Meredith gives thanks to Anzacs

Understandably, huge crowds flock to services in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, but regional cities and small towns turn out with just as much fervour to their own intimate ceremonies.

In Meredith, hundreds crammed into the local Memorial Hall, with veterans from past conflicts shoulder-to-shoulder with children, teenagers and even pets.

One pooch in particular found a fine singing voice during the hymn "abide with me", earning more than few glances his way.

There were CFA volunteers, scouts, cubs, the community emergency response team and of course pupils from the local primary school all doing their best to stay in time with the leaders during the parade through town, as a local piper did her best to maintain the haunting sounds of bagpipes throughout the day's proceedings.

The morning was clearly important for the community. It was Meredith's chance to say thank you to locals who had sacrificed their lives to ensure their village atmosphere and the nation's freedom was preserved.

Golden Plains Shire councillor Andrew Cameron told the crowd it was imperative Anzac Day services such as the one at Meredith were continued into the future.

"It's important to continue to honour those who served and died and those who continue to serve our proud nation," he said.

"It's important to continue to preserve their memory and our history, to remind future generations we owe an enormous debt to the men and women who served and sacrificed to preserve our freedom."

RSL Meredith sub-branch president David Jones thanked those currently fighting overseas, then read the Anzac Requiem to the crowd.

"We remember those who still keep where they were left - amid the holly scrub in the valleys and ridges of Gallipoli - on the rocky and terraced hills of Palestine and in the lovely cemeteries of France," he read aloud.

"We remember those who lie in unknown resting places in almost every land, and those gallant men whose grave is the unending sea."