Toowoomba family plans front lawn service for Anzac Day
WHEN Anthony Clark realised COVID-19 was going to prevent his annual Anzac Day journey to Melbourne, he started planning a homegrown tribute.
Toowoomba
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WHEN Anthony Clark realised COVID-19 was going to prevent his annual Anzac Day journey to Melbourne with his son, he decided to start planning a homegrown tribute.
The former army medic and Queensland Ambulance Service paramedic is one of hundreds of residents who will host a special tribute to the country's servicemen and women in their own front yards on Saturday.
Mr Clark said he would normally be preparing for a trip to Victoria to attend the dawn service and watch the Anzac Day AFL match between Collingwood and Essendon.
"A mate of mine Dave Bennett, whom I met in the Northern Territory in 2005, we started going down to Melbourne with our sons to watch the dawn service and the march and the AFL game," he said.
"We've done it every year since (but) obviously this year has been written off."
To properly acknowledge the day of remembrance, Mr Clark and his daughters Olivia and Emily have been preparing the family's front lawn in Mount Lofty for a personal service tomorrow morning.
"I'm helping out a mate called Wayne Hamlet, who runs Impact Lighting. I've hired the word Anzac and he's going to bring it around and light it up," he said.
"That's going to be across the driveway, and I've got a movable firepit has been laser-cut with all my military details and other symbols.
"I've got two daughters who are very arty and they've created little milk cartons and painted three sides of them and put little tea candles in them.
"The girls have been churning four of them out a day for a few weeks and we've been giving them to people that we know."
Mr Clark said he had called on a fellow paramedic Jarrod Rowden, a skilled cornet player, to perform The Last Post at the service.
RSL Queensland has encouraged residents to host their own personal services for Anzac Day, after social distancing measures forced the cancellation of all official events.