Five great Anzac Day films
Gallipoli
1981, starring Mel Gibson. Peter Weir’s movie provides a faithful portrayal of the lead-up to the battle on April 25.
Water Diviner
2014, starring Russell Crowe. Joshua Connor's three sons are presumed dead in the Battle of Gallipoli. After his wife commits suicide, Connor goes to Turkey to find the bodies of his three sons to bury them with their mother.
The Light Horsemen
1987, starring Jon Blake and Peter Phelps. The story of the famous World War I light horse regiment at the Battle of Beersheeba in 1917.
Beneath Hill 60
2010, starring Brendan Cowell. The film tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company’s efforts in mining underneath Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1857, starring William Holden and Ale Guinness. The film depicts the slave labour condition allied prisoners of war endured building the infamous Burma Railway in WWII.
ANZAC Recipes
ANZAC Biscuits
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut
125g unsalted butter
2 tbs golden syrup
1 tbs water
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
Sift the flour into a bowl
Add the sugar, rolled oats and coconut
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add golden syrup and water
Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the liquid mixture
Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
Place walnut-sized balls of mixture on a greased tray and bake at 175C for 15-20 minutes.
Biscuits will harden when cool.
Lamingtons
Ingredients – cake
125g butter, softened
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
½ cup of milk
Ingredients – icing
3 tablespoons cocoa
3 cups icing sugar
½ teaspoon butter
5 tablespoons boiling water
Desiccated coconut
Method
Line the base of a greased 27cm x 18cm lamington tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the slightly beaten eggs, adding them one at a time, and beating until well-incorporated before adding the next.
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Sift the flour and salt together (you can do this a few times, which will help to make the cake lighter).
Gently fold the flour and salt into the creamed butter mixture, alternating the flour with the milk, be careful not to overwork the mixture.
Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared tins and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cooked through (a skewer will come out clean).
Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
Cut the butter cake into desired sized cubes or oblongs.
Dip into the chocolate icing and then immediately roll in the coconut. Leave on rack to set.