As the sun rose on an otherwise bleak and dark Maitland morning, 15,000 residents gathered to honour the centenary of Anzac Day.
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Despite the turmoil and tragedy of the past few days Maitland people defied many obstacles to attend today’s poignant Anzac Day dawn service in East Maitland.
And the people came in droves. They huddled around the boundaries of the cenotaph, spilling onto the closed off highway, lining nearby streets.
They quietly clapped as the members of the East Maitland RSL sub-branch led a purposeful march down the highway to the service and they shed a tear as colourful wreaths were placed in honour of the fallen.
“Today, on the centenary of Anzac Day, we meet here at this bleak hour, as we have done every year before to honour the heroism, tenacity and resilience of that group of young Australians who were sent to Gallipoli,” Colonel Craig Lauder said in his commemorative address.
The service also included dedications and prayers from students at Hunter Valley Grammar, Maitland Christian, Maitland High and Maitland Grossmann High schools.
Maitland Mayor Peter Blackmore said the emotional dawn ceremony was the largest the city has seen.
“Despite the ordeal we’ve had, people have come out to commemorate this centenary and that speaks wonder of our community and of the appreciation we have for those men who went forward,” Cr Blackmore said.
“I feel extremely humbled to be Mayor of Maitland today and also very proud.”
Do you have photographs from an Anzac Day event? Email them to enesmith@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Colonel Lauder ended his speech with this: “As we reflect on this day and treasure our freedom, our civil liberties, our free speech and our very lives we all need that spirit of Anzac as we commemorate this most important milestone, the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli we must never let this spirit die.”
So as the bagpipes played and the Last Post was sounded, the lives of our beloved soldiers were remembered - Lest We Forget.