Geelong to remember the Anzacs

THE Geelong community will pause and remember on Anzac Day, with several events to be held across the municipality on Tuesday, April 25.

Marked nationally, the day of remembrance honours the courage and sacrifice of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who served and lost their lives in World War I in the name of freedom and democracy.

In order, Geelong’s services on Tuesday begin from 4.15am, when the Geelong RSL will host a pre-dawn commemorative service at the Geelong Peace Memorial in Johnstone Park.

This will be followed by the Eastern Beach Reserve dawn service, also hosted by the Geelong RSL.

At 6am, the Lara RSL Sub-Branch will host a service around the Lara Cenotaph at 2 Rennie Street, Lara.

The Kardinia Rotary Club will host a service at the Boer War Memorial located on the corner of Kilgour Street and Latrobe Terrace, Geelong, at 6.30am.

The Geelong RSL will hold another service at their clubrooms at 50 Barwon Heads Road, Belmont, at 9am.

In Norlane, the march will start in the service lane of Melbourne Road and Sparks Road at 9.30am, with marchers to turn into Rose Avenue to conclude at the Norlane RSL Sub-Branch. A wreath-laying ceremony will follow at about 9.50am.

The main Geelong march will start at 11am from the corner of Yarra Street and Malop Street. This will travels along Malop Street to conclude in Johnstone Park, with a commemorative service to follow at approximately 11.45am.

The City of Greater Geelong’s Anzac Day projections on City Hall program will run from midnight on Anzac Day eve, Monday, April 24 until dawn and then every night up until April 30 from dusk until 11pm.

Anzac Day commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the origin of the Anzac acronym) on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1916 during World War I, where the plan to quickly knock Turkey out of the war turned into an eight-month stalemate that eventually cost more than 8,000 Australian soldiers their lives.