ANZAC Day, April 25, is Australia's most important national event and one that most Australians identify with and come together for wherever they are in the world. It is the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand soldiers during the First World War, when soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, as part of a British Empire and French force trying to capture the Dardanelles Strait from Turkey. The pride that the soldiers took in that name of ANZAC endures to this day.

It is not a glorification or celebration of war, but the day on which Australians remember the sacrifice of those who died in the wars. And a day to recall just how young those men were who fought these battles and gave up their tomorrows so people like us could have our todays. I still get a shiver down my spine when I hear the line from Redgum's song about the Vietnam War - God help me, I was only nineteen.

It is a day when I will wear my red poppy with pride.