Australia and New Zealand have opened the ticketing ballot process for those wishing to attend Centenary commemorations at Gallipoli in Turkey in 2015.
A capacity of 10,500 attendees for the Gallipoli Anzac Day commemorations has been agreed with the Turkish authorities.
8,000 tickets have been allocated to Australia and 2,000 to New Zealand. The remaining 500 will be reserved for official representatives and guests.
Ballot opens
The ballot opened on the 15th November 2013 and will close on the 31st January 2014.
The Australian Minister for Veteran Affairs, Senator Michael Ronaldson, stated that there “was plenty of time for interested Australians to apply”, in light of the expected high demand for tickets.
New Zealand Veterans’ Affairs Minsiter, Michael Woodhouse, encouraged New Zealanders to apply for tickets as “the 1915 ANZAC campaign is important to our history and helped shape our nation’s identity. One hundred years on, the 2015 commemorations will be especially poignant and a time for New Zealand to reflect”.
The Southland Times reported that there was a registration every 30 seconds in the first few hours after the opening of the ballot in New Zealand.
Ticket distribution
New Zealand – 2000 tickets
– 100 double passes (200 tickets in total) by ballot for direct descendants of Gallipoli veterans.
– 100 double passes (200 tickets in total) by ballot for New Zealand veterans.
– 750 double passes (1500 tickets in total) by ballot for all New Zealanders (including descendants and veterans who were unsuccessful in their specific ballot).
– 100 places in total reserved outside of the ballot for special groups such as youth representatives.
Australia – 8000 tickets
– 3,000 double passes (6,000 tickets in total) to be allocated through the ballot to the Australian general public.
– Special Representatives – war widows do not need to apply for ballot will be included as part of Australia’s official representative group. The Department of Veterans Affairs will contact them.
– Special Representatives – direct descendants 400 double passes (800 tickets in total) will be allocated through the ballot to direct descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc). of those who served in the Gallipoli campaign.
– Special Representatives – veterans 400 double passes (800 tickets in total) will be awarded to Australian veterans through the ballot who have qualifying service or who have deployed on any operations outside of Australia, whether they are warlike, non-warlike or peacetime operations.
– Special Representatives – school students 400 single passes will be awarded outside of the ballot to secondary school students and their chaperones. These places will be allocated and managed by the states and territories.
For both the Australian and New Zealand ballots, the majority of those successul in their ticket applications are expected to cover their own travel and accomodation costs.
To find out more about the Australian ballot, click here.
To find out more about the New Zealand ballot, click here.
Source: Australian and New Zealand Departments for Veterans Affairs websites
Images courtesy of the New Zealand Defence Force – Crown Copyright 2012, Some rights reserved