|
|
|
Sydney, NSW, 8 November 1918. Crowds in Martin Place waiting with upturned faces for the flag to be hoisted and bells to be rung to mark the German agreement to terms for an armistice to end the war. (AWM P1102/40/01)
|
|
Melbourne, Vic,11 November 1942. All traffic stops and service personnel stand to attention during the two minutes silence on Armistice Day. (AWM 137060)
|
|
Canberra, ACT. 1946-11-10. Wreaths cover the Stone of Remembrance after the first Remembrance Day ceremony in front of the Australian War Memorial. (AWM132253)
|
|
Four years later, in November 1997, the Governor-General, Sir William Deane, issued a proclamation formally declaring 11 November Remembrance Day and urging all Australians to observe one minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year to remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts. Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial.
|
Remembrance Day Tradition
At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent
after more than four years continuous warfare. The allied armies had driven
the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over
the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice
(suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted
the allied terms of unconditional surrender.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month attained
a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities
ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance
of those who had died in the war. This first modern world conflict had
brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between
9 and 13 million dead, perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known
grave. The allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration
of their war dead.
On the first anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1919, the two
minutes' silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative
ceremony at the new Cenotaph in London. The silence was proposed by an
Australian journalist working in Fleet Street, Edward Honey. At about
the same time, a South African statesman made a similar proposal to the
British Cabinet, which endorsed it. King George V personally requested
all the people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for
two minutes on the hour of the armistice "which stayed the world wide
carnage of the four preceding years and marked the victory of Right and
Freedom." The two minutes' silence was popularly adopted and it became
a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day.
On the second anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1920, the commemoration
was given added significance when it became a funeral, with the return
of the remains of an Unknown Soldier from the battlefields of the Western
Front. Unknown soldiers were interred with full military honours in Westminster
Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The entombment in
London attracted over one million people within a week to pay their respects
at the Unknown Soldier's tomb. Most other allied nations adopted
the tradition of entombing unknown soldiers over the following decade.
In Australia on the 75th anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1993,
Remembrance Day ceremonies again became the focus of national attention.
On that day the remains of an unknown Australian soldier, exhumed from
a First World War military cemetery in France, were ceremonially entombed
in the Australian War Memorial. Remembrance Day ceremonies were conducted
simultaneously in towns and cities all over the country, culminating at
the moment of burial at 11 am and coinciding with the traditional two
minutes' silence. This ceremony, which touched a chord across the
Australian nation, re-established Remembrance Day as a significant day
of commemoration.
