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Australia The Last Anzacs

1999-C One Dollar

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Anzacs are the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps which served during the First World War. The Last Anzacs refers to the last few surviving members who served at that time. The Royal Australian mint issued the commemorative one dollar in recognition of those gallant men. The reverse was designed by Wojciech Pietranik and shows the portrait of a young ANZAC with the legend, THE LAST ANZACS. The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right and crowned. The legend reads ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 1999.

(C) mint-mark on the 1999-C (The Last Anzacs) One Dollar piece.

It was around 2.30am on 25th April, 1915, that the men of the Anzac Corps approached the west coast of Gallipoli in the ships of the invasion fleet. The Australian submarine AE2 entered the Dardanelles to disrupt Turkish sea communication to aid the ANZACS in their quest. The ill-fated mission will be forever etched into Australian history and the hearts of Australians as the loss of life was so immense. The Last Anzacs are the surviving members that landed in Gallipoli during the invasion. These men are fondly remembered for their dedication to duty and not forgetting that they had the unenviable trauma of losing so many comrades and friends often just yards away from them. We remember them always, but especially on Anzac Day which is celebrated annually on the 25th April to honour those we lost and pay our respects. There are many ceremonies held around the world to commemorate this day, indeed, in London, over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets and a London newspaper headline dubbed them "the knights of Gallipoli" (Australian War Memorial, 2014) . On the 16th May 2002, the last surviving Anzac, Alec William Campbell, aged 103, died. His passing meant that all the Anzacs are now laid to rest. The was a state funeral held at St David's Anglican Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania and such was the significance that the Australian Prime Minister cut short his visit to China to be in attendance.