What occurs at 11am on November 11?

At 11am on November 11 each year, Australians observe a minute's silence to remember those who have died in war and military operations. The exact moment marks the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time at which the armistice between the Allies and Germany came into effect on 11 November 1918, ending the First World War.

The minute's silence is preceded by the bugle call known as The Last Post and followed by a second bugle call known as the Rouse. At official ceremonies, a senior officer or civic leader announces the silence. At workplaces and schools, the silence is often introduced over a public address system or by the leader of an assembly. Many Australians stop what they are doing wherever they are at 11am, whether in offices, on building sites, or at home, and stand silent for the minute.

The custom of the minute's silence at the eleventh hour was first observed across the British Empire on 11 November 1919, the first anniversary of the armistice. It was proposed by the Australian journalist Edward Honey, who was living in London at the time, and was championed by King George V. The silence has been observed every year since, except for a brief period during the Second World War when wartime conditions made it impractical.

The 2018 centenary of the armistice was marked across Australia with particularly large services at the Australian War Memorial and at state and territory cenotaphs. A national project, '100 Years of Anzac', delivered between 2014 and 2018, produced new memorials, exhibitions, and education programmes about the First World War. The minute's silence at 11am on 11 November remains the most widely observed quiet ritual in Australian public life.