Pittwater Online News

 April 26 -  May 2, 2015: Issue 211

 ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Service - Warringah and Mackellar Electorates

I’d like to pay my respects to the Traditional Owners of the land we’re on here today, the Guringai People, and most appropriately as this year we are beginning to show due recognition fore the service of our indigenous brothers and sisters in the defence of our country, so we should acknowledge that as well as acknowledging their custodianship of our land.
(Lengthy Applause)

The Prayer for the Services we have just prayed. I ask that we find the same courage and resolution, the same comradeship and service shown by our ANZAC forces in the cause of a lasting peace.

These characteristics derived form our ANZAC forebears have been and continue to be the hallmarks of the Naval and Military Service and contributions that this country has made in the pursuit of peace. 

Today we remember the men and women who were determined to look out for each other, to support and protect each other in battle and most importantly, afterwards.
They were prepared, all too frequently, to die for one another.

We often talk about the Spirit of ANZAC, most commonly we use four words; courage, endurance, sacrifice and mateship.
I would like to offer a different perspective. For me the Spirit of ANZAC has three elements – give us a job and we will do our damned best, to the best of our ability to get the job done. We might not always succeed, as our forebears at Anzac Cove didn’t, but it will not be because we didn’t try. We will do the job you’ve asked us to do I a ,manner that will make you very proud of us. And while doing what you have asked, we wil not neglect our mates, we will not be self-centred, we will work for each other, and most particularly when we return home, we will continue to look after each other.

Seen from this perspective I believe that as a nation we can discern the Spirit of ANZAC in a broad range of activities across our history and those that we are undertaking today.

This Spirit s very evident in the history of this area during and after the First World War. The population of Manly and the Northern Beaches at the outbreak of the First World War was fewer than 20 thousand. Almost 1500 volunteered from this area, enlisting in the AIF, which was a substantial commitment at that time. 197 servicemen are remembered at the Manly War Memorial, but many are not, so we can estimate that in excess of 200 fell in action. 

Manly was reported to have more men serve form its sporting clubs than any other town in Australia. 140 playing members from Manly Rugby Club served in the First World War.

The men and women of this area did the job asked of them in a manner that we will remain and we remember them with great pride. For example, Sapper Fred Reynolds, aged 21, a Freshwater-Manly boy, whose plaque is to be found in Soldiers Avenue of Honour in Freshwater, was one of the first to fall at Gallipoli, early in the morning on the 25th of April 1915. he was awarded a Mention in Despatches, the oldest British award, for saving three wounded soldiers by getting them off the landing boats in the first wave before being shot himself. I believe Lone Pine was planted in his honour yesterday by the Premier.  

Manly was one of the first to recognise Service through a Memorial – the Manly War Memorial built in 1915 to 1916 and unveiled by the Governor General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson PC, GCMG in 1916, funded by the Mitchell Family of Manly whose son was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. 

Just as significantly, when our men and women returned to this region, the community gathered around them. In response to a New South Wales Government establishment of a scheme whereby land was set aside for returning Veterans, 27 or so small houses were built on acreages in an area called ‘Soldiers’ Settlement’, now known as Forestville, Killarney and Frenchs Forest. The land wads cleared and the houses were built by community voluntary labour. The Manly Branch of the Voluntary Workers Association was particularly active.
In the Champion’s Book – French's Forest soldiers' settlement : success or failure?, there is a very telling statement or recollection of history; ‘…300 people went to Frenchs Forest on Sunday afternoon, 6th of August 1916, being conveyed out by twenty-two motors and seven motor wagons, the occasion being the handing over of a cottage erected by the Manly Branch of the Volunteer Workers Association for Sergeant Bennet, his wife and two little children. Sergeant Bennet had been twice wounded at Gallipoli…’

That was then. We live in a very different Australia now, rich in diversity of races, religions, cultures and traditions. The ANZAC story and its meaning must be as relevant to them as it is to us who have lived and grown with the ANZAC story throughout our lives. When we utter the words ‘Lest we forget’ we are remembering sacrifice. Now sacrifice in a religious sense is normally linked with atonement, forgiveness, but it also has another meaning; a new beginning, a fresh start, ready to begin again.

I think the most important thing that we will achieve as a nation over the next four years, as we reflect on one hundred years of Service, is to create a new legacy for a new generation. 

All Australians, what will we make from this new beginning that was given to us and we have built on for so many years; May we honour them with our commitment to service, to volunteering, to the community, and building a country we can all be proud of; compassionate, generous and inclusive. 

Their spirit lives through our taking their legacy forward and not just dwelling with it.
Lest we forget.

THE ODE
Mr Bill Hardman
Chairman - Centenary of ANZAC Organising Committee

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them
All - We will remember them
Lest we forget
All - Lest we forget

Bugler
Harriet Channon

Lone Piper
David Bowers

Parade Commanders
Boondah - WO1 Harry Crampton (Ret’d);
Stadium - WO1 John Balfour OAM (Ret’d)

Marching Groups and Bands
Veteran Groups, Cadets, Police, RFS, SES, Scouts and Cubs, Guides and Brownies, Schools, Youth Groups, Sporting Groups, SLSA, National Service 1951-72 Re-enactment Unit, Community Groups,

Acknowledgements
This Centenary of ANZAC Commemoration Service was organised with the support of the following Organisations
The Federal Electorates of Warringah and Mackellar
Pittwater Council
Warringah Council
Manly Council
Northern Beaches District Council of RSL Sub Branches
Vietnam Veterans Association - Northern
National Service Association - Northern Beaches
NSW Police - Northern Beaches Local Area Command
Warringah Pittwater Rural Fire Service
Warringah/Pittwater State Emergency Service
Warringah Rugby Club
Australian Native Landscapes
Doyle Bros
JJ Lawson
Schools
Youth Groups
Members of the Community
All Volunteers

 The Hon. Tony Abbott MP - Prime Minister of Australia - Member for Warringah.

Pittwater Online News Photo Albums for ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Service - Warringah and Mackellar Federal Electorates Download images for your own albums HERE

Report and Photos compiled by A J Guesdon, 2015.