Clare’s Returned Services League members were delighted with the estimated turnout of about 600 people at the ANZAC Day dawn service on Friday.
“We handed out all 400 of the service sheets we had printed so we reckon there would have had to have been close to 600 people,” Clare RSL sub-branch secretary Graeme Pulford said.
“We were tickled pink because it all went like clockwork – both from the point of view of the service and the traffic management.
“It was one of the best dawn services I’ve been to and it was great to see the younger people there.”
Main North Road was closed to facilitate the service in front of Clare’s World War II memorial gates at the town oval.
Clare RSL sub-branch president Bill Kearney gave the official welcome, remarking that it was the 90th anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand forces landing at Gallipoli.
Local Anglican Minister Father Mark Thomas, who conducted the service, said he had been impressed by the amount of material about in the media in the lead-up to ANZAC Day.
“It shows our clear resolve as a nation to build up this important and sacred tradition,” he said.
“Perhaps it is becoming our sacred day as somebody said on the radio yesterday.”
Fr Thomas said ANZAC Day held different memories for different people – memories of those who did not come home from war, thanks for the work of the servicemen and women, and remembering the good and “not so good” times.
Last month’s discovery in the Indian Ocean of the HMAS Sydney, which sank in November 1941 after a battle with the German raider Kormoran, would also be on people’s minds, along with efforts to protect the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.
Fr Thomas said he visited Leigh Creek last week where he met the man who was organising the town’s ANZAC Day service although he had no direct connection.
“I couldn’t possibly live somewhere where we didn’t remember ANZAC,” the man had explained to Fr Thomas.
Wreathes were laid by Mr Kearney (on behalf of Clare RSL sub branch), Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council Mayor Allan Aughey, Lyndon Mader (representing Vietnam veterans), Ruth Bond (Clare Legacy Widows Club), Clare Scouts, students from St Joseph’s and Vineyard schools, and private wreathes.
Local Chris Hrycek was back in Clare to play the bugle at the service.
Local army reservists formed the catafalque party which was led by Corporal Ronny Leighton, while local army cadets flanked the veterans who had served Australia in conflicts and peacekeeping missions including World War II, Vietnam, Korea and the Solomon Islands.
Local scouts handed out ANZAC biscuits at the conclusion of the service.
About 200 people joined veterans for tea, coffee and rum at the RSL Community Centre following the service, which was followed by a breakfast at the drill hall prepared by local army reservists and cadets.
Mr Pulford thanked SA Regional Traffic Control directors Gus Maitland and Brett Schutz for volunteering their time and equipment to assist in closing the road, and the Northern Argus for photocopying service sheets.