Anzac centenary to cost $83.5m

Gallipoli bound . . . Julia Gillard.
Gallipoli bound . . . Julia Gillard.
War graves will be spruced up and events staged across the world, at a cost of $83.5 million, to mark Australia's Anzac Centenary.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the funding package in Singapore before heading to Gallipoli for her first Anzac commemorative service there as leader.

"The Centenary of Anzac will be a time for profound reflection on events that helped define our Aussie character and the way we see ourselves in the world," she said.

"It will be a unifying moment in the life of our nation."

The Anzac Centenary, to run from 2014 to 2018, will mark 100 years since the Gallipoli landings and major Western Front battles.

It will also recognise other significant military anniversaries throughout the last century.

The seven-year funding package will go towards the refurbishment of the First World War galleries at the Australian War Memorial and the refurbishment of war graves in Australia and overseas.

There will also be commemorative services overseas, a local grants program, arts and culture fund, and a scoping study for the restaging of the first convoys that left from Albany, Western Australia, in November 1914 and carried Australian and New Zealand soldiers to Egypt and Gallipoli.

The chairman of the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board, former Chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston, welcomed the funding package.

"The board will play an important role in advising the government on the detailed planning, development, prioritisation and scheduling of the centenary program and liaising with the community," the retired Air Chief Marshal said in a statement.

Mr Houston will also be driving a campaign to get private sector sponsorship.

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