Nearly 2000 attended the dawn service at Anzac Cover on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkiye on Saturday.
The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, ultimately failed to wrest control of the Dardanelles resulting in more than 8000 Australian deaths during a gruelling eight-month conflict.Â
But the battle helped galvanise Australia and New Zealand's national identities.
"Gallipoli reminds us that while there's honour serving one's country, the cost of war is never borne by our service men and women alone," Australia's ambassador to Turkiye Sally Anne-Vincent told the crowd gathered.
"It reverberates across families, communities and generations."
Across major cities in Australia, that message was on full display with thousands lining up the streets to celebrate the traditional Anzac Day march.
But a lack of respect earlier was shown at the Sydney, Melbourne and Perth dawn services with heckling and booing during acknowledgement of Country, prompting strong condemnation by politicians and the RSL.
Police confirmed a 24-year-old man in Sydney was arrested and later charged with commit nuisance and will appear in court on June 3.
Several other people among the 11,000 strong crowd were moved on.
Of particular interest was Australia's most decorated living soldier - and now an accused war criminal - Ben Roberts-Smith participating at service on the Gold Coast.
The 47-year-old Victoria Cross recipient was released on bail last week after being charged with war crime murder offences during his deployment in Afghanistan.
"I've never thought about not coming, I was always going to be here," he said, briefly speaking to the media.
With formalities concluded, people in their thousands migrated to various hotels to indulge another kind of Anzac Day tradition, two-up.
The typically Australian pastime is only allowed on one day a year, and even then only beyond midday.
