ANZAC Day is a big public holiday in Australia; I would liken it to Memorial Day in the USA since its purpose is to remember the people who served and those who lost their lives in war. Each year on April 25th, there is a parade, veterans dress up in uniform, and after the gathering, everyone heads to the RSLs and select pubs for a morning beer and some games of two-up.
When Australians first told me about the game of two-up, I had no idea of the significance of this game. First of all, two-up is pretty much a gambling game where two pennies are flipped and participants have to guess whether the coins will fall both heads, both tails or one of each. Ok, fair enough… I’ve played this before.
But, did you know that two-up is actually illegal in public on all days of the year except for ANZAC Day in New South Wales? In fact, two-up is considered illegal in most states and territories except for in approved establishments.
One place to play two-up all year is at The Musician’s Club in Broken Hill.
Two-up is known as an ANZAC Day tradition. It goes back to the days where Aussie Diggers in World War I played to pass the time, and it continued on ANZAC Days when veterans would reunite. Because of this, the government sort of looked the other way until finally becoming a legal tradition.
I was quite surprised to read about the terminology involved with a simple two-up game. In the States, we would simply play “heads or tails” and flips the coins. Here, though, Australians have taken that simple game and made it into a proper casino game. Really, a casino in Burswood (near Perth) offers two-up as a table game.
>> Have a look at some of the game’s rules.
I’m kind of sad that I haven’t gotten around to playing two-up yet, but hopefully that will change this year. There is a legal two-up joint on ANZAC Day just across the street from my apartment.
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To find the grave of my grandfather at Hill 60 at Gallipoli was the object of a weekend visit from Istanbul.We had booked through a tour operator there but a few days from departure from Sydney,I contacted them top confirm they would take us to Hill 60 and they said they do not go to that part of the peninsular on their tours.I cancelled right away and, luckily,in that weekend’s newspaper’s travel section was a letter from a person who had booked with Hassle Free Tours directly in Istanbul so I emailed them and was told http://www.privatetoursinistanbul.com they could take us to Hill 60 at no extra cost.A coffee break half way after 2 1/2 hours allowed us to stretch our legs. On the final part of the 5 hour journey,a tape was played outlining the history of the Dardenelles-Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Upon arrival at the Maydos waterside restaurant we were given lunch on the terrace wirth a wonderful view across the Dardenelles then we were off to the Brighton Beach site (one beach south of Anzac Cove and we were shown large maps of the area nd our guide explained the topography and battles shown on the map and the sites we would be visiting that afternoon.After the rather complete and highly interesting afternoon tour which included a visit to the local museum, we were taken back to restaurant and boarded a cruiser for the short crossing of the Dardenelles to Cannakale.. This in itself was a bonus as one could view the Gallipoli peninsular and grasp the view which eluded so many in rthe 1915 campaign when only a few Australian soldiers reached the peaks and saw the Dardenelles which we were now crossing,only to be beaten back by the Turks under the leadership of Attaturk later reforming President of Turkey.Included in the tour was a Sunday morning tour of Troy- that most elusive and explored city which Homer wrote about some 1200 years BC with Helen, the beauty being kidnapped by Paris and the resulting Trojan War which saw Troy VI destroyed only to be rebuilt at least 5 more times! There is a wooden horse there now but the original is said to have been a seige engine. driver and a guide to go north to Hill 60 to find my grandfather’s grave. Through some wheat fields and onto a low knoll and here we were- the first persons to ever visit his grave, front row extreme right hand end.Only 44 graves, some 930 all buried in common grave, the action was made up of left-overs from various regiments,Aussies,New Zealanders ,British in this, the last main battle of the campaign.They were all wiped out in 2 days. An Australian flag, some gum leaves and a red poppy we left on the grave stone- it is a lonely place,sad and gut wrenching when one sees the absolute wastage in human lives-Back to Istanbul on the coach with memories and a feeling that we had, at least fulfilled one of life’s ambitions!