Commemorating Anzac Day
By Adrienne Hartnett
This Anzac Day, community members young and old will come together in Corowa, Rutherglen and Wahgunyah to pay tribute the men and women who served their country on Sunday, April 25.
Corowa’s program begins with the 5:45am Dawn Service at the Corowa Monument with RSL Sub-Branch President Martin Magill giving an address. There will be no march in Corowa march or Gunfire breakfast.
The main ceremony will commence at 11:00am at the Monument. Guest speaker Captain Michael Sander from the Royal Australian Navy will fly in from Canberra to address the crowd.
The ceremony will have seating available for up to 170 guests.
The day is registered as a Covid-safe event with QR codes, sign in stations and sanitiser available for all attending. All protocols will be followed by event organisers.
Each school will be limited to one teacher/ supervisor and two students this year in order to follow with social distancing rules. Students are however, still more then welcome to attend the service with their parents.
The Corowa RSL Sub-branch are encouraging the community to pay their respects by attending either service.
“Anzac Day is such an important day for the local community to come together and pay their respects to the fallen Anzacs,” Mr Magill said.
“We look forward to seeing everyone there.”
In Rutherglen, a dawn service will be held at 5:55am at the Memorial Gardens.
Rutherglen will commemorate the centenary of the RAAF. A march will go ahead commencing at 9am followed by a commemoration service at 10am with two Rutherglen High School students delivering an address.
Wahgunyah will hold a small intimate service with members of the public reminded to follow social distancing rules. The event is a registered public event and as a result will have some limitations.
The Commemoration Service will commence at 10am. There will be no march and only invited members of the families of the men listed on the cenotaph will be taking part in the service.
These members will be seated in the Memorial Garden in family groups following strict social distancing rules.
Students from the Wahgunyah Primary
School will be singing the National Anthem and will open the service with the Prologue.
There will be no bugler with the Last Post and the Reveille being played electronically.
All the invited attendees and the volunteers assisting with the conduct of the service will be registered.
Organiser Alan Pleitner reminded the public to keep safe and maintain social distancing requirements.
“Because the chairs, seats and handrails to the garden must be cleaned with sanitiser before and after he service, we are asking the general public not to come into the Memorial
Garden between 9:30am and 10:30 am on Anzac Day,” he said.
“If you wish to lay a floral tribute at the cenotaph, we ask that you do it before or after these times.
“As an alternative to attending the service, we would like to see everybody “Light up the Dawn” by standing at their front gate with their candles.”
Residents across the district are reminded not to attend the events if they have any symptoms such as a cough, sore throat, runny nose, fever, chills, shortness of breath or loss of sense of taste or smell.
02 6033 1856 or 02 6033 1899 admin@maxmaclean.com 65 Whitehead St, Corowa NSW