Murrumburrah High School Captains Katia Manton and Jessie Abnett lay a wreath during the Remembrance Day ceremony held at Newson Park on Wednesday November 11 at 11am. Lest We Forget.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, an Armistice went into effect that ended four years of brutal, destructive warfare that claimed the lives of 61,524 Australians.
The crosses prepared by the community.
The participants of that war hoped that it would mark the end of all wars, and ever since then, the occasion has been marked as Remembrance Day. A small ceremony was held at Newson Park, attended by Murrumburrah High School students, Veterans from the Returned Soldiers League, members of the Light Horse Troop, Harden Shire Council Mayor John Horton and General Manager Trevor Drowley.
Eric Kuhn attending to the Australian flag.
The ceremony was followed by one held at the Light Horse Memorial in Murrumburrah, with the participation of students from Trinity Catholic Primary School and the Light Horse Troop.
Philip Antil and Linda Hearne preparing to lay wreaths with Light Horsemen Simon Pavitt and Dave Young in the background.
The ceremonies commemorated the nearly 102,000 Australians who have lost their lives serving their country. Since the end of World War One, 40,687 Australians have lost their lives fighting in wars ranging from the Second World War to more contemporary conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Graham Chalker ably led the event as the Master of Ceremonies.
The remaining two-thirds lost their lives in the First World War. The Harden Sub-Branch of the Returned Soldier’s League distributed crosses with the names of people from Harden-Murrumburrah who died in the First World War to shopfronts in town to raise awareness of the event. The crosses were made the men’s shed and the names inscribed by students from Murrumburrah High School.
Robyn Atherton with a bracelet made by a soldier out of French Francs that was given to her husband Paul’s Great Aunt whilst she was working as a Nurse on the Western Front.
The Poppies were knitted by the Cootamundra Ladies Auxiliary. Poppies have come to symbolise the lives lost during the First World War, and were ubiquitous on the Western Front. They were immortalised in the poem ‘In Flanders’ Fields’ by Canadian Soldier and Physician, John McCrae.The crosses were placed along the path to the Cenotaph for the service.
