Hundreds, if not thousands of people, gathered in the pre-dawn twilight at Griffith’s Memorial Park to remember those who fought and died in our name.
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One hundred years ago, on a small cove on the other side of the world, a legend was birthed in blood and gun oil.
The legacy of those brave few, sons of a fading empire, would go on to shape a nation barely 14 years old.
Despite the cold and threat of rain, Banna Avenue was full, as was the park, as the town gathered to pay their respects.
Allen McKenzie and Typo Well blew the didgeridoo as the stragglers took their places, reminding all gathered of the importance of the traditional owners of the land, and of their sacrifice at war.
Terry Walsh, ANZAC Day coordinator from Griffith RSL Sub-Branch told the gathering it was “the biggest crowd we’ve ever had at a dawn service that I’m aware of.”
“The spirit of Anzac is alive and well in Griffith I can assure you,” Mr Walsh said.
Hank Veenhuizen read the Anzac Dedication: “we who are gathered here today in this dawn vigil remember with gratitude the men and women who have given and are still giving in our armed and supporting services, all that is their's to give, in order that the world may be a nobler place in which to live. And with them, we remember those left behind to bear the sorrow of their loss.”
The bugle blows, and takes us to Anzac cove. The silence lingers, and we lament the human nature that longs for battle, in the peace of the the cold morning air.
Mr Walsh then read the Ode of Remembrance.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”
Pipers Colin Brown and Grant McKern played a mournful tune, and Stuart Heffer’s bugle responded with hope.
Father Rob Harris led the crowd in prayer to conclude the service.
“We pray for the day when nations will not lift up swords against their neighbour, the time when swords will be turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks,” Fr Harris prayed.
“I’d like to thank everyone for coming along and making this service so very special,” Mr Walsh said in closing.
“It’s absolutely tremendous to see so many people.”
The crowd started to disperse, and Mr Walsh refelcted on the dawn service.
He thought the turnout was unbelievable, saying he had heard there were “probably 1500 to 2000 people.”
“How can you not be absolutely blown away with the crowd that was here this morning?” Mr Walsh said.
“I’ve got no doubt that a lot of that is due to the fact that we’ve got a very strong education system now about Anzac with the school kids.
“The services that have been held at the schools this week, we’ve attended quite a few of them , the level of knowledge that is shown at those school services now is incredible, and most of them are organised by the kids.
“If you ask the kids today what Anzac is all about they’ll give you the rundown.”
Carl Chirgwin, a teacher at Griffith High School, and Shaun Ryan, a tiler, both thought the service was fantastic.
“Massive crowd,” Mr Chirgwin said, “it was really well done.”
“I thought it was good with the didgeridoo at the start, that was really nice and a good way to reflect on the Aboriginal people and what they’ve done as well.”
“Good way to include them, people don’t realise how many was involved at the time,” Mr Ryan said.
“When they got on the line, there was no black and white, nothing, they all banded together.”
“It’s a beautiful tribute, we’ve actually got four students from Griffith High at Gallipoli this morning so it’s fantastic we had a lot of our students here as well,” Mr Chirgwin said.
One hundred years ago, 8709 Australians were killed in Gallipoli.
“We lost eight thousand people in a couple of days of battle, most of it was bayonet and shooting, not dropping bombs from the air, it was ground battle and that’s what students couldn’t believe.”
