The students are part a squad who will perform ceremonial duties at the 8.45am Dangarsleigh memorial service and the 11am commemoration service at the Central Park Memorial Fountain.

Generations of TAS students have performed in the guard, but this year has special significance.

In June, it will be 100 years since the assassination of Archuduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, an event that ultimately led to World War I.

Within a year, on April 25, 1915, Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill launched the disastrous Gallipoli campaign (over which he was sacked from the war cabinet). It is this campaign that has become a near-sacred rite in Australia’s birth as a nation. In all, 60,000 Australians fought at Gallipoli, of which 7594 were killed and 26,000 casualties.

On the first day alone, 744 Australians were killed.

They had landed on a tiny beach near a jutting promontory called Gaba Tepe. Diggers were faced with steep cliffs and a Turkish assault led by Colonel Mustapha Kemel.

His troops opened fire as the Anzacs disembarked from ships and landed on the congested beach, where they were easy prey.

A plea for the men to withdraw fell on deaf ears and the slaughter at Gallipoli continued until the following January.

The annual march and dawn service had its genesis in 1916, when ceremonies and services were held across Australia, including Armidale, where a service was reportedly held at the Capitol Theatre.  A march was organised through London and there was even a sports day held in the Australian camp in Egypt.

In 1927 Anzac Day was legislated as a public holiday. The dawn service was incorporate into the day in 1928, and reflects the dawn “stand to” during times of war. In that year 150 people gathered at the Cenotaph in Sydney at dawn, laying wreaths and observing two minutes’ silence.

For many years the dawn service was restricted to veterans, however, in recent years, families have been encouraged to take part.

By the1960s public sentiment turned against commemorating battles, especially in light of the Vietnam War and conscription.

Arguably, it was the 1980 film Gallipoli that the interest in the Anzac legend was ignited in a new generation and the April 25 has grown ever since.

Timetable for Anzac Day activities

4.45am Ex Services Memorial Club opens – Service-Ex Service refreshments

5.30am Remembrance Service for Past Members – Ex Services Memorial Club

5.45am Assemble Moore Street near Police Station – March to Central Park

(The parade will stop at the corner of Faulkner and Barney Streets to allow people to join the march to the Memorial Fountain. Servies Bus will be available for transport from the Club to Central Park for those unable to join in the March and will return following the service.)

6am Dawn Service – Memorial Fountain Central Park – UNE Company, University of New South Wales Regiment will provide Catafalque Party. The service will incorporate a wreath-laying ceremony.

8am Memorial Service, Hillgrove Memorial

8.30am Memorial Service, University of New England

8.45am Memorial Service, Dangarsleigh Memorial

10.15am Assemble for March in Moore Street and Armidale Plaza car park

10.40am Anzac Day March to Central Park

11.00am Commemoration Service, Memorial Fountain followed by a Wreath Laying Service

Members of any organisation and the public are invited to lay wreaths during this Service. The Servies Bus will be on hand in Tincombe Lane at the service’s end for ex servicepeople to return to the club for lunch.

12.30pm Lunch for Service and Ex Service persons at Ex-Services Memorial Club.