ANZAC spirit burns bright under stormy weather

Despite inclement weather Sydneysiders showed strong support for their returned servicemen and servicewomen at this year’s ANZAC Day celebrations on Monday.

ANZAC Day celebrations started with a Dawn Service at the Cenotaph in Martin Place which attracted over 5,000 people.

The annual ANZAC Day march through the streets of Sydney commenced at 9 am and wound its way from Pitt Street through Martin Place continuing down George Street and onto Bathurst Street, finishing in Elizabeth Street.

The sounds of bagpipes and drums filled the crowded CBD streets as thousands of onlookers cheered and clapped the marchers.

Soldiers of every age, rank and affiliation filled the streets, marching with crisp uniforms and whipping banners, the rain seeming to have no effect on the high spirits of the day.

Flags waved for the Navy’s many battleships HMAS Sydney, Shoalhaven and Shropshire, Condamine, Culgoa and Castlemaine.

Septuagenarians sipped whiskey from hipflasks as boys not yet old enough for war and its brutality carried shirts heavy with the medals of their fathers and grandfathers.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and Governor Marie Bashir attended the Memorial Service which took place at the ANZAC memorial in Hyde Park at 12:30pm.

“Whether at magnificent monuments like this or smaller, but still important suburban or town monuments, our fellow citizens gather to remember,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“ANZAC Day is a day to remember the terrible and inspiring events of the Gallipoli peninsula 96 years ago,” he said. “It’s a day to recall the sacrifices, including for too many, the supreme sacrifice to protect the freedoms we now take for granted. Above all this day is a time to recommit ourselves as both citizens and as a nation, to live up to the ideals for which the ANZAC’s fought.”

Mr O’Farrell expressed the limitations of language when trying to describe the sacrifices made by Australian troops, from World War I to present day conflicts.

“Intuitively Australians feel that this day tells us something essential about who we are and about who we aspire to be,” he said.

Later in the day a separate march and ceremony was held in Redfern to commemorate our Indigenous servicemen and women.

The fourth annual Redfern ANZAC Day Street March and Commemorative Service started at The Block in Redfern before a memorial ceremony was held in Redfern Community Centre.

Father Raymond Minniecon of the Babana Men’s Group said that it was his understanding that it was the only march of its kind in NSW and perhaps even Australia.

“This year the focus was a little different, we wanted to honour our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women,” Mr Minniecon said. “Because for them the war didn’t end, they raised our sons and daughters who went off to war and when they came back they had the incredible challenge of dealing with issues which they’d never seen or heard of in their families.

Fr Minniecon’s brothers, both of whom served in Vietnam, marched this year.

Speaking before the event Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she would be attending the Redfern march.

“I will recognise the Aboriginal men and women who served in both wars at a commemoration in Redfern,” she said. “This year has a special focus on the sisters, mothers, aunties and grandmothers, some of whom served in the armed forces, and many more who kept their families together during the hard war years. These women had their work made all the more difficult because not all indigenous servicemen were paid the same as their white counterparts, while some were not paid at all.”