The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) marked Remembrance Day last week (11 November) by celebrating 100 years since the Flanders Poppy was adopted as the commemorative flower of remembrance.
In a statement, the Department said the flower was adopted in 1921 by The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia.
“The origin of the red poppy of remembrance can be traced back to Canadian Colonel John McCrae’s famous poem, In Flanders Fields, which was written during the Second Battle of Ypres,” PM&C said.
“In this poem, he describes the poppies that marked the graves of soldiers killed fighting for their country,” it said.
“However, the wearing of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance began in the US by Ms Moina Michael, before quickly spreading to France and throughout the Allied nations as the accepted flower of remembrance to be worn on 11 November.
“In 1921, when the Flanders Poppy was officially adopted as the memorial flower of Remembrance Day, the League said the adoption recognised that no other emblem so well typified the Fields “whereon was fought the greatest war in the history of the world nor sanctifies so truly the last resting place of our brave dead who remain in France”.
PM&C said that one century on, red poppies made from cloth were still sold in the lead up to Remembrance Day to raise funds for the work of the Returned and Services League of Australia.
“They also adorn the panels of the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial, where these poppies have been placed since 1993 as a tribute of remembrance,” the Department said.
