Wherever you are on Anzac Day in the Hunter and beyond, there’s a dawn service near you – and a dedicated committee behind it, working hard to honour the Australians who have served and died in war.
One dawn service that has grown in prominence over the past decade is in the small village of Kearsley, near Cessnock.
Initiated by a small group of residents with a cardboard cenotaph in 2010, the Kearsley event now attracts more than 500 people each year, travelling from as far away as Sydney to attend.
Kearsley Community Dawn Service Committee chairperson Jordan Fallon says the localised perspective sets Kearsley’s dawn service apart from others.
“It is all about keeping the memory alive of those from Kearsley, Abernethy, Elrington and Edenville alive,” he explains.
“We strive to focus on local service personnel, where their individual story can be shared and link it back to contemporary locations or experiences, such as the school, the soccer fields, the pub.
“We hope this prompts attendees to visualise that service personnel going about their lives visiting the same places that the attendees know and visit.”
The Kearsley dawn service has added a bit of old-fashioned fun to its proceedings, with its third annual Anzac Biscuit Bake-Off to be held this year.
The committee has also dedicated itself to establishing a remembrance garden in the grounds of Kearsley Community Hall, with 173 plaques on the benches honouring the service men and women from Kearsley and its surrounding villages who served in the World Wars and conflicts since, with another plaque on the Post World War II bench to be unveiled at this year’s dawn service.
Well done to Jordan, Dale Goldie OAM and their team for keeping the memories of those brave local residents alive.
Lest We Forget.
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