This year, Anzac Day falls on the same day as Easter Monday, which is as good a reason as any to mix chocolate with Two-up and remembrances of past sufferings and sacrifices (both battlefield and biblical). Here are a few ideas for integrating tech into your Anzac Day respects.
Get to know your family history
Do have any relatives who served in past wars? What are their stories, and what is their connection to you? Tracing the known – and discovering the unknown – branches of your family tree at ancestry.com.au can be the start of a wonderful journey into your lineage.
It’s a pay-to-use service, but the initial 14-day free trial period should give you enough time to determine whether there’s enough of interest in you family history to make the longer-term commitment with your wallet.
Don’t tweet for the minute of silence
The Anzac service begins at 10.15 am at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and, elsewhere, 11am is widely observed as the time for a minute’s silence to remember the men and women who served – and are currently serving – in the armed forces. Show your respect digitally, and refrain from emailing, tweeting, SMSing and instant messaging during these times.
Get in touch
Anzac Day helps us remember families separated from their loved ones by conflicts past and present. Remember the people important to you by getting in touch via economical phone cards or VoIP services like those used by Australian troops serving overseas.
With a Skype account you can video call friends and rellies overseas and around the country on the cheap – all you need is a smartphone running Skype or a notebook computer with Skype and an inbuilt webcam and microphone. For older notebooks, affordable add-on accessories will achieve the same.
Make a batch of Anzac biscuits
You don’t need much to make the eponymous snack of Anzac Day – just golden syrup, butter, flour, bicarb, oats, coconut and sugar. Do a quick search of Google to get the recipe proportions just right (or ask your Nanna), weigh the ingredients on a digital scale and then grab the stick-mixer from the back of the top cupboard to blend everything together perfectly. Bake and eat. With respect, of course.
