Titans coach John Cartwright joins Anzac Day ashes ritual at Currumbin RSL dawn service

HE’S one of the NRL’s toughest men but Titans coach John Cartwright says he will probably get teary when he rows a Digger’s ashes out to sea on Anzac Day.

HE’S one of the biggest and toughest men of league but Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright admits he will probably get teary when he rows a Digger’s ashes out to sea at the Anzac Day dawn service on Currumbin Beach on Friday.

The surf boat ashes ceremony has become a unique feature of the Currumbin RSL dawn service, one of the biggest and most moving in the state.

This year, a record 20 sets of veterans’ ashes will be rowed out to sea and scattered by surf boat crews.

Cartwright only took up surf boat rowing about six months ago ‘for a bit of fitness and fun’ but was convinced by a good mate, Currumbin Vikings surf club life member Mark ‘Crackers’ Goodwin, to row in the dawn service.

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“I’ve gone to the dawn service at Currumbin every year and it’s always very moving,’’ he said.

“I get teary just sitting in the audience so to be actually rowing the ashes out will be very emotional and a real privilege. My maternal grandfather was a light horseman at Gallipoli so Anzac Day has very special significance for me.’’

Coach John Cartwright will be part of a crew that will row World War II vet Hubert Hanly’s ashes out to sea at the Anzac Day dawn service on Currumbin Beach on Friday. Picture: Adam Head

Cartwright will be part of a crew including fellow former Penrith Panthers NRL player, and ex-Maroon Marty Lang, which will row out the ashes of World War II veteran Hubert Hanly.

Sergeant Hanly, who served in Tobruk, El Alamein, PNG and Borneo, died four years ago aged 96 but his family kept his ashes to spread at Currumbin in what would have been his centenary year.

“We’re so happy and proud to be fulfilling Dad’s dying wish, and to have a celebrity crew rowing his ashes out makes it even more special,’’ Sgt Hanly’s daughter, Bev, said.

“Dad’s war service touched our lives ever since we were children and it never left him. He was a real Anzac.’’