Australia never had a civil war or revolution but its nationhood was forged a century ago at Gallipoli, Colonel Mike Page has told those gathered for the dawn service in the coastal West Australian town of Albany.
Padre Arthur Earnest White held the first dawn service there in 1930 and Albany was also where many troops left Australia to fight in WWI.
"It would be difficult to imagine an Anzac Day without a dawn service," Colonel Page said at the Mt Clarence event.
He said it was a day for Australians and New Zealanders to get together to pay their respects to current and former servicemen and women.
"There is something evocative about the breaking dawn also when it is shared in silence with others reflecting on conflict, death and loss as we do on Anzac Day," he said.
"Perhaps as the sun's rays break the night's grip on the sky heralding the birth of the new day, there's a recognition of hope or better things to come - a promise of renewal."
While dawn was historically ominous for the troops because it was when the enemy would often attack, "any dawn was celebrated as another day survived, another slim chance that they would return home," he said.
For those left at home, it was also a struggle to come to terms with their loss.
"Mothers and wives would never again hold their sons or husbands," Col Page said.
"Their children's absent gaze told of fathers lost or never known, while fathers stoically recited the mantra of a `son's' duty done for his country.
"The promises of a safe return and reunion were betrayed by the cost of war in those distant lands."
There was a capacity crowd of 4500 people at the Mt Clarence Anzac memorial, while several thousand more watched the service from screens in the town centre.
Those who laid wreaths included Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston and WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.
In the crowd, Ben White said the only day he ever asked to have off work was Anzac Day.
He served in East Timor on HMAS Adelaide and had a grandfather who fought in WWI.
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