As we Australians get ready to honour the courage and sacrifice of those who served in wars, conflicts, and peace operations on Anzac Day, I am sharing a different perspective with you each day to help us be prepared for the day itself, 25 April. Each instalment will also include a poem that I’ve chosen, which I’m sure you will find very moving, as I did.
Day 1: Monday 21 April, “Rosemary”
“There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.”
– spoken by Ophelia, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
In this first instalment, I focus on the floral emblem that we are encouraged to wear on Anzac Day – a sprig of rosemary. It’s probably in your garden to go with your Aussie lamb roast but it isn’t an Australian native plant. Remember to pick some to wear (and some extra to share) this Friday.
The Rosemary of Gallipoli: A Symbol of Remembrance
While the red poppy is a well-known symbol of remembrance, Australians wear sprigs of rosemary on ANZAC Day, a tradition deeply rooted in history and symbolism.
Rosemary has been associated with remembrance since ancient times. Greek scholars believed the herb improved memory, and apparently students wore it in their hair during exams. Romans burned rosemary or placed it in tombs to honour the dead. This association with memory and fidelity made rosemary a fitting emblem for remembrance.
Rosemary has always held a strong significance for Australians who remember our war service personnel. This is because it grows wild as a native plant on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, where Australian troops landed on April 25, 1915. The harsh conditions of Gallipoli left an indelible mark on the soldiers, and the rosemary that thrived in the rugged terrain became a symbol of their own enduring spirit.
One source suggests that the tradition of wearing rosemary sprigs on ANZAC Day began when a wounded Australian soldier brought a cutting of rosemary from Gallipoli back to Australia. He planted it in the grounds of the Army Hospital at Daw Park in South Australia. Cuttings from that bush have been used to propagate rosemary plants across the country. Today, sprigs of rosemary are distributed by organisers of Anzac Day services, allowing us Australians to wear this symbol of remembrance with gratitude.
As we approach Anzac Day, let’s remember the sacrifices made by those who served us in the past and those who continue to serve today. Remembering those who died and those who were injured; those who served on our shores, and those who were sent abroad into conflict and danger. They all paid a price and that price was shared by their loved ones.
The sprig of rosemary that we will wear this Anzac Day is much more than just a symbol. It is a living, growing tribute to the courage, sacrifice, and enduring spirit of the ANZACs and the many servicemen and women who came after them – to whom we owe a such a large debt of humility, resolve and gratitude.
Lest We Forget.
“In Gallipoli” by Eden Phillpotts
There is a fold of lion-coloured earth,
With stony feet in the Aegean blue,
Whereon of old dwelt loneliness and dearth
Sun-scorched and desolate; and when there flew
The winds of winter in these dreary aisles
Of crag and cliff, a whirling snow-wreath bound
The foreheads of the mountains, and their miles
Of frowning precipice and scarp were wound
With stilly white, that peered through brooding mist profound.
But now the myrtle and the rosemary,
The mastic and the rue, the scented thyme
With fragrant fingers gladdening the grey,
Shall kindle on a desert grown sublime,
Henceforth that haggard land doth guard and hold
The treasure of a sovereign nation’s womb—
Her fame, her worth, her pride, her purest gold.
Oh, call ye not the sleeping place a tomb
That lifts to heaven’s light such everlasting bloom.
They stretch, now high, now low the little scars
Upon the rugged pelt of herb and stone;
Above them sparkle bells and buds and stars
Young spring hath from her emerald kirtle thrown.
Asphodel, crocus and anemone
With silver, azure, crimson once again
Ray all that earth, and from the murmuring sea
Come winds to flash the leaves on shore and plain
Where evermore our dead—our radiant dead shall reign.
Imperishable as the mountain height
That marks their place afar, their numbers shine,
Who, with the first-fruits of a joyful might,
To human liberty another shrine
Here sanctified; nor vainly have they sped
That made this desert dearer far than home,
And left one sanctuary more to tread
For England, whose memorial pathways roam
Beside her hero sons, beneath the field and foam.
From Plain Song, 1914-1916
Sources:
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/commemoration/symbols/rosemary
https://anzacspirit.com.au/blog/the-traditions-of-anzac-day
