By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
IN THE pre-dawn gloom in Narre Warren on Friday hundreds of people held a minute’s silence, disturbed only by the continuous chirping of a solitary bird.
Such was the scene on Anzac morning outside the Casey council chambers where the crowd congregated to pay respects to Australia’s fallen soldiers at the annual service held by the Berwick RSL and Rotary Club of Narre Warren.
Children hoisted on shoulders, SES crews and motorcycle club members were just some of the people who gathered together in the autumn cold as Berwick RSL president Ray Heathcote encouraged the crowd to think back 99 years.
“As we stand here, with the light about to break, we wonder what the first Anzacs must have felt as they looked out from their landing ships 99 years ago, in the first light, at the Gallipoli beach and thought about what lay before them,” he said.
“They were volunteers. They were young. They were half a world away from their homes. And the balance of their lives lay before them.
“What was in their minds?”
Following the minute’s silence, the attending Casey councillors were among those invited to lay wreaths underneath the Australian flag before many in the crowd formed a procession which filed through the outside memorial.
After the service a breakfast was held for attendees inside the council chambers at which Berwick RSL secretary George Nicholson told the guests how important it was for society’s youth to continue the Anzac tradition.
“It’s a real pleasure to see an interest being taken and that’s what the RSL’s about, continuity of that tradition that we all want to carry on into the future and it’s something we must all strive for,” he said.
And society’s youth was certainly on display at the breakfast with local students speaking to the crowd about the importance of the day, including poem recitals from Kambrya College’s Adrian Harper-Gomm and Fountain Gate Secondary College’s captains Jake Alway and Natalie Szkolar.
Also speaking at the breakfast, Narre Warren South MP Judith Graley emphasised the “extraordinary courage and bravery” that was shown by those who served in war for their country.
“All those things that are hard to come by in human beings that were given generously on our behalf on Anzac Day,” she said.
And as the breakfast came to a close, a bottle of rum was offered around the room for those who wished to partake.
