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BALLARAT
One hundred and two years ago the Anzacs were born, today their legacy is reflected on more than ever before.
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The anniversary of their landing at Gallipoli has become one of the most significant days in Australia’s history, if not the most significant.
And with every war fought since, their list of sacrifices grow.
This Anzac Day Ballarat residents paused to remember each contribution, no matter how big or small, every Australian has made in each war over the last century.
Guest speaker at the Ballarat commemorative service, Ex-Commander HMAS Ballarat Captain Guy Blackburn, spoke to the hundreds of attendees about the “fine fighting”, “self sacrifice” and “mateship” built during World War II.
“Men and women built modern fighter aircraft in makeshift factories. In field hospitals in Australia, the wounded were operated on by skilled surgeons and nursed back to fitness needed to fight again,” he said.
“The woman of the land army fed Australians and helped feed the people of the United Kingdom so they could sustain their fight against Nazi Germany.
“It’s no wonder we call the men and women who worked at home and fought overseas in World War II the heroic generation.”
Captain Guy encouraged everyone not to forget the 102,000 servicemen and women who “have given their lives to service our nation”.
“They bare the true cost of war … some lie in battlefield cemeteries, some in jungles and oceans lost with the aircrafts, our sailors are with their ships on the sea floor.
“The last post sounded for them and for all veterans. We remember them all with pride and gratitude.”
Ballarat Mayor Samantha McIntosh also spoke at the commemoration about the importance of Anzac Day.
“Anzac Day is the day that unites Australians around the country and around the world,” she said.
“Where ever we are, we pause to remember those who served, those who fought, those who returned home injured and those who did not return home.
“Their legacy is what makes Australia the country it is. They fought to protect and preserve the freedoms and rights we all enjoy today.”
Hundreds of people braved the rain to watch the annual Anzac Day parade which opened Tuesday’s commemorative service at the Cenotaph.
Ballarat RSL President Alexandra Tascas said she was pleased to see so many faces, particularly of the younger generations, turn out to this year’s service which the RSL had put extra effort into planning.
With veterans ageing as the years pass, she said it was important the younger generation took an interest and kept the Anzac stories alive.
Ballarat also paused on Tuesday to remember the furry and feathered kind who also scarified their lives during war.
Birds were released at the conclusion of the Anzac Day Commemorative Service at the Sturt Street Cenotaph to honour the animals who went to war.
The Ballarat branch of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Victoria also marched with their furry friends during the annual Anzac Day parade.
“They’re the same as a soldier, they were put into many situations and (some) couldn’t be brought back home,” one member said.
Pigeons, dogs, cats, camels, horses and donkeys played an integral part in Australia’s war effort, and were often used to carry messages, medical supplies and ammunition to the front.
CRESWICK
While the rain fell heavily in Creswick on Tuesday morning, that wasn’t enough to deter the town from coming out in droves for the annual Anzac Day march.
Returned servicemen and women stood beside dozens of school children who braved the conditions as the stories of the town’s fallen were recited.
An expanded field of crosses baring the names of each of the nearly 900 fallen soldiers from the town lay next to the Creswick War Memorial as friends and family members attached poppies to remember the fallen.
Creswick Smeaton RSL president Phil Greenbank said the expanded field of crosses was about trying to find and preserve the individual stories of those who paid the ultimate price, as well as those who returned home after the war.
“What we’re doing now is researching all of those soldiers through their war records but also we’re getting the families to give us part of history of the men and women about what they did before they went away to the war and if they were lucky enough to come home, what they did afterwards,” Mr Greenbank said.
“When I first came to Creswick I didn’t know these names and I always wondered who were these people, and I’ve since discovered that many of the families of these people are still here.”
While special focus was given to the more than 870 Creswick residents who lost their lives in WW1, guest speaker Major Elizabeth Boulton also paid tribute to the Vietnam veterans who did not receive support on their return from war.
The major, who served in both East Timor and Iraq, said Vietnam veterans had played a major role in training the current crop of Australian military personnel but were often overlooked due to the controversy of the war.
Meanwhile the town’s increasingly famous Light Horse Troop again proved a favourite as the march proceeded up Albert Street, while the Creswick Brass Band provided a fitting atmosphere for the procession.
Among those who traveled the street on horseback was the Light Horse Troop’s Thomas Rogan, who along with his horse Jas had taken to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the AFL clash between Melbourne and Richmond the night before.
The troop which is in increasingly high demand was also due to feature again at the Anzac Day game between Essendon and Collingwood as well as at the Melbourne War Memorial dawn service.
Mr Rogan said while the origins of the light horse may stretch back more than 100 years, the troop still played a pivotal role in people’s understanding of the day.
“It helps people remember and helps people have that connection with the Anzac tradition.”
DAYLESFORD
“We need to remember those who fought and respect what they did so that never again do we see the loss of our loved ones due to war.”
That was the message given to hundreds at the Daylesford Cenotaph who gathered to commemorate Anzac Day on Tuesday.
It was quiet and solemn as the rain held off for the first half of the dawn ceremony and community members listened to the emotional stories about the relatives of Daylesford school students.
“My great grandmother Agnes was born in 1901,” one student said.
“When the war broke out in 1914, Agnes’ father and brother both enlisted to fight. On multiple occasions, her father had the opportunity to be promoted to captain, but every time he refused so he could fight with his son.
“Every day, back in NSW, Agnes would sit on a fence post for hours and hours waiting for her father and brother to come home. That day never came. War affects everyone, whether you are in the fight or waiting anxiously at home.”
Community members attended the RSL following the dawn service for the gunfire breakfast.
Daylesford RSL senior vice-president Mike Tate said it was a day to remember those who fought for this country to make it the great place it is today. He said the breakfast brought the community together.
“The gunfire breakfast is for the community to have a chat about friends and relatives who served in war,” he said.
Daylesford RSL treasurer Bill McClenaghan said it was important peace and freedom was never taken for granted.
“It’s easy to take it for granted when we are at peace,” he said while serving scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage to community members.
“Every year on Anzac Day it is like repeating an important message to yourself, so you never forget.”
SEBASTOPOL
A huge crowd braved the icy conditions in Sebastopol on Anzac Day to remember those who paid the ultimate price more than 100 years ago.
More than 400 people gathered at the Sebastopol shrine along Albert Street as guest speaker Gary Snowden described the experiences of some of the suburb’s individual soldiers who took part in WWI.
Mr Snowden told the stories of local Sebastopol soldiers like farm labourer William Dowe and the Janson brothers Carl and Ernick, who were killed within two weeks of each other.
Representatives from across the Sebastopol community also joined in on the march along Albert Street to the sound of the Phoenix College Band.
Sebastopol RSL president Bryan Nicholls said he was pleased to see the concerted effort to involve a younger audience in the Anzac tradition was starting to pay off.
School children were invited to play a bigger role in this year’s commemorations, with Thomas Boots from Ballarat Christian College providing a reading.
“I’m very impressed, particular with the inclement weather we’ve experienced.
“The importance of Anzac Day is certainly amplified by the number of people who have attended our service this morning because it’s really moving.
He said the strong showing would help to ensure Anzac Day services around the country would be held well into the future.
“Today is not about old people, it’s about people who were probably the same age as many of the young people here today who went off to war back in 1915.”