Australian burial parties burying Australian and Turkish dead during the armistice, 24 May 1915.
Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
- A truce is declared at Gallipoli to allow Allied and Turkish troops to bury their dead
- Empire Day is celebrated throughout the Commonwealth. Observed on Queen Victoria’s birthday, Empire Day was introduced in Australia in 1905. The Day was aimed primarily at schoolchildren, who were given lessons in the history of the British Empire and performed patriotic recitations and songs, before having a half-day holiday, often concluding in bonfires and fireworks. Empire Day Pageant 1915
- The Leader publishes the words to For your King and your Country, to be sung at the Empire Day concert in the Australian Hall
We’ve watched you playing cricket
And every kind of game,
At football, golf and polo,
You men have made your name.
But now your country calls you.
To play your part in war,
And no matter what befalls you,
We shall love you all the more.
So come and join the forces,
As your fathers did before!We want you from all Quarters
So help us south and north!
We want you in your thousands,
From Falmouth to the Forth!
You’ll never find us fail you
When you are in distress.
So answer when we hail you.
And let your word be ”Yes.”
And so your name in years to come
Each mother’s son shall bless.Refrain—
Oh! We don’t want to lose you—
But we think you ought to go,
For your King and your Country
Both need you so,
We shall want you and miss you,
But with all our might and main,
We shall cheer you, thank you, bless you,
When you come back again.
- The following birth notice appears in the Leader, the parents obviously sympathetic to the Belgian cause:
Birth notice appearing in the Leader, 24 May 1915.
