On Anzac Day 1980, 16 women from the movement Women Against Rape in War (known as WAR groups) attempted to lay a wreath on the Stone of Remembrance. Fourteen women were arrested, shown here outside the ACT Magistrates Court.

This footage shows that Anzac Day has long been a day of peaceful protest by many feminists, highlighting the memory of women raped in wars. The protestors offer a counter-perspective to the glorification of soldiers and the masculine lens on war history. The women sing a mock-tribute to 'murderers', holding signs that subvert national myth, and laying down a makeshift wreath dedicated to the women harmed by wartime. These clips capture the coordination and political actions of feminist movements in the era, as well as their friction with the state (as seen by the police officers shown ushering the women into court).

The following year, on Anzac Day 1981, 65 women were arrested for trying to join the march in Canberra; on Anzac Day 1982, 750 women watched the official wreath-laying from afar, on the hill overlooking the Australian War Memorial. These demonstrations followed a period of strong anti-war sentiment in the 1960s and 1970s, where anti-Vietnam War protests were common at Anzac Day events. The Women Against Rape in War groups drew specific attention to gendered violence during war – long before the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000.