Museum preserves proud memories

CQ Military Museum opens its doors Monday 11 November for public to pay respects to the fallen

Members of the Yeppoon Wesleyan Methodist Church pay their respects at the Central Queensland Militayr Museum before Remembrance Day

The Central Queensland Military Museum will be open on Monday to the public who are invited to lay a poppy in remembrance.

They will have the choice of red and white poppies for the men and women who served during World War I in particular, or purple poppies for the service animals which perished.

Curator Graham Guth said it's important to remember the soldiers who "gave their yesterday for our tomorrow".

Cheryl Young from Yeppoon visits the CQ Military Museum's display dedicated to her ancestor who died on the HMAS Sydney in 1941

"It's a mark of respect not only for those Australians who fell in the Middle East and Europe, but also in later conflicts including Vietnam," he said.

"They kept our country safe as it remains to this very day."

Monday 11 November, called Armistice or Remembrance Day, has been on the Australian calendar since 1919 when the King of England called upon his subjects to observe a two-minute silence at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

The German forces had called for a suspension of fighting in November 1918, and accepted the allied armies' terms which amounted to unconditional surrender.

It was an Australian journalist, Edward Honey, working in London, who reportedly proposed the two-minute silence as part of the Armistice Day anniversary.

Back here in Rockhampton, The Morning Bulletin editor urged all locals to take up on the King's request to suspend normal activities for two minutes.

The following year, Armistice Day became even more iconic when the remains of an Unknown Soldier were interred with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

In the post-war years the November 11 date achieved special significance to commemorate allied troops who numbered among the nine to 13 million dead during World War I, so its name was changed.

In 1993, its 75th anniversary, Remembrance Day was reinvigorated among the Australian public with the entombment of another Unknown Soldier, exhumed from a cemetery in France, in the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Memory.

Ceremonies were held simultaneously around the country, culminating at the moment of burial at 11am and followed by the new traditional two minutes' silence.

Four years later, the Governor-general issued a proclamation formally declaring November 11 to be Remembrance Day, urging all Australians to "remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts".

The Rockhampton Regional Council will host a free screening of vintage movies featuring World War II scenes from Australia and overseas, shot on 16mm and 8mm film sourced from the National Film and Sound archives.

Among unexpected film gems in this episode from the Colour of War - the ANZACs series are private footage taken by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies on his visit to bomb-ravaged London, an extraordinary one-man campaign to film messages from families for the troops in Tobruk, and surprising coverage of a homemade Kiwi 'tank' constructed out of corrugated steel and a Caterpillar tractor.

The films will take place at the Northside library from 7pm on Monday 11 November.