Remembering

In addition to being the first British settlement in WA – some years before the Swan River – Albany is probably best known for being the port from which the ANZAC convoys sailed in 1914 on their way to Gallipoli.

There are major commemorations planned for 1^st November 2014– the centenary of the departure of the first convoy of 36 ships with 30,000 troops on board – and for 25^th April 2015 – the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli where over 11,000 of the troops were killed during 8 months of the unsucessful – and perhaps futile – assault.

Alongside the programme of events planned in the UK to commemorate the start of the war and the subsequent assaults with their ensuing carnage, it was sobering to recognise that the effects of the war were felt so keenly even at this distance.