Keep ANZAC Day spirit alive with these tours and landmarks

As the Queensland capital, Brisbane has no shortage of ANZAC sites, including the ANZAC Square Memorial in the heart of the CBD which is a great place to start exploring the history of Queensland’s involvement before checking another place of interest. Maybe something along the river, like the Teneriffe boardwalk, a stunning river walk that commemorates the history of Brisbane’s submariners.

Completed in 1930, ANZAC Square Memorial, the heritage-listed war memorial and town square, features the Shrine of Remembrance and Eternal Flame, with three memorial galleries located below commemorating Queensland stories from the First and Second World Wars, and post-1945. The Memorial has been expanded since it first opened and, in May 2022, it was in ANZAC Square that Queensland's first war memorial dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders was unveiled.

Historical and breathtakingly scenic in equal parts, the Teneriffe riverwalk starts at the Commercial Road ferry – making it an easy journey from ANZAC Square in the CBD – and ends at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Along with the Submariners Walk Heritage Trail, the walk takes in some of Brisbane’s landmark buildings and delivers stunning views of one of inner-Brisbane’s most scenic suburbs.

The Dawn Service at ANZAC Square is the largest memorial ceremony in the River City, but with services held at local RSLs, Services Clubs and memorials across Brisbane, you can always pay your respects locally or visit somewhere new in another part of the city and suburbs. Some of the most spectacular places to commemorate ANZAC Day are the dawn services at Camp Mountain Lookout in Samford, Windsor War Memorial Park, Redcliffe Parade and Cameron Rocks Reserve on the Brisbane River.  If you’re looking to join an ANZAC Day tour and expand your knowledge, the Brisbane Greeters regularly hold tours on ANZAC Day where participants have the opportunity to learn war stories and reflect on the ANZAC spirit. Advance bookings are essential for these free, richly historical walks.

Sunshine Coast

On the Sunshine Coast, the scenic Caloundra Coastal Walk is lined with plaques commemorating soldiers who fought for Australia. At Kings Beach headland, there’s a tribute to the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur during World War II, in which only 64 of the 332 people on board survived. If you’re in Caloundra on ANZAC Day, Dawn Service is held at the Kings Beach Amphitheatre and the Wreath Laying Service is held later in the morning at the Caloundra RSL Memorial Gardens Cenotaph.

Heading into the Sunshine Coast hinterland, the Landsborough Museum often hosts exhibitions which commemorate Australians who’ve served their country, including the ‘Far From This Land’ gallery, which shows the impact of World War I on the Sunshine Coast. The pictures in this gallery tell the stories of soldiers, Harry, James and William and staff nurse Connie. Sadly, like so many young Australians, only two of the four made it home from the war but their stories live on forever.

Outback Queensland

In the town of Roma, five-and-a-half hours’ drive west of Brisbane, a row of 93 bottle trees – ‘the Avenue of Heroes’ – was planted in 1920 in memory of the 93 local men who fell during the First World War. While each tree originally bore a plaque stating the name of one of the men, a cairn located outside the Post Office now holds the only remaining plaque and lists all 93 names since many trees have since been replaced or removed. ANZAC memorials are located across most Outback Queensland towns, including the Aramac War Memorial, Cloncurry War Memorial, Cunnamulla War Memorial Fountain, Mitchell War Memorial and Winton War Memorial. 

Fraser Coast

Off the coast of Fraser Island is the site of the Fraser Commando School, a spot where the uber top secret ‘Z’ Special Unit – a group of highly trained soldiers used for reconnaissance and sabotage had an integral role to play in the war in the Pacific – did some of their training. The remnants of their activities can be found around the grounds, which are located about 1.6 kilometres south of Kingfisher Bay Resort, and to preserve this important site so that others can experience it for years to come, special care should be taken not to disturb what’s left. ABC News showcased rare colour footage of Australian commandos training for operations behind the Japanese lines in this “secret spot” for an Australian Story episode that aired in 2015.

To commemorate the anniversary of ANZAC Day on the Fraser Coast and pay respect to the men and women who served join the Dawn Service at one of many locations, like Maheno Wreck at 75 Mile Beach at K'gari (Fraser Island) or along the mainland at Hervey Bay, Maryborough or Burrum Heads. 

Townsville

While Townsville continues to be an important base for military operations, the remnants of the Quarantine Station in Pallarenda Park serves as a reminder of the area used by Australian and American troops during World War II when the station was used as a hospital. Dawn Service in Townsville is held at Anzac Memorial Park annually, followed by a parade along The Strand.

For a more strenuous ANZAC Day experience, hike to see an Australian Royal Navy artillery battery on the Forts Walk on Magnetic Island – one of the most popular tracks in Magnetic Island National Park – which serves as a reminder of just how close the war came to our shores. The Forts complex was operated by the Australian Coast Artillery Units from 1943 until the end of the Pacific War in 1945 and remnants of the complex remain to this day. Spread out along the 3.8-kilometre walk where koalas can often be spotted dozing in trees along the track, the concrete command post, observation post, munitions bunker and gun emplacements still remain for visitors to explore, plus there are 360 degree views from the top of the fortifications, making this a hike that’s so worth the effort!

Tropical North Queensland

Sitting off the coast of Mission Beach, The Royal Australian Air Force occupied Dunk Island during World War II, building its airstrip and a radar station – the rusty remnants of which can be found at the tip of Mt Kootaloo, with access to the island via water taxi. With the men living in buildings that had previously been part of the island’s first resort, the radar station provided constant surveillance of the coast. Along with the island’s sensational snorkelling, scaling the summit of Mt Kootaloo to see the remains of the No. 27 Radar Station is one of the highlights of Dunk Island. The Mount Kootaloo circuit is 7 km and it takes around three hours for the ‘moderate’ return hike to the 271-metre summit.

As the capital of Tropical North Queensland, Cairns boasts several important war memorials. One of the oldest war memorials in Queensland, the Cairns War Memorial was unveiled in 1926 but in 1972 was relocated to The Esplanade, fronting Trinity Bay, where it’s flanked by an 1887 naval gun and a 1940 field gun. This is just one of the eight locations where ANZAC Day Dawn Services are held in Cairns.

North of Port Douglas in Miallo, near the town of Mossman, there’s a small memorial remembering the night a bomb fell on the Zullo farm – the 50th Anniversary of the Japanese Air Raid Memorial. Carmel Emmi (née Zullo) was 2½ years old when she was hit in the head by shrapnel from the exploding bomb. Hers was the only civilian injury inflicted by the enemy on the Eastern Australian mainland throughout World War II but, luckily, Carmel survived the blast and lived to open the memorial site 50 years later at a public ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the attack.

While the military history of the Torres Strait is relatively unknown to most Australians, in World War II, it was actually a very important strategic location. Identified by the Japanese as a launching base for aircraft, Horn Island was the first place in Queensland to be attacked, and with around 500 bombs dropped on the island during the war, it’s Australia’s second-most attacked location after Darwin. In the far north of the island, the ‘In Their Steps’ tour takes guests in the steps of soldiers who served in the area to explore what was the most advanced operational Australian air base during World War II. A small group experience that takes in Horn Island’s WW2 sites and the Torres Strait Heritage Museum –  with over 400 exhibits including archival and personal photos along with diaries, maps, sketches and personal artefacts – the tour is often combined with a one-day trip to Thursday Island.