Traits that define the Anzacs – courage, commitment and self-sacrifice – need not be restricted to battlefields, the morning service at Albury War Memorial heard.
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Guest speaker Colonel Matt Patching, commandant of Bandiana’s Army Logistic Training Centre, urged his listeners to consider how these qualities could become regular actions to strengthen communities.
“We all want a peaceful future but when peace doesn’t want us, we need a national identity that inspires us to stand up for what we believe in,” he said.
“To place the common good ahead of our self-interest and to ensure we have the backs of our mates.
“They are things we can do for each other every day.
“Whether volunteering at your local palliative care ward, serving with the State Emergency Service or local fire brigade or even something as simple as cooking the barbecue at your children's netball club, the foundations of the Anzac spirit represent the nation we want to be.
“So while we gather here today to remember, I ask that you also allow yourself the chance to project that remembrance into the future.”
Representing that future, students from about 25 schools laid wreaths during the service, as did dignitaries such as Member for Albury Greg Aplin, Farrer MP Sussan Ley, Albury mayor Kevin Mack and Acting Assistant Commissioner Evan Quarmby.
Albury City Band and the Sing Australia choir provided musical accompaniment as veterans, service groups and individuals placed their floral tributes.
The Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering provided the catafalque parties for the dawn and daytime services.
Sergeant Daniel O’Connell, of ASEME, praised both events.
“The support we get from local communities like Albury is unreal, we really enjoy it,” he said.
Prayers, bible readings and hymns also featured on the program, with the audience strongly encouraged to join in the chorus of I Am Australian.
Colonel Patching thought perhaps the term Anzac had become misunderstood.
“It’s not a place nor is it a campaign or a war nor, as my wife reminded me this morning, just a biscuit,” he said.
“It’s an abbreviation that has transcended its physical meaning to become a spirit; an inspiration which embodies the qualities of courage, self-sacrifice and, in Australian terms, mateship.”
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