Veterans and descendants of diggers have honoured the fallen during a ceremony at Dubbo on the centenary of World War I’s end.
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Remembrance Day brought together people of all ages at the city’s cenotaph to pay their respects to those who offered their lives to defend the nation.
Organisers reported the centenary of the armistice, along with November 11 falling on a Sunday this year, had delivered a larger than average attendance.
United the crowd observed a minute’s silence at 11am, the moment 100 years earlier the guns ceased to fire on the battlefields.
As the sun shone on Australian soil and the call of a kookaburra was heard, thoughts turned to loved ones who had served across the world.
“Very emotional is the way I felt,” said Tony Wall, a national servicemen from 1957 to 1960.
It brought back memories of... my father and my father-in-law, who served overseas.
- Tony Wall
“It brought back memories of my family members, including my father and my father-in-law, who served overseas.
“It’s one of the reasons why I come to this service every year.”
Dubbo’s Colin Rootes, who also did national service from 1956 to 1960, said it was important to gather together on November 11.
“I think it was a wonderful service, with all the people who have turned up it’s fantastic,” he said.
Young people took part in the remembrance of soldiers, sailors and air force members.
School students were among those to lay wreaths, and cadets stood to attention throughout the ceremony.
Belle Lordan, a 17-year-old corporal in the army cadets at Dubbo, was proud to represent her unit.
“I have a lot of respect for the fallen and I feel it is important to respect them because they’re a big part of our identity, our Australian identity,” she said.
- READ ALSO: Remembrance Day 100 years on
Dubbo mayor Ben Shields said the ceremony to mark the centenary was significant.
“The fact that we still continue to gather here today 100 years after the end of World War I is testament to a society that continues to recognise, respect, honour and cherish those who served our nation in the most horrific of circumstances,” he said.
Cr Shields urged that people “not let what we have forged through the Anzac spirit to be lost to indifference or the lack of responsibility”.
“Today is a day through remembrance that we continue our sacred promise of never forgetting our brave men and women who served in defence of Australia,” he said.
“In doing so we ensure a recognition that peace and freedom have always required a sacrifice in the past.”
Dubbo RSL Sub-Branch president Tom Gray welcomed the response to the ceremony, saying the attendance was larger than the average for Remembrance Day.
“I was very impressed with the way the community turned up, especially all the students [attending] on a Sunday in their uniforms,” Mr Gray said.