Anzac March

The Anzac March was well attended by the service communities on the Island and the local school, who also presented wreaths they had made themselves during the Ceremony.

Russell Island Singers were present to lead the singing and the Music, and the HMAS Diamente Sailors were well represented. Father Brown was present as was Councillors Mark Edwards and Kim Richards

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History of the Dawn Service

During battle, the half-light of dawn was one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the ‘stand-to’. 

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn vigil, recalling the wartime front line practice of the dawn ‘stand-to’, became the basis of a form of commemoration in several places after the war https://www.army.gov.au/our-history/traditions/dawn-service