Australian Embassy
France
Algeria, Chad, Mauritania, Monaco

ANZAC DAY 2013

ANZAC DAY 2013

Information on the official events can be found here: www.dva.gov.au/france  

Register here to receive helpful information on what to bring with you and what to expect on the day.

Anzac Day Lunch

Thursday 25 April
Institut St Eloi, Rue Marcellin Gaudefroy 62450 BAPAUME
13 € PER PERSON - Cash only (please bring exact change)
BOOKINGS: [email protected]
Self-Service between 11:30am and 1:00pm
• Stuffed halved boiled eggs with vegetables on the side
• Selection of raw vegetables
• Roast chicken drumstick with herbs
• Garlic and parsley flavoured potatoes
• Vegetarian option
• Selection of desserts and sweets - Coffee
• Drinks: water 50cl, wine, soft drinks

Anzac Week: Vignacourt

  • Wednesday 3 April – Wednesday 24 April, Photography Exhibition at the Médiatèque, by Mr. Daussy featuring Flixecourt during the war.
  • Wednesday 10 April – 6:30pm, prior to "ANZAC" week, the arrival of the Gunnedah orchestra from New South Wales, and a concert with the School of Music from Val de Nièvre et Environs in the Vignacourt Hall.
  • Sunday 21 April – 6:30pm, Speech, presentation and opening performance of a theatrical work. There will also be a bag-pipes concert performed by the Pipes and Drums and the choir of The Scots PGC College, Warwick, Queensland. Followed by an aperitif.
  • Opening of the Maison des Australiens at 10:00am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm everyday except Thursday (10:00am-2:00pm)
  • Thuillier Open House from 2:00pm-6:00pm daily ,with the opportunity to be photographed on site in a "reconstructed" WW1 period setting
  • Tuesday 23 April – 8:30pm, Concert by the Sydney Male Choir.
  • Wednesday 24 April - Re-enactment with the old harvester and horse.
  • Thursday 25 April, 2013 – 5:30pm, Ceremony at the cemetery with flowers and wreath laying. Meeting point at Maison Thuillier at 5:30pm, ceremony begins at 6pm at the British Cemetery.
  • Friday 26 April – 7:30pm, Closing Ceremony. A light and sound projection on the walls of the Maison des Australiens as part of a creative video. Ceremony begins in the Salles des Fetes at 7:30pm with the video projection beginning at 9pm. http://maisondesaustraliens.wix.com/vignacourt
    http://www.vignacourt.fr/maison-des-australiens.php

Anzac Week: Villers-Bretonneux

  • From Tuesday 23 April, 2:00pm to Thursday 25 April, 4:00pm, the Corbie Bocage 3 Vallées Tourist Office will be on site opposite the Town Hall in Villers-Bretonneux.
  • Tuesday 23 April to Sunday 27 April – Flights over the 1914-1918 battlefields. Prices: 160€ for 2 people, 180€ for 3 people, for more information please contact the Corbie Bocage 3 Vallées Tourist Office.
  • Friday 19 April – 8:00pm, Screening of the film “Paths of Glory” in French – Victoria Hall
  • Sunday 21 April – 8:30am, Cross country walk from Australian Memorial Park in Le Hamel to the Australian National
  • Sunday 21 April – 3:00pm, “The Course of Remembrance” (mountain bikes only) Start and Finish outside the café “Le Melbourne”, 31 rue de Melbourne. For entry fees, contact: 06 60 24 98 56
  • Monday 22 April – 8:30pm, Concert by the Southport School in the Market Hall of Villers-Bretonneux
  • Wednesday 24 April & Thursday 25 April – 9:00am to 5:00pm, Photo Exhibition, Villers-Bretonneux before and after the devastation of the Great War, plus “In Memory of Private Henry James Duggan – the story of an Australian soldier”, Victoria Hall
  • Thursday 25 April – Anzac Day
    - 3:30am: Australian National Memorial site opens
    - 3:30am-4:45am: Courtesy Shuttle service from St Expuéry School (rue Général Leclerc) to the Australian National Memorial.
    - 5:30am: Dawn Service commences
    - 6:45am: Shuttle service back from the Australian National Memorial to Villers-Bretonneux (Please be Patient!)
    - 9:00am: Ceremony at the French War Monument , Town Hall Square
    - 9:30am: Presentation of the Sadlier-Stokes prize followed by a concert by “L’Orchestre de Cuivres d’Amiens”, Market Hall
  • Thursday 25th April 2013 - The Franco-Australian Museum will be open 25th April from 7:00am to 5:30pm. – Free admission
    http://www.museeaustralien.com/

Anzac Day Village: Amiens

  • Tuesday 23 April – Saturday 27 April – Pagodas and information stands on the square in front of the Amiens train station will provide a special “Anzac Day Village” will be provided for the New Zealanders who are coming to celebrate ANZAC day 2013 in France, in the Somme and on the battlefields of the World War I. This special welcome of the New Zealanders and their friends will be made by the organizations and following institutions :
    • UNAC (Union nationale des anciens combattants) war veterans: exhibition photo on the World War I and one collector of documents of the war 14-18.
    • The Amiens Hotel Club: implementation of a specific welcome by bilingual desk.
    • Amiens Tourist Information Office will be in the village to inform the visitors and help them to organize their local movements and visits
  • Local business owners in Amiens from the association "La Fédération des commerçants d'Amiens downtown", will also be present in the Anzac Day Village, offering free tastings of regional products and beers. Coffee will be offered to our New Zealand visitors and friends as well as coach drivers and staff.


Sporting Events

  • Saturday 27 April - Prix De L’Anzac Day at Amiens Racecourse
    The Société des Courses d’Amiens (the Amiens Races Society) is proud to announce the launch of the “Prix de l’Anzac Day” (Anzac Day Prize). Through this event, we would like to pay tribute to Australian sand New Zealanders for their help to France and the Picardy region during the First World War. Just as the “Prix d’Amérique” in Vincennes commemorates American soldiers, we wish, at a local and thus smaller scale, to highlight our shared history. Why not, today, honour these soldiers through a night trot race in Picardy’s capital? In this perspective, to place the event within the commemoration program, we have chosen the date of April 27. The night will include the following suggested program:
    7:00pm: Welcoming ceremony with bagpipes. The President of the racecourse greets the Australian and New Zealand delegations.
    Pre-dinner drinks followed by a dinner in our panoramic restaurant, where guests will be able to follow the first three races.
    9:00pm: The Anzac Day Race. Six members of the delegation will have the opportunity to get a close-up view of the race aboard the escort car. Prize ceremony: the delegation gives a symbolic gift to the winner in front of the public/ TV cameras.
    10:15pm: Inauguration of our First World War exhibition in the “Hall des paris” (betting hall). It happens that the first bomb falling during the First World War hit the Amiens racecourse. A German soldier had apparently mistaken the racetrack with an aviation area. This coincidence has instigated the creation of an exposition retracing the history of the racecourse during this dark period.
    http://www.grande-rederie-amiens.com/grand-prix-de-lanzac-day-2013-2/  

Musical and Cultural Events

  • Symphonic Wind Band of the Faith Lutheran College, Redlands, Queensland, will be performing on the following occasions as part of their European tour:
    - Saturday 13 April, 8:00pm, Menin Gate ceremony, Ieper, Belgium
    - Sunday 14 April, 8:00pm, Jean Baptiste Church in Fromelles
    - Wednesday 17 April, 4:00pm, Madeleine Church, Paris
    - Wednesday 17 April, 6:30pm, ‘La Flamme’ ceremony under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris
    - Sunday 21 April, 4:00pm, Dernancourt Church, Somme
    - Monday 22 April, 8:30pm, Marché Couvert, Villers-Bretonneux, Anzac Week Opening Concert
      (combined with The Scots PGC College and the Sydney Male Choir)
    - Tuesday 23 April, 6:30pm, Opening Ceremony of the ‘So Far from Home’ exhibition, Peronne Historial de la Grand Guerre
    - Monday 25 April, 1:30pm, Bullecourt

 

  • Tuesday 23 April – 6pm, Opening of Exposition “So Far From Home” at Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne

The exhibition “So Far from Home, the story of six Australians on the Western Front” recounts the experiences of five men and one woman, all of whom had different reasons for volunteering. Some had enlisted through a sense of duty to the “Mother Country”, others through ethnic or family loyalty or simply to explore the world while on leave. Australia, which numbered just under five million inhabitants at the time, joined the Allies at the very start of the First World War. It was one of the few countries that shied away from introducing conscription, and its army was composed entirely of volunteers. In all, 416,819 Australians volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), 331,000 of whom saw service abroad. Over 60,000 were killed and more than 159,000 wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. The exhibition will run from 23 April to 24 November 2013.
http://en.historial.org/  
http://en.historial.org/Exhibitions/Future-Exhibitions/So-far-from-home