Anzac Day 2024 Program - West Flanders, Belgium
Please find below the current order of events for Anzac Day 2024 in West Flanders. The program includes a dawn service at Buttes New British Cemetery and commemorative services at Menin Gate, Toronto Avenue Cemetery, and others. It has accompanying notes and weblinks, and includes commemorations jointly held with the New Zealand Embassy in Brussels.
You will be able to follow the Anzac Day events across our social media channels as well. We encourage you to follow us on Facebook @AustralianBelgium and Twitter @AustraliaEU.
Further info will be provided in due course.
Wednesday 24 April
Toronto Avenue Cemetery Commemoration Service - Comines-Warneton
| Time: 16:00 Duration: approx. 45 minutes Location: Toronto Avenue Cemetery Address: Ploegsteert Wood, Huttebergweg, Comines-Warneton Notes: Toronto Avenue Cemetery in Ploegsteert is the only all Australian cemetery in Belgium, and one of only two on the entire Western Front (the other being VC Corner Cemetery in France). It contains 78 graves of soldiers from the 9th Brigade (3rd Australian Division) who died in the Battle of Messines between 7 and 10 June 1917. The cemetery is nestled in Ploegsteert Wood and accessed by a rough path and has no disabled access. Its small size means only the official party will be inside the cemetery during the commemoration service. There is no parking nearby. |
Berks Cemetery Extension Commemoration Service - Comines-Warneton
| Time: 17:00 Duration: approx. 30 minutes Location: Ploegsteert Memorial Address: Ploegsteert Wood, Huttebergweg, Comines-Warneton Notes: Berks Cemetery Extension contains 876 First World War burials, of which 180 are Australians. In the Cemetery stands the Ploegsteert Memorial, remembering more than 11,000 Commonwealth servicemen with no known grave who died in this region during the First World War. |
Anzac Day Thursday 25 April
Anzac Dawn Service - Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke
| Time: 06:00 Duration: approx. 45 minutes Location: Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood Address: Polygon Wood, Lange Dreve, Zonnebeke Notes: Buttes New British Cemetery is located in Polygon Wood, a large wood south of Zonnebeke, which was completely devastated in World War One (WW1). In the cemetery 2,108 Commonwealth soldiers are buried or commemorated including 564 Australians. The main memorial at the cemetery is located at the top of the butte and stands in honour of the soldiers of the Australian 5th Division who captured the area on 26 September 1917 Local authorities will block roads around Polygon Wood in the lead-up to Anzac Day to manage the limited parking around the venue. You can find updated information on the website of Passchendaele Museum: ANZAC Day - Passchendaele museum . The ceremony starts precisely at 6 am and you are asked to be in place 15 minutes before to avoid disrupting the ceremony. |
Tyne Cot Commemoration Service – Zonnebeke
| Time: 09:30 Duration: approx. 30 minutes Location: Tyne Cot Cemetery Address: Vijfwegenstraat 1, Zonnebeke Notes: A Commemoration Service will take place at Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the world. The area was strategically important in WW1 and was captured by the 3rd Australian Division and the New Zealand Division on 4 October 1917 in the advance on Passchendaele. Inside the cemetery are buried the remains of 11,956 soldiers (1,368 Australian) and its Cross of Sacrifice was built on top of a German pillbox. The Tyne Cot Memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery and commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and New Zealand who died in the Ypres Salient after 16 August 1917 and whose graves are not known. |
Anzac Day Menin Gate Commemoration Service – Ieper/Ypres
| Time: 11:00 Duration: approx. 45 minutes Location: Menin Gate Address: Grote Markt/Meenestraat, Ieper/Ypres Notes: On Anzac Day, the Last Post Association honour fallen Australian and New Zealand soldiers with a special iteration of their daily Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. The Menin Gate has inscribed on its walls the names of 54, 896 soldiers whose graves are unknown; 6,198 are Australian. Please be aware that due to major renovation works at the Menin Gate in Ieper, there may be limited disability access to the ceremony. You can find updates on the works at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website here. |
Belgian War Memorial Wreath Laying – Ieper/Ypres
| Time: 11.55 Duration: approx. 5 minutes Location: Belgian War Memorial Address: Vandenpeerboomplein (behind Cloth Hall) Notes: At the end of the service at Menin Gate, a wreath laying ceremony will take place. |