shows soldiers on horseback who are watched by a large crowd lining the street and crammed into the balconies of the surrounding buildings. The building is festooned with flags and pennants and a banner that reads ‘ENLIST NOW’.

Educational value

• This photograph documents the first Anzac Day parade in Brisbane. The proposal to commemorate the Anzacs at Gallipoli originated in Queensland and was quickly taken up by the other states. On 25 April 1916, marches were held throughout Australia, while in London more than 2000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the city.
• Public support for the First World War and for the troops fighting overseas was high in 1916. The photograph suggests the significance attached to Australia’s involvement in the conflict and, in particular, the Gallipoli campaign. Many Australians regarded Gallipoli as the beginning of nationhood: on Anzac Day in 1916, one magazine claimed ‘we are at last a Nation with one heart, one soul, one thrilling aspiration’.
• Anzac Day was used to encourage new recruits. This was first proposed by the Queensland Recruiting Committee and, until the end of the First World War, Anzac Day became a focus for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns. From an Australian population of fewer than five million, 300,000 men enlisted in all—however, as casualties mounted in the later years of the war, recruitment declined.
• The General Post Office was the focal point for the Brisbane Anzac Day march. The saluting base of the military parade was in front of the General Post Office, and the Governor of Queensland, Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams, took the salute from a dais as the troops marched past.