Statue of NZ soldier joins bridge 'mate'

NEW Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma have dedicated a statue of a New Zealand soldier on Sydney's Anzac Bridge, at a ceremony attended by Australian and New Zealand war veterans.

An Anzac military guard marched across Anzac Bridge, which had been cleared of traffic, to the south-western section of the bridge as part of the ceremony.

The statue of the World War I soldier faces across the bridge towards the statue of an Australian digger, which was unveiled on the northern side of the bridge when it was renamed on April 25, 2000.

It has been applied in a number of ways to refer to combined Australian and New Zealand military formations. The term was originally an acronym applied to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps of 1915 and 1916, but became a more general name shortly after the events of Gallipoli. In particular, two new Corps - I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps and the ANZAC Mounted Division were established in 1916. In 1918, I ANZAC Corps was renamed the Australian Corps, and that was the last useage of the term in World War I. It came back into use in Greece in April 1941 - I Corps (Australia) was redesignated Anzac Corps when the 2nd New Zealand Division was incorporated into it. The designation was only in use for about two weeks until Greece fell, but it was official. During the Vietnam war, when New Zealand companies were integrated into larger Australian batallions, these integrated batallions were designated ANZAC - for example, 4th Batallion, Royal Australian Regiment (4RAR) became 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC). The Frigates built in the 1990s and early 2000s for the Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand Navies were designated ANZAC Class. Eight currently serve with the RAN, two with the RNZN.

The joint Australian/New Zealand Battlegroup currently deployed to East Timor is designated the ANZAC Battlegroup.

More generally, the term ANZAC can be used to refer to any Australian or New Zealand troops. It's become common to use the term 'Original ANZAC' to refer to those who served at Gallipoli. The last of the Original ANZACs was Alec Campbell who died in 2002.

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