West Australians pay Anzac Day respects
WEST Australians spanning four generations of armed conflicts gathered in the darkness and joined together for an emotional Anzac Day dawn service.
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OLD and young. Frail and able bodied. Those who have held a gun and killed, and those who never will.
West Australians from all walks of life and spanning four generations of armed conflicts gathered in the darkness and joined together as the day broke for an emotional Anzac Day dawn service at Kings Park in Perth this morning.
A near-record 40,000-plus crowd flocked to the State War Memorial and its ever-burning Flame of Remembrance for the biggest Anzac dawn service in the world.
Fine weather and a mild 16C on the mercury made it a pleasant start to the day for those who rose early to pay their respects and give a nod to the Anzac legend and the men and women who gave their lives to make modern WA what it is today.
Under a steely sky and crescent moon, the pre-dawn was so still and solemn the flags at half mast did not stir an inch.
The Returned and Services Leagues Club was expecting today’s dawn service — the 99th since the landing at Gallipoli during the “Great War” — to be the biggest ever.
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Giant screens lining Fraser Avenue beamed wartime images from 4.30am this morning as families and young people joined war veterans and their relatives for the pre-dawn pilgrimage to Kings Park.
The day of remembrance, gratitude and national pride included the haunting tones of the Last Post and a deafening Royal Australian Air Force flyover.
The Lament played on bagpipes echoed across Kings Park and a cool blue dawn broke as wreaths were laid by Governor Malcolm McCusker, WA RSL boss Graham Edwards, warden of the State War Memorial Jean Stewart and Premier Colin Barnett.
Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi also lay a wreath alongside WA Opposition leader Mark McGowan and representatives from consulates around the world, the Salvation Army and Australian navy, air force and army battalions.
Mr Edwards, who lost both his legs to a landmine in Vietnam, then recited the Ode and thousands of voices in the crowd responded with “Lest we forget” before falling quiet for a minute of silence.
Many had tears in their eyes.
Advance Australia Fair rang out as proud West Australians recited the national anthem, remembering all those who have their lives in a century of conflict from WWI to Afghanistan.
Captain Angela Bond, the commanding officer of HMAS Stirling, delivered the dawn service address.
As the Anzac Requiem was read out, the crowd was told: “On this day above all days we recall those who served in war and who did not return to receive the grateful thanks of the nation.
“We remember those who still sleep where they were left amid the holly scrub in the valleys and the ridges of Gallipoli, on the rocky and terraced hills of Palestine and in the lovely cemeteries of France.
“We remember those who lie asleep in ground beneath the shimmering haze of the Libyan Desert … and amid the mountain passes and olive groves of Greece and Crete, and the rugged, snow-capped hills of Lebanon and Syria.
“We remember those who lie in unknown resting places in almost every land, and those gallant men whose grave is the unending sea.
“Especially do we remember those who died as prisoners of war, remote from their homeland, and from the comforting presence of their kith and kin.
“We think of those of our women’s services who gave their lives in our own foreign lands and at sea …
“We think of every man and woman who in those crucial hours died so that the lights of freedom and humanity might continue to shine.
“We think of those gallant men and women who died in Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, and in peacekeeping forces assisting to defend the Commonwealth and other countries of the free world against a common enemy.”
Thousands more took in dawn services in Fremantle, Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Karratha, Broome, Kalgoorlie and elsewhere across the state.
And Perth people who couldn’t make it to Kings Park tuned into Channel Nine, which broadcast the dawn service live for the first time.
The early-morning commemoration will now be followed by the Anzac Day Parade from9.30am through Perth City from St Georges Terrace to Barrack Street, Riverside Drive and into the Supreme Court Gardens for the a memorial service.
Mr Edwards said he was overwhelmed by the growing popularity of Anzac Day, which he put down to a greater emphasis by schools and the fact that next year marks 100 years since the Gallipoli campaign.
Curtin University expert Graham Seal said WA suffered disproportionately high losses in World War I and at Gallipoli, meaning it was close to the hearts of many West Australians.
Today is just the start of a big four years of Anzac commemorations. From November, the Anzac Centenary will begin, marking 100 years since WWI.
Commemorations for the centenary kick off in Albany, where the first convoy of the Australian Imperial Force departed bound for the Great War in November 1914.
What’s open on Anzac Day?
The public holiday has brought in changed trading times, with many businesses shutting up shop to honour the Anzacs.
How to use your free Virtual Candle
Australians will commemorate Anzac Day from home on Saturday. This is a step-by-step guide to using your free Virtual Candle and other content to Light Up The Dawn.