Anzac Day is not about war, but about honouring those who devote their lives to their country and “their last moments to one another”, crowds who gathered at Dubbo for the dawn service have heard.
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Community members across the generations came together at the Cenotaph to mark the 103rd anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli.
Standing side-by-side they paused to remember Australia’s war dead, from World War One until modern times.
Through the darkness the evocative sounds of the Dubbo Pipe Band could be heard and veterans formed up.
Dubbo RSL sub-branch president Tom Gray acknowledged the Dubbo born-and-raised Lieutenant Colonel Scott Morris and students of St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill among the crowd.
A veteran who served in the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years, Mr Gray reflected on the meaning of the day.
“With a sense of awkward humility and overwhelming pride, we pause here today - free and confident heirs to a legacy born of idealism, forged in self-sacrifice and passed now to our generation,” he said.
“We gather in renewed commitment to one another, our nation and the ideals of mankind.
“Young Australians and New Zealanders gave their all at Gallipoli, forging in bloody sacrifice the bond within which our two nations now live.
“It heralded the cataclysm from which we emerged proud - but mourning 62,000 Australian dead.”
The sky gradually lightened as day broke and the bugle sounded.
Mr Gray said the “most fragile yet powerful of human emotions [was] hope - belief in a better future, a better world”.
“Hope is sustained most by men and women reaching out in support of one another - ‘mates who go over together’ and though gripped with fear, don’t let one another down,” he said.
“Their spirit is here.
“This place, this day - is not about war.
“It is about love and friendship.
“Love of family, of country and honouring those who devote their lives not to themselves but to us, and their last moments to one another.”
Anzac Day commemorations will continue throughout the day.