ANZAC Day means something different to everyone who marches. For some it is grief, still raw after decades. For others it is pride, or duty, or a quiet promise kept to someone who is no longer here to march themselves. We asked four people to tell us, in their own words, why they march in the Anzac Day parade – and their answers will stay with you.
This year’s Anzac Day Parade Brisbane carries particular weight. Held on Saturday 25 April 2026 through the heart of the Brisbane CBD, it marks 125 years of the Royal Australian Navy, 111 years since the landings at Gallipoli, and 110 years since the very first Anzac Day Parade held on Australian soil – which took place right here in Brisbane in 1916. More than 2000 serving Navy, Army and Air Force personnel will march alongside veterans, descendants, youth organisations and community groups along George, Adelaide and Creek Streets, in one of the most significant acts of public remembrance this country performs each year.
Whether you march, volunteer, or stand on the footpath with your hand on your heart, the parade is open to every Queenslander. Because remembrance, as these four people remind us, is not just something we do for the fallen. It is something we do for ourselves, and for the generations who come after us. For more information go to anzacdayparade.org.au
Bob and Jill Gough (Response by Jill)
ANZAC Day has always been deeply important to our family. Bob’s father served in WWII, his younger brother went to Vietnam and Bob himself was a National Serviceman, third intake, 1956. Our son Peter served in the Army Reserves in 1991.
Since 1989, we have participated in and volunteered with ANZAC Day Parade Brisbane. For many years, we co-ordinated the military vehicles through the Military Jeep Club of Queensland. Our children Kerrie, Peter and Mark have all attended and helped too.
We march to honour our loved ones, friends and family, who have served and sacrificed.
ANZAC Day Parade Brisbane Chair Kerry Gallagher AM
For me, ANZAC Day Parade Brisbane is not only about remembrance, but also about reunion. It is where we stand once more alongside those who shared the heavy burden of service, where the strongest of military bonds forged in uniform are renewed. Where we quietly honour what we went through together and what we still carry. It is, in every sense, a gathering of mates and mates remembering mates passed.
It is an important day to all who march, but perhaps particularly for those who still carry deep scars from their service and find security surrounded by service mates. All this, surrounded, embraced and recognised by our community. It is a day when there is no more appropriate incantation than the final words of the RSL Ode, “Lest we forget!”
Ann Martin (Main image)
As a former Army nurse, I march on ANZAC day for three reasons. Firstly, to honour the Army Nurses who served from the Boar War to current conflicts and didn’t come home to have the opportunity to march, including the nurses who died from the sinking of the HMAS Vyner Brooke, including those who were lost at sea, Massacred on Banka Island, died in captivity and those who spent three years as POW‘s.
Secondly, as a young nurse training in the early 70’s in Sydney I saw the huge number of tents at Moore Park where young soldiers went and came back to from Vietnam. Young vibrant men full of optimism going to war, and that same enthusiasm is still seen in the faces of the young men and women today waiting eagerly to go on their first deployment. The innocence of youth who do not know the impact these deployments may have on them. When I see Vietnam veterans marching, I still see the faces of young men.
Thirdly, I march to honour the Australians who didn’t go to war but worked hard to preserve a wonderful country for those who did, to come back to. The women managing farms, business, and filling so many jobs as their husbands were at war, children making red cross parcels to send overseas and men supporting the country who were unable to deploy. To me ANZAC day is to honour all Australians.
Christine Moffat
Probably one of the most emotional questions I have been asked. Having been brought up with WWII 460Sqn, I march to honour my Dad and his mates.
My Dad, Willam Joseph Moffatt, OAM volunteered for service in the RAAF just after he turned 18 in 1943 to help keep Australia safe from an enemy thousands of miles away from home. After school, Marist Brothers, Randwick, he worked as a storeman for the Sydney Telecommunications Company (STC) which appeared to help qualify him as a Wireless Operator/Rear turret gunner, one of a 7 man crew on an Avro Lancaster Bomber and after training was eventually stationed in Binbrook UK with RAAF 460 Sqn in 1945
He met my mother at a dance in Boston, UK, she at 17 (now 98) was one of the first war brides who came to Sydney post war. They married in November 1946.
As the youngest member of 460Sqn and a late arrival to Binbrook, Dad never flew any official missions but enlisted and did many hours training in Tiger Force destined for the Pacific.
From the time I was old enough to understand I became aware of the camaraderie that existed between those who had survived and returned home, many broken but safe. His way to ‘payback’ his mates was to dedicate his life as long-term secretary to 460Sqn in Sydney NSW for which he was awarded an OAM for his services.
We the Descendants and Friends of 460Sqn march to honour the service and bravery of our now passed Angels who gave their lives and existence to preserve Australia, forever free.