He noted that it started out as a simple holiday in which sport was played – a day off, if you like, to remember fallen mates in the great Aussie way by taking to the footy or cricket field.

As the Great War drew to an end, the day became more of a solemn moment of commemoration as the nation came to grips with scale of loss that dreadful conflict exacted.

By the time Governor Hurley graduated from Duntroon in the early 1970s, Anzac Day was hardly observed at all. The Governor said it would struggle to fill the forecourt of the War Memorial in Canberra – and that crowd included 400 or so graduating cadets. 

The nation at that time was divided over our involvement in Vietnam and Anzac Day was regarded as the preserve of supporters of a foreign policy out of step with the broader sentiment of the community.

That’s hardly imaginable now. Each year the crowds turning up for dawn services across the country exceed those that went before them.

And the jingoism that accompanied past Anzac Days seems to have been tempered by a more inclusive sentiment that not only honours those who served the nation but what the nation has become since those epic wars were fought.

As Governor Hurley said, if you think Anzac Day now is about the sacrifices made for the mother country, you are wrong. You may have been correct in the half century between 1920 and 1970 but not now.

These days, people from vastly different backgrounds turn up to honour the service men and women who served. They are all Australians – citizens who have since the end of World War II made this country their own. The Anzac tradition is important to them because it symbolises a nation prepared to make sacrifices to protect the values it holds dear. In 2016.

As time goes on Anzac Day will evolve even further. 

There are some obvious improvements we can make. One is tied up in the very acronym ANZAC. A crucial part of that is the NZ. Across the Tasman, Kiwis always honour their Australian comrades but that needs to reciprocated here.