Australia and New Zealand have announced further details of a ballot scheme which will be used to select Australian and New Zealand citizens who wish to attend commemorative services held at Gallipoli, Turkey, to mark the Centenary of the Gallipoli landings.
The Gallipoli landings were an attempted amphibious invasion of the Ottoman Empire launched by Entente forces in 1915 which consisted largely of British, French and British Imperial troops.
The Gallipoli Campaign was the first major combat action undertaken by the recently established Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac).
In terms of proportion to the size of their respective populations, Australia and New Zealand suffered particularly heavy losses, and the 25th April (when the landings began in 1915) is marked as ‘Anzac Day’ in Australia in New Zealand.
A capacity of 10,500 attendees for the Gallipoli Anzac Day commemorations in 2015 has been agreed with Turkish authorities, of which 8,000 tickets will go to Australians, 2,000 to New Zealand citizens and the remaining 500 will be reserved for official representatives and guests.
The New Zealand Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Michael Woodhouse, recognised that “the annual commemorations at Gallipoli attract a broad spectrum of New Zealanders and it’s important that we uphold this tradition in 2015”.
Of the 2000 tickets allocated to New Zealand, Mr. Woodhouse announced in a statement that they would be delegated as such:
75 per cent (750 double passes/1500 places in total) by ballot for all New Zealanders (including descendants and veterans who were unsuccessful in their specific ballot).
10 per cent (100 double passes/200 places in total) by ballot for direct descendants of Gallipoli veterans.
10 per cent (100 double passes/200 places in total) by ballot for veterans of all conflicts.
5 per cent (100 places in total) reserved for special groups such as youth representatives and children of Gallipoli veterans.
The Australian Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of Anzac, Warren Snowdon, also announced details of the Australian ballot.
The Minister stated that a ballot “is the fairest and most transparent approach to the allocation of attendance passes for the centenary commemorations at Gallipoli”.
Minister Snowdon announced the ticket distribution as follows:
Widows of Australian First World War veterans, with a companion, will automatically be allocated a ticket, and will not need to ballot.
Five per cent of places allocated in the ballot will be reserved for Australian direct descendants of veterans of the Gallipoli campaign.
Five per cent of places in the ballot will be reserved for veterans who have qualifying service or who have deployed on any operations outside Australia, “whether they are warlike, non-warlike or peacetime operations”.
Five per cent of tickets will be not be included in the ballot process, and reserved for “representative secondary school children and their chaperones, to be allocated and managed through the states and territories”.
The remaining 6,000 Australian tickets will be balloted as 3,000 “double tickets”, which all Australians will be eligible to ballot for.
Mr Snowdon stated that “The ballot is expected to be open for registrations on 1 November 2013 and close on 31 January 2014. Details on how to register will be available later in the year following the engagement of a provider to conduct the ballot”.
To read the New Zealand Minister for Veterans’ Affairs announcement, visit the Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand website here.
To read the the Australian Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of Anzac announcement, visit the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Australia website here.
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News