Anzac Day

ANZAC DAY 2006 started early for those attending the 4:30am service at Albion Park RSL. Cold temperatures, a steel grey sky and a light drizzle did not deter a crowd of over 400 people (significantly greater than last years attendance of 297) from gathering to show their respects in the darkness before dawn. During the two minutes of silence, which followed the Last Post, the only sound that was heard was the muffled crying of a young baby a fitting reminder of the legacy left to us by those who have fought and died on foreign shores our freedom.

ANZAC Day represents everything we like to think of as quintessentially Australian courage, endurance and mateship. 91 years after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25 1915 ANZAC Day services and ceremonies still attract thousands of people who come to pay their resects to the soldiers who fought for our freedom.

ANZAC Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

It was the start of a campaign that lasted a gruelling eight months and resulted in some 25,000 Australian casualties, including 8700 who were killed or died of wounds or disease.

The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in an operational routine, which is still observed by the Australian Army today.

The half-light of dawn plays tricks with soldiers' eyes and from the earliest times, the half-hour or so before dawn, with all its grey, misty shadows, became one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were therefore woken up in the dark, before dawn, so that by the time the first dull grey light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert and manning their weapons. This was, and still is, known as "Stand-to". It was also repeated at sunset.

The men who served on the Gallipoli?Peninsula created a legend, adding the word ANZAC to the Australian and New?Zealand vocabularies and creating the notion of the ANZAC?spirit.

Other ANZAC Day services were held at Port Kembla (6am), Shellharbour Village (6:45am), Shellharbour City (7:40am), Oak Flats (9am) and Warilla (9:45am). Attendance in every case was significantly up on last year and covered the full spectrum of age groups from new-born babies to ageing veterans.

Shellharbour City Mayor, Cr. David Hamilton, who attended all the services, said he was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic turnout of the community to all the services.

It is uplifting to see these growing numbers of people from all our local communities and across all ages, coming together to show their respect for the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women in all our conflicts from WW1 to Iraq, he said.