2022 Calendar of events
Due to the Corona Virus the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne and National ANZAC Centre in Albany are currently open to the public but have with restrictions on numbers and the times of visits. Please check each venue for the current opening times and any other requirements.
Gatherings such as lectures, meetings and Commemorations planned by FFFAIF and kindred organisations are impacted and require COVID Safe Plans and in some cases alternatives are being considered.
This Calendar of events is therefore indicative of key dates and events and will be updated to advise of alternative arrangements, deferrals and cancellations.
Monday 25 April Anzac Day
FFFAIF has traditionally supported AWWOD organising descendants participation in the Sydney Anzac Day March.
Last year an exemption was granted to allow the Anzac Day March in Sydney to have up to 10,000 veterans and descendants of veterans participate.
In 2022 FFFAIF will encourage “Dawn drive-way vigils”.
The RSL is promoting ‘Light up the Dawn’ gatherings on driveways and balconies and ABC Radio coverage of the Canberra Dawn Service and National Ceremony will be heard on local ABC Radio, RN and on the ABC Listen app from 5.30am – 6.00am. This will incorporate a minute’s silence at approximately 5.50am to synchronise the dawn drive-way vigils.
TV broadcasts of Sydney Dawn Service, Canberra Dawn Service and National Ceremony and Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance Service will all be live from 4.30am AEST on ABC TV and ABC NEWS channels, on iview, and streamed live on ABC Australia Facebook and YouTube.
State TV broadcasts of capital city marches and dawn services will also be streamed live on ABC capital city Facebook accounts and on the ABC’s capital city local radio websites.
Every capital city will have live coverage of a local march, however coverage of capital city dawn services will vary in each state. Broadcasts times can be found on the ABC Anzac Day website.
Saturday 30 April Australian Army Nurses Seminar, WFA seminar with FFFAIF John Laffin Memorial Lecture
Tuesday 19 July Fromelles Day Commemoration in Sydney at the Anzac Memorial and Melbourne Wreath-laying at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Some Gallipoli Day /ANZAC Day services will be held in the UK, including Baverstock on the Salisbury Plain.
Sunday 24 July Pozieres Service St Columba Woollahra TBC
Monday 26 September Commemoration of the Battles of 3rd Ypres
Friday 11 November Remembrance Day
TBA Kindred Groups activities:Saturday 12 November FFFAIF AGM and WFA Lecture Day with Aero Historians Lecture
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Recent News
Category Archives: Diggers of First AIF
ANZAC Day in the time of Coronavirus
1st Battalion at Mena Pyramids Source: Alan Andrews’ souvenir postcard collection. Due to the impact of the Coronavirus and control measures implemented, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Anzac Memorial in Sydney and Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne are closed to … Continue reading
Australian DIGGER stories on-line
The Families and Friends of the First AIF has brought its vast collection of Australian DIGGER stories on-line for its Members. First Issue 2002 and 2003 All 78 editions of DIGGER published from October 2002 are now available for reading … Continue reading
More identified from Fromelles
On 26 May 2014 the Assistant Minister for Defence, The Hon Stuart Robert MP, announced the names of a further 20 previously unidentified Australian soldiers who died at the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. 2560 Sgt David Samuel Anderson was amongst … Continue reading
Fromelles Update July 2013
Half of the Diggers from Pheasant Wood have been named. The graves of 124 of the 250 soldiers whose remains were recovered from the communal pits near Pheasant Wood, Fromelles in French Flanders and were reburied with full military honours … Continue reading
9 Fromelles Diggers named
DNA tests have identified nine more soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles on 19th July, 1916. The graves of these soldiers will now be given their identity in the Pheasant Wood, Fromelles Cemetery. Their names are: Private Leonard Broadhurst (3013) , Sydney, … Continue reading
Fromelles ID Board Reconvenes
On the 23 March 2012 the third annual United Kingdom and Australian Joint Identification Board will convene in London in an effort to formally identify some of the remaining 140 unknown soldiers who are buried in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) … Continue reading
Bapaume Honour Roll
A Roll of Honour Plaque will be dedicated on 26 March 2011 in Bapaume to the men of the AIF who were killed on March 25/26 1917 in an explosion in Bapaume Town Hall. Photo: Privates Charles Neild and Alexander … Continue reading
Brothers In Arms
Johan Vanderwalle, co-author of Beneath Flanders Fields – The Tunneller’s War, is visiting Australia in a quest to honour the fallen Diggers of the Great War. Photo: Johan Vanderwalle and Lambis Engelzos In 2007 Johan played a key role in the … Continue reading
Unit History help
FFFAIF member Stuart Curry is researching the 13th Field Artillery Brigade and the 14th Machine Gun Company (5th Division) with a view to completing the writing of their unit histories. To help in telling the story of the men who … Continue reading