http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8457179Far from a sombre event, the Anzac Day service at Lone Pine opened with cheers of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... oi, oi, oi" from a sea of green and gold-clad visitors.
Young and old, men and women, they bombarded Australian Victoria Cross (VC) recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith with requests for autographs and photographs as he entered an arena where thousands had come to remember the Anzac sacrifice.
Ninety-seven years ago the scene at Lone Pine was very different.
It was a bloody battleground where thousands of soldiers lost their lives.
But the Gallipoli area was also important in the blossoming of Australia's nationhood, says Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Atop rusty-coloured cliffs overlooking Anzac Cove, Ms Gillard spoke of a three-day campaign at the site 97 years ago as "a story of occasional success but ultimate frustration".
"Our federal bond was young when the Anzacs came to this place," she told a crowd of thousands at Lone Pine, many from Australia and New Zealand.
"The laws and institutions of our nation were laid down in 1901. But here, in 1915, its spirit and ethos were sealed.
"This was our first act of nationhood in the eyes of a watching world, an act authored not by statesmen or diplomats, but by simple soldiers."
During an earlier dawn service at Anzac Cove, Ms Gillard paid tribute to the 8700 Australian soldiers who lost their lives during the Turkish invasion, some aged just 14 and 15 years old.
As soldiers scaled the hills, some of the bravest acts of gallantry were seen at Lone Pine, where seven of the nine VCs awarded during the Anzac campaign were earned.
"Three days of vicious fighting soaked this ground in blood," Ms Gillard said of the Lone Pine battle.
"We come here in honour of qualities that defined the Anzacs, and we hope, however faintly, might also define ourselves."
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oh my gaudy
namaste