Wednesday, April 25, 2007

14

G'dayAll

Today April 25th is Anzac Day in Australia

ANZAC Day - 25 April

- is probably Australia's most important national occasion.

It marks the anniversary of the first major

military action fought by Australian and New Zealand

forces during the First World War.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The soldiers in those forces quickly

became known as ANZACs,

and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.

As your reading this, take a quiet moment,

60 seconds of silence is all

just a short time to remember

A MINUTE

to remember the

1. 500,000 Australians who've served in 13 wars

The 225,000 who were wounded

And the 100,000 who never made it back

Consider the sacrifice they made

for all of us

So we the lucky ones

can be sitting here reading this





A scence played out in dawn rememberance
dawn sevices across the country today




the Diggers famous slouch hat



The Unknown Soldier
The original unknown soldier was entombed in
Westminster Abbey in London on 11 November 1920.
His body was selected by a blindfolded brigadier
from six that had been recovered from
all the major Western Front battlefields.
He was assumed to have been British
but could have been a Canadian, a New Zealander, or even an Australian,
and was intended to represent all the young men
of the British Empire killed during the Great War.
An unknown French soldier was buried under
the Arc de Triomphe on the same day
and several other allied nations
soon entombed unknown soldiers of their own.
Plans for an Australian unknown soldier
were first put forward in the 1920s
but it was not until 1993 that an unknown Australian
was at last brought home.
To mark the 75th anniversary
of the end of the First World War,
the body of an unknown Australian soldier
was recovered from Adelaide Cemetery
near Villers-Bretonneaux in France
and transported to Australia .
After lying in state in King's Hall in Parliament House,
he was interred in the Hall of Memory
at the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993.
The unknown Australian soldier was buried
in a Tasmanian blackwood coffin
with a slouch hat and a sprig of wattle,
and soil from the Pozieres battlefield was scattered in his tomb.
The unknown soldier represents
all Australians who have been killed in war.

Thousands at PNG Anzac service
From correspondents in Port Moresby
April 25, 2007
THOUSANDS of people, including hundreds
of Kokoda Track walkers,
attended a dawn Anzac Day service
at the Bomana War Cemetery near Port Moresby today.
Candles, a school choir and a PNG Defence Force
honour guard featured in the service
held on a slope above rows of white tombstones
marking the graves of Australians
and other Allied troops who died in PNG during WWII.
The service was attended by
PNG Governor-General Paulias Matane,
Australian High Commissioner Chris Moraitis,
other diplomats, Australian and PNG war veterans
and a good portion of Port Moresby's
Australian and New Zealand expatriate population.
Meanwhile, more than 200 Australian trekkers
attended a dawn service on the Kokoda Track,
at the Isurava Memorial,
after they timed their walk to be there for Anzac Day.
The track was the scene of bloody fighting
between Australian and Japanese soldiers in 1942
and is becoming increasingly popular with Australian trekkers.




Beaconsfield miners mark Anzac Day

April 25, 2007
THE two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster
were at an Anzac Day dawn service in the
small Tasmanian town today,
a year after the mine collapse that killed their mate.
Miner Larry Knight, 44, died and Todd Russell and Brant Webb
became trapped when a seismic incident
caused a rock fall at the gold mine about 9.30pm (AEST),
on Anzac Day last year.
Mr Russell and Mr Webb were trapped underground for two weeks.
The people of Beaconsfield will commemorate
the disaster on May 9,
the anniversary of the day the pair was rescued.
West Tamar mayor Barry Easther
said the date was chosen in consultation with the RSL,
the local council and the Anzac Day committee.
He said May 9 was a poignant choice.
"That was the day Larry Knight was laid to rest
and the day that Brant Webb and
Todd Russell were rescued," he said.
"We didn't want to complicate Anzac Day
with thoughts about the rock fall that happened
in the evening (of April 25) last year."
Mr Easther said the May 9 commemoration
would include a service to remember Mr Knight.
Mr Webb and Mr Russell still live in Beaconsfield
and both have no plans to move away.
Mr Easther said the mine was still
on the minds of everyone in the town.
"Anzac Day brings back unforgettable memories
of what happened at 9.23pm on April 25 last year," he said.
He said the town was coping well a year on.
"We are a vibrant community
and we have been blessed with large numbers
of visitors coming here because
of the mine and what happened.
"People from all over the world have been touched
by the story that came out of Beaconsfield
and they feel a real need to visit
the place where it all happened."
About 100 people gathered at the Beaconsfield Cenotaph
this morning to mark Anzac Day.







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