Anzac Day...

I went to the Anzac Day dawn service on the Cairns Esplanade. What is Anzac Day? Click here. It’s a day that’s extremely important to Aussies. In many ways it forged our national identity and we don’t forget what made us the people we are. I always think of my great Uncle Sinclair who survived Gallipoli but died shortly after in a small town ‘near Albert’, as his war records tell me, in France. For all those who have died in war, to those who came back scarred both mentally and physically and to those who soldier on in any arm of the defence forces, I certainly don’t forget what you do and why.

 

What I like about the monument on the Cairns Esplanade is that the statue of the soldier faces out to sea. It’s very evocative. To me it signifies courage, hope, belief and the desire to do the right thing even though you know it may call for unbearable sacrifices. The time on the clock remains fixed at 4:25am in recognition of the men who stormed the beaches at Gallipoli at that precise time moment and forged a tradition of courage we can only hope to emulate.  

Lest We Forget.