YOU could have heard a pin drop at Victoria Park yesterday morning, as a record crowd of Dubbo residents gathered in darkness for the Anzac Day dawn service.
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Residents paid tribute to servicemen and women who fought hard to give us the Australia we know and love today.
At 5.45am, Wingewarra and Darling streets were flooded with people - some rushing, some walking calmly, to gather around the Cenotaph where between 60 and 80 ex-service men and women stood proudly in the brisk autumn air.
Dubbo RSL sub-branch president Tom Gray spoke to the enraptured crowd and paid respect to the 61,522 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in World War I, which began 99 years ago.
Children were perched on their father’s shoulders to get a better look and families stood in silence as the haunting yet familiar Last Post’ was played, followed by a minute’s silence where only the wind could be heard.
Member for Dubbo Troy Grant was one of a number of people who laid a wreath beside the Cenotaph.
Master of ceremonies Geoff Mann quipped there was more people at yesterday’s dawn service than there was at last week’s City-Country rugby league match in Coffs Harbour [with a gate of slightly more than 4000], which raised a laugh with the crowd.
“This would have to be the biggest crowd we’ve ever seen at a dawn service in Dubbo,” Mr Mann said.
The big crowds continued at the Anzac Day march and 11am service.
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