ANZAC Day

This year’s Anzac Day commemorations remembered and honoured military service men and women lost during wartime conflict and peacekeeping missions. 2023 commemorates 108 years since Anzac troops landed at Gallipoli in World War I and 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War.

The first formal commemoration of Anzac Day at Westbrook was organised in 2008 by the local Hall Committee and since then, attendances have improved each year.

Hundreds of people across the district flocked to Anzac Day marches and services ... A large crowd surround the memorial park to hear Cohuna/Leitchville RSL president, Geoff Dale, conduct the service, with assistance from military personnel, school children, Gannawarra Shire Council CEO Geoff Rollinson and Sergeant Josh Coombs.  

A small but moving commemorative service was conducted by the Salvation Army on Tuesday at the local cemetery. Wreaths were laid, Hymns were sung and Marco recited a poem he’d written "Such is War". After the Ode, the Last Post and one minute’s silence the crowd dispersed to Herbert Street for the Parade.

In his welcome to the Anzac Day service in Corryong on Tuesday, RSL sub-branch secretary, Greg Nankervis, told of how two towns half a world apart were honouring the memory of a young Upper Murray soldier this year. Malcolm Chisholm was the first Australian to die and the first of some 60,000 Australians who lost their lives on the First World War battlefields.

The Narrandera community turned out in big numbers to remember the service and sacrifice of veterans at Anzac Day services. Guest speaker at the main service in the Memorial Gardens is Squadron Leader Jorden Coggin, accompanied by catafalque leader Sgt Shannon Flannery.

Nhill held a Dawn Service for ANZAC Day 2023 which attracted a large crowd and then a march from the Nhill Information Centre to the Cenotaph for a wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph.

Michelle Daw. A field of 1000 handcrafted poppies and wooden crosses made a poignant sight at Port Broughton for Anzac Day. The crosses were laid out in a grid on the foreshore lawns to reflect overseas war graves of Australian service personnel. Crocheted or knitted poppies in three colours – red to commemorate fallen servicemen and women, purple in remembrance of war service animals, and white to remember all the casualties of war, both civilians and armed forces – adorned the crosses.

As our nation struggles with the ambiguity and to some the divisive nature of 26th January as a national day of celebration young Australians have turned to Anzac Day for a sense of clarity in what it is to be Australian? The sight of Australian High School students shedding tears over the graves of their ancestors in the cemeteries of Gallipoli or the sense of pride they feel when hearing their National Anthem played in Anzac services in Villers Bretonneux in France or the Menin Gate in Belgium, suggest there is a need to know our nation has contributed to a higher moral cause and so generates a sense of pride in their country.

For a small town Tennant Creek always seems to have an excellent turnout for ANZAC Day. Community volunteers, service organisations, visiting serving Defence Force members, former service personnel and family members of those who had served gathered at the Transit Centre for the march to the RSL for the Main Service.