More coverage:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We’d love to see your Anzac Day pictures and video - share them with us through our Facebook page, our Snapchat account bgoaddy, by tagging us @BgoAddy on Twitter or by using #bendigoadvertiser on Instagram.
THE threat of rain did not deter Bendigo’s residents from turning out in their thousands to pay their respects at the 2017 Anzac Day dawn service.
The crowd applauded as men and women marched from the Soldiers Memorial Institute to the cenotaph at View Point shortly before 6am, in a show of respect for their service.
Following a prayer delivered by Padre Tom Williams, Ryan Worthington recited a poem about 1942, “the year the war came home”.
Mr Worthington’s father Peter was a well-known bush poet who delivered a poem at many Anzac Day services before he passed away last year.
Mr Worthington spoke of how the Japanese took Singapore before bombing Darwin, losses at sea, and further attacks on Broome, Newcastle and Sydney.
He also acknowledged Australians fighting in El Alamein and Kokoda that year, and the prisoners of war forced to work on the Burma railway.
“Today, we remember the sacrifice of all wars and conflicts, and the people lost and left alone,” Mr Worthington said.
“Remember, that when the bombs dropped on Darwin in 1942, it was the year that the war came home. Lest we forget.”
MC Jonathan Ridnell told the crowd that Anzac Day was an opportunity to remember the more than 102,800 Australians killed in conflict, those who had returned, and their loved ones.
Mr Ridnell asked the crowd to imagine what Bendigo would have been like on this day in 1917, 100 years ago.
“People gathering, feeling the aching loss of lives taken at Fromelles, Pozieres,” he said.
“Worrying for loved ones, as Bendigo’s 38th Battalion is deployed to the Western Front.
“How great was the pride in our troops and their brand new Anzac spirit? How much grief that the butcher’s bill was so high?”
As the crowd watched on in respectful silence, Bendigo District RSL Sub-branch senior vice president Peter Swandale laid a wreath at the cenotaph before delivering the Anzac address.
“We as a community say thank you for your service, for your commitment to protect Australia and the way of life, and more importantly, your courage,” Mr Swandale said of veterans and current serving members.
He also thanked the loved ones of service men and women, describing the partners as the backbone of the defence force.
The bugler played the evocative strains of the Last Post and the crowd fell still to mark a minute’s silence, the air otherwise filled only with a magpie’s warble.
The crowd at the service included people of all backgrounds and ages, from infants in strollers to the elderly.
Nicole and Dale Hodges, serving members of the 15th Force Support Squadron, turned out for the dawn service with their children Dannii and Fletcher.
They said they wanted their children to understand the importance of the day and continue the tradition of remembrance.
For Jana Middlemis, it was important her children Lily, 7, and Jackson, 4, understood what had been given for them to lead the lives they did.
“I suppose it’s the ultimate sacrifice, isn’t it?” Mrs Middlemis said.
“These people have lost their lives, their families; even if they come back, they’re changed forever.”
Mr Swandale told the Bendigo Advertiser he was extremely pleased with the crowd and commended the community for coming out to commemorate the occasion.
“I’m very proud to be part of the Bendigo community,” he said.
For the first time this year, the service was also broadcast on a large screen, to give those at the back of the crowd a better view of the ceremony.
The service was followed by a gunfire breakfast at the Soldiers Memorial Institute for veterans and those still serving.
Anzac Day an opportunity to give thanks
FOR the thousands of people who attended Bendigo’s dawn service yesterday, Anzac Day represented an opportunity to honour those who have lost or risked their lives in service of their country.
Former Bendigo residents Trevor and Andrea Deane, from Gladstone in Queensland, said they had wanted to “pay tribute to those who have lost their lives, and (those who) still protect Australia”.
“It was very moving,” Mrs Dean said.
Nick Botten and William Paffrath said they attended the service every year and planned to head along to the main 11am service as well.
Mr Paffrath said he had family serve in both World Wars, so he attended the service to pay his respects to them and everyone else who had served for Australia.
Similar reasons drove Jess Brady, Talisa Williamson and Liana Elias to attend.
Ms Williamson said her great-grandparents’ brothers had fought in war and growing up she was taught to show her respect on Anzac Day.
The young women said it was pleasing to see the number of people who turned out, despite the wet weather.
“It’s good to see the community come together,” Ms Brady said.