The annual Remembrance Day service hosted by Maldon RSL at the Cenotaph on Monday 11 November attracted numerous attendees, including grade five and six students from Maldon Primary School.
Commencing with a minute’s silence, the service proceeded with Maldon RSL President Kevin Moschetti acknowledging Traditional Owners of the land. He then provided an overview of some key dates in the establishment of the Remembrance Day tradition that is carried on today. The observing of a period of silence for respect and reflection was first suggested by an Australian journalist in 1919, he explained, while the state funeral of The Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey in 1920 solidified the tradition of holding services on 11 November. An Unknown Australian Soldier was reinterred from France to the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993, again highlighting and reigniting the date for the public.
Since 2011, Maldon RSL and Maldon Primary School has held a poetry competition to celebrate excellence in expressing the ANZAC spirit. The poems are displayed alongside photos and artworks on the fence at the school and this year’s winner Athena read her moving poem at the memorial service.
Veteran Keith Stancombe laid the wreath and Zoe Boyd, the floral artist who created it, spoke beautifully about the significance and symbolism of the flowers and the day. She spoke about being too young to know what it is like to go to war, and “being thankful that I don’t have a reason to be afraid of lightning or fireworks and being able to look at a field of poppies” without reviving terrible memories.
Meanwhile, the Maldon Cemetery Trust (MCT) had spent Sunday 10 November placing Australian Flags on the graves of former service members. MCT committee member Rhiannon Govier spoke about the importance of introducing younger people to the significance of the cemetery, noting that she has five generations of forebears buried there. “It’s very meaningful, this whole cemetery,” she said. Her son Will Govier from Maldon Primary School, with grandmother Jenni McKenzie [above], swept and cleaned the grave and headstone of his great-grandfather before proudly placing a flag.
See all the Remembrance Day coverage and photos in the issue.
This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 15 November 2024.