Anzac Day on the Surf Coast

ON FRIDAY, April 25, communities around the nation will pause for Anzac Day as RSL Sub-branches host services, marches and gunfire breakfasts.

On the Surf Coast, Torquay is preparing to host between 10,000 and 15,000 people for its dawn service this year, one of the largest held in Australia.

The service will begin at 6am at Point Danger with a veteran’s march, speeches and wreath laying ceremony.

People participating in the march are asked to be at the Anzac Parade roundabout for a 5.50am step off.

A Gunfire Breakfast will follow, where donations are appreciated, there will then be a get-together at the Torquay Bowls Club with all welcome from 8.30am.

Torquay RSL Vice-president Bob Tyler said he hopes people get a sense of togetherness out of the service.

“More than anything else, it represents what they [veterans] sacrificed to give us what we’ve got today and I hope that people will just get together and be a bit more civil.”

Mr Tyler said the number of people attending the service has changed since COVID, however they are starting to get back to what it was before the pandemic.

The Anglesea RSL will host their annual service, starting with a dawn reflection at 5.30am at the War Memorial in Cameron Park and followed by a gunfire breakfast at the Anglesea Bowls Club.

They will also host a march, stepping off at 9.30am from the Anglesea Memorial Hall in McMillan Street before arriving at the Cenotaph for a 10am commemorative service and conclude with with refreshments at the Memorial Garden.

Also on the Surf Coast, the Social and Sporting Club of Wye, Sep and Kennet will host a service at Wye River, across from the General Store, at 11am.

Singer-song writer Mike Brady will perform during the service, including a song written around eight years ago about Afghanistan, among others.

Former VFL footballer, domestic violence against women crusader and ex-parliamentarian Phil Cleary will share the story of how his grandfather and his friends escaped from Crete as soldiers, ending up in a prisoner of war camp in Austria.