The touching ways Victorians will honour Anzacs under lockdown
While the rituals may be very different this Anzac Day, Victorians are still as ready as ever to honour those who served. Here’s how the efforts will keep their Anzac spirit at the forefront.
VIC News
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The rituals are different this Anzac Day.
There will be no St Kilda Rd march this morning, and no games of two-up in which veterans will be forgiven for sinking a beer or two too many.
On Saturday morning, no whispered masses streamed in the inky dark to Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, where to turn up on time is usually to stand behind tens of thousands of people.
There will be no footy and no gatherings of shared camaraderie.
Yet Victorian RSL president Dr Rob Webster says the traditional Anzac glow remains undimmed.
He has been “absolutely stunned” by the community’s willingness to adapt to the coronavirus restrictions.
On Friday, he expected Saturday’s Anzac Day letterbox mark of respect would attract more Australians than those typically drawn to services in their home towns, Melbourne’s Shrine or elsewhere throughout the world.
“I’ve been impressed by the way people have adapted to not being able to do what they normally do,” he said.
“People have said, ‘well, we can’t do our thing at the Shrine but we will do our thing in the street’.
“I honestly think we will have more people turn out. Having to walk only to the top of the drive is a lot easier than what you normally have to do.”
On Friday, the state government pledged an extra $1.5 million to RSLs and veterans to ensure vital support such as accommodation and assistance with medical and utility bills.
The move came after the street sales of ribbons and badges were banned under coronavirus restrictions, slashing fundraising for RSL clubs in 2020.
Second World War veteran Henry ‘Corky’ Caldwell typically spends Anzac Day with his brother and a few mates “knocking around together and playing up” but on Saturday the 100-year-old digger will lay in front of just a few socially distanced members of the community.
He joined the Army in 1940 and was dispatched to an Ordnance Workshop in the Middle East where he spent a lot of time “driving round the desert picking up tanks and ambulances and repairing them”.
He returned to Australia on a Norwegian cargo ship that broke down off the coast of Africa, before being dispatched to Darwin just in time to see “a few Japanese planes flying over and having a bit of a look about”.
Corky, whose wife Gloria, 94, died a few weeks ago, normally marches with his family but won’t make the trip to share it with him on Saturday.
But he’s determined to make it down the driveway this afternoon to hear two local bagpipers play outside his house.
“I used to love marching to the bagpipes,” he said. “I remember over in the Middle East we had a big march when a duke, some English fella, came out. We really put on a show.”
A flame will also flicker at the end of Chris McAleer’s Kilsyth driveway after the ex-serviceman built a homemade fireplace for his neighbours to honour the Anzacs.
“We want to still feel involved and feel like we’re doing something” he said.
“With all of that taken away, it’s left a little bit of a hole.”
Mr McAleer told the Herald Sun that although this Anzac Day was different, it had brought his neighbours and local community closer together while keeping far enough apart.
“I have never spoken to my neighbours more than I have now with everything that is happening,” he said.
“Doing this is bringing the community together.”
Templestowe’s Sarah and Mark Algie on Friday helped their two boys, Oscar, 6, and Felix, 4, to paint large wooden poppies in their unique tribute.
The project, which began as an exercise to entertain the family during isolation, morphed into something bigger.
The family has delivered more than ten homemade poppies to loved ones in Melbourne’s northeast.
Ms Algie said the poppies were her family’s way of “keeping tradition alive”.
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