Anzac Dawn Service

Russell Island Dawn Service commenced at 5am at the RSL Memorial. The service was well attended with people in the Marque and people lining the grass around the Centre.

Pastor Fred read the service and the bugle was followed by the Raising of the lowered flags. The Cub President led the service.

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“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,” begins the Ode, which is recited at Anzac Day dawn services and engraved on war memorials and cenotaphs around the nation.

The Ode, though, was not the work of an Australian but is the fourth stanza of a poem by Englishman Laurence Binyon.

For The Fallen was first published in 1914, not long after the start of World War One.

Binyon said he wrote the poem after British and French soldiers retreated from Mons, during the Battle of the Marne, in September 1914.

A so-called victory for the French and Allies against the Germans, the battle cost tens of thousands of lives. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-24/history-of-the-anzac-day-ode-or-remembrance/7353860

Flowers have traditionally been laid on graves and memorials in memory of the dead. Rosemary, symbolising remembrance, is popular on Anzac Day. Laurel is also a commemorative symbol; woven into a wreath, it was used by the ancient Romans to crown victors and the brave as a mark of honour. In recent years, the poppy, strongly associated with Remembrance Day (11 November), has also become popular in wreaths on Anzac Day.