Sydneysiders looking to commemorate Anzac Day by heading to one of the city’s pubs for a traditional drink have been met with massive lines stretching back blocks.
Queues had formed from as early as 9am at venues like the Clovelley Hotel in the eastern suburbs and The Vic on the Park in Marrickville in the Inner West – where by midday police were not letting any more people line up.
Also in the early afternoon The Clock in Surrey Hills had a two hour line, Bellevue Hotel in Paddington had a three hour line, and both the Sackville in Balmain and Royal Paddington had huge queues, social media page Bondi Lines said.
Other pubs that still had long lines well after 12pm were the Cat and Fiddle in Balmain, The Glenmore at the Rocks, Harbord Hotel in Freshwater, and The Dolphin Hotel in Surrey Hills.
Some people said the lines were ‘cooked’ and they would be staying away, while others questioned whether the tone of the day as a memorial to those who died at war protecting the country was being forgotten.
‘What does Anzac Day mean anymore?’ one person asked.
‘It’s just been turned into another Australian drinking holiday,’ another added.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians attended what has become the other great Anzac Day tradition of the dawn service.
Long lines snaked their way outside most Sydney pubs on Anzac Day including the Harbord Hotel in Freshwater (pictured is the line about 1pm)
The Clovelley Hotel in the eastern suburbs had a long queue before 9am (pictured)
Among them was Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who marked the day at the Australian War Memorial, while Opposition Leader Peter Dutton went to a commemoration in his electorate of Dickson in Brisbane.
The prime minister read a dedication at the Canberra service, saying the 25,000 who gathered before dawn ought to think of those who went to battle but did not come home.
‘We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘Let us therefore once more dedicate ourselves to the ideals for which they died.
‘As the dawn is even now about to pierce the night, so let their memory inspire us to work for the coming new light into the dark places of the world.’
The prime minister attended the service with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon.
The service was briefly interrupted by an attendee who yelled ‘free Palestine’ before the national anthem was played, with one heckler telling the protester to ‘kick a landmine’.
For most of the service, it was only the sounds of bird calls emanating around the memorial that could be heard among the bugle calls and bagpipe laments.
Dawn Services and a commemorative drink are two of the day’s big traditions
The Clock Hotel in Surrey Hills had people waiting for blocks (pictured)
It was important to take time out of the flurry of an election campaigning to honour Australia’s defence forces, 110 years after the Gallipoli landings, Mr Albanese said.
‘We contemplate the debt we owe them – those who finally came home, their hearts reshaped by all they had seen, and those who tragically never did,’ Mr Albanese said.
Mr Dutton marked the day with a dawn service at Kallangur, in northern Brisbane, alongside his wife Kirilly.
Hundreds of people attended the service, where the opposition leader and his wife laid a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice made by Australian troops.
