General News
4 May, 2025
OFFICIAL DAWN SERVICE CANCELLED BUT TOWN ...STILL REMEMBERED
By Chris Earl RESPECT! It saw 60 people standing in the flood-lit statue shadows of World War One VC heroes Albert Jacka and Albert Borella as dawn broke on the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. Friday’s Anzac Day impromptu gathering at...
By Chris Earl
RESPECT! It saw 60 people standing in the flood-lit statue shadows of World War One VC heroes Albert Jacka and AlbertBorella as dawn broke on the110th anniversary of theGallipoli landing.
Friday’s Anzac Day impromptugathering at 6am in Wedderburn honoured those who had servedsince that fateful 1915 day.
Predicted rain that saw cancellation of the official RSL service would not arrive for anotherfour hours.
Wedderburn-Korong Valesub-branch said it had madethe safety and wellbeing ofattendees and volunteers apriority in abandoning theofficial stand-to.
Community disquiet at thedecision was replaced byrespect for servicemen andwomen in the minutes before the brief service that came five years after COVID restrictions forced the simple act of remembrance to be observed not in Soldiers’ Memorial Park but driveways.
Royal Australian Navy veteran Bob McKenzie, who saw active service in Malaya during his six years of enlistment, said: “The Dawn Service is the most important part of Anzac Day. The blokes at Gallipoli didn’t care if it was raining ... they had their job to do.”
John Grant said “if there is any rain, it would be worth standing in to have a shower” after months without big falls.
“I have come to the Dawn Service to pay my respects,” John said, echoing the words of former CFA chief officer and district resident Euan Ferguson who said: “We do this every year.”
Lynne Gondar’s recitation of The Ode was followed by regular bugler Jake Murphy’s Last Post piercing a still morning air filled with silence and respect. “I turn up at dawn every year,” Jake said.
The service was repeated 15 minutes later when more people arrived to pay respectful thanks.