An ecumenical service and wreath-laying ceremony was held this morning at the Ta' Braxia Military Cemetery in Pietà, as part of the ceremonies to mark the annual anniversary of ANZAC Day, which commemorates the Australians and New Zealanders who died in action at Gallipoli, Turkey in 1915 and in subsequent military actions. April 25 has been set aside as a Day of Remembrance in both countries.

Organised by the Australian High Commission and the Royal British Legion, the tradition in Malta sees this remembrance service marking the heavy toll of dead and wounded that carved deeply into the psyche of the Australians and New Zealanders. Records from the Australian War Graves Department show that 263 Australians were buried in five local cemeteries in the two world wars.

The first Gallipoli landings in 1915 by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps were part of an Imperial Expeditionary Force. The battle by allied soldiers to capture and hold the Gallipoli peninsula was one of the hardest fought, but ultimately futile campaigns, of World War I. As the troops landed on the beaches by the peninsula, they were cut down by sustained and concentrated machine-gun fire. There was very heavy loss of life on both sides during the nine-month the Dardanelles campaign that followed. Some 50,000 members of the Australian Imperial Forces from a total Australian population of just five million served at Gallipoli, and more than 8,700 Australians and 2,700 New Zealanders were killed during the campaign.

Malta was closely associated with the Anzacs from the onset. History remembers World War I Malta as "the nurse of the Mediterranean". In fact, many of the original Anzacs, who were wounded at Gallipoli, were evacuated to Malta for treatment. However, for 308 Anzacs, it became a permanent resting place, with 229 Australian and 79 New Zealand war graves in Malta from this conflict alone.

Wreaths were laid by Acting President Anton Tabone, as well as representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Turkey, the United States of America, the Armed Forces of Malta, the Royal British Legion, the George Cross Island Association, the King's Own Malta Regiment Association, the 3/11th Royal Malta Artillery Regiment (T) Associations, the Emigrants Commission, the Friends of Australia Association, the Maltese-Australian Association, the Maltese Australian Chamber of Commerce and Culture, the Malta GC Unit of the Sea Cadet Corps and the Scouts of Malta, amongst others.