With the Cenotaph deserted in 2020 because of COVID-19, there was a last-minute fear it might all go wrong again as Western Australian shut down and case numbers in Melbourne’s quarantine went up.
After months of tentative planning — with the COVID cloud always hovering overhead — the day finally arrived and everything went perfectly.
During Echuca’s 11am service at the Cenotaph, you could not help but notice how many people seemed just happy to have made it.
A crowd of close to 300 people — many behind the roped-off Cenotaph precinct due to COVID restrictions — made a strong statement about just how much the community values April 25.
The messages might have been similar to all those previous years — acknowledge the day, the sacrifice and the history of some defining moments of our nation — but this year there was something new.
A message clearly understood, whether spoken or not: don’t take what we have as a nation, like the day itself, for granted.
Because it could all be taken in a moment.
Campaspe Shire Mayor Chrissy Weller also spoke of the importance of women in the history of the war, from the days of Anzac to the world’s hotspots where Australian servicewomen stand alongside the men.
Whether it was giving their sons, husbands and fathers to the battle in World War I; to taking up the role as workers in World War II to keep the country moving; through to the current day, where women are a core part of the military.
The Ode was read, the Last Post rang out as those in attendance stood in silence, thinking not only about those who had gone in the past, but those for whom this day means more than anything.
And for those for whom any service may be their final one.
No-one knows what the future holds, as Echuca RSL president Denis Shanahan said.
“We hope to have more of you here next year,” he said.
“But we don't know what happens today, next week, or on April 24 next year.”
For now, what mattered was the moment, to stop, to reflect, and to remember.
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