Pilgrimages, memory and millennials: an investigation of the latest wave of Australian Pilgrims to Gallipoli

This project explores the experiences of Australian millennial travellers to the battlefields of Gallipoli during Anzac Day commemoration services. It extends Bruce Scates' work in Return to Gallipoli (2006) by looking at the motivations and experiences of young Australians today. The project employs Thompson's reconstructive cross-analysis approach to oral history. It uses testimony collected through semi-structured interviews with millennial pilgrims conducted in situ with participants undertaking a pilgrimage to Gallipoli during the 2019 Anzac commemorations. The research found that millennial pilgrimages share much in common with the young Australian travellers of the 1990s and early-2000s, especially the nationalistic motivation to travel there. The evolution of the Anzac Dawn Service into a tightly controlled and structured event, though, has led to commercial tour companies and event organisers shaping the pilgrim experience and influencing how millennials engage with the site.