Ceremonies
Anzac Day parades across the country have been cancelled due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t mean you can’t commemorate ANZAC Day and show your support for past and present military persons. #StayAtHome and show your support by standing on your driveway at 6.00 am. RSL branches are encouraging Australians to commemorate the day by standing in silence with a candle, at the end of their driveways, on balconies or in their backyards at dawn for a minute’s silence.
A number ceremonies from across the nation will be broadcast live on TV and social media, including the Australian War Memorial’s national commemorative service and Sydney’s Hyde Park service. Coverage will begin on Channel Seven with a special edition of Weekend Sunrise starting at 4.30 am (AEST).
Music from the Home Front Concert
Some of Australia and New Zealand’s biggest stars will come together on Anzac Day, Saturday April 25 at 7.30 pm on Channel Nine for a televised concert to thank essential workers on the COVID-19 frontline. Music From The Home Front will feature Ben Lee, Birds Of Tokyo with West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Courtney Barnett, Delta Goodrem, Ian Moss, Jimmy Barnes, Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Missy Higgins, Paul Kelly, The Rubens, The Wiggles, Vance Joy and Vika and Linda Bull. The event was organised by music industry icon Michael Gudinski with help from legendary Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes.
Music from the Home Front Concert is a salute from Australia and New Zealand’s music communities recognises the many healthcare and other workers helping to fight coronavirus while the rest of the country self-isolates at home. The event is especially poignant being on Anzac Day and aims to invoke the Anzac spirit Aussies have become famous for.
Music From The Home Front will screen this Saturday, April 25 from 7.30 pm on Nine and 9Now.
Virtual Tour of War Memorial
The Virtual War Memorial Australia website offers people a chance to “visit” the War Memorial while still saying safe at home. You can learn about the Anzac spirit, watch videos, read stories and search for relatives on the Honour Roll.
Anzac Biscuit Recipes (source: Australian War Memorial)
(1) The army biscuit, also known as an Anzac wafer or Anzac tile, is essentially a long shelf-life, hard tack biscuit, eaten as a substitute for bread. Unlike bread, though, the biscuits are very, very hard. Some soldiers preferred to grind them up and eat as porridge. The following recipe has been supplied courtesy of Arnott’s Biscuits Limited, through Frank Townsend, Chief Chemist. Originally, the biscuits were baked in large industrial ovens but the recipe has been altered so that one can bake them in a domestic oven.
Ingredients sufficient for six biscuits: 200 gm/1.5cups/300 mls self-raising flour, 400 gm/3 cups/600 mls wholemeal flour, 40 gm/5 tbls sugar, 20 gm/3 tbls milk powder, 1.5 gm/good pinch salt, 220 mls water
Method Place flour, sugar, and milk powder in a large bowl and blend with finger tips. Form into pile and scoop out a hole (well) in the centre. Add all of the water in which the salt has been dissolved. Thoroughly work the flour from the inside of the well into the water until the whole is a mass of lumps of flour and water. Once the dough is formed, transfer it to a table top or pastry board. The dough should now be torn apart, rubbed into balls, and thrown together, and the process repeated until the mass is well mixed and in the form of a hard dough. The dough is then rested for about half an hour. Now roll the dough in 8 mm–thick sheets using a rolling pin. The rolled sheet of dough is then cut into 90 mm squares, preferably by pressing with the edge of a steel rule rather than slicing with a knife. The pressing action helps to join the top and bottom surfaces and will improve the lift on baking. Place on a lightly greased steel baking sheet, with the biscuits about 6 mm apart, and form a wall around the load with scrap dough to avoid burning the edges of the biscuits. Bake at about 200 degrees centigrade for 30 to 40 minutes on a low shelf in the oven. Take care not to burn them. To achieve a suitable hardness in your biscuits, store for a time in an air-tight container.
Anzac Biscuit Recipes (2)
The popular Anzac biscuit is a traditional, eggless sweet biscuit. Early recipes did not include coconut. The following recipe (without coconut) was published in The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Queensland) on Saturday, 14th August 1926.
Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 tbls golden syrup, 2 tbls boiling water, 1 tsp bicarbonate soda (add a little more water if mixture is too dry)
Method: Combine dry ingredients. Mix golden syrup, boiling water and bicarbonate of soda until they froth. Add melted butter. Combine butter mixture and dry ingredients. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto floured tray, allowing room for spreading. Bake in a slow oven.The Country Women’s Association of New South Wales Calendar of Cake and Afternoon Tea Delicacies: a recipe for each day of the year (Sydney: The Association, 1933) included two recipes for Anzac biscuits, one without coconut and the following version which included coconut.
Anzac Biscuits (3)
Ingredients: 1 cup each of rolled oats, sugar and coconut, 1 tablespoon syrup, 3/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water)
Method: Melt butter. Add syrup to dissolved soda and water. Combine with melted butter. Mix dry ingredients and stir in liquid. Place small balls on ot buttered tray and bake in moderate oven. Lift out carefully with a knife as they are soft till cold.