A series of dawn services and memorial events will be held across Cumberland to commemorate ANZAC Day 2018. This year marks 100 years since the First World War ended, which remains Australia’s costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties.
By the time the guns of the Western Front finally went silent, some 60,000 Australians had been killed, including many enlistees from what is now Cumberland. This was a devastating toll for a nation of less than five million.
The following Dawn Services will be held on Tuesday 25 April.
- 5am, Remembrance Park, Lidcombe
- 5.30am, Auburn Memorial Park
- 5.30am, Charles Mance Reserve, Newman Street, Merrylands
- 6am, Granville Memorial Park
Two wreath-laying ceremonies will also be held on the preceding Sunday 22 April
- 10.30am, Charles Mance Reserve, Merrylands
- 11am, Remembrance Park, Lidcombe
The annual march will depart on both dates from Charles Mance Reserve, Newman Street, Merrylands.
Mayor Greg Cummings warmly invited members of the community to attend one of the local services.
“ANZAC Day is a time to honour the service and sacrifice of our original ANZAC’s, and the generations of Australian servicemen and women who have represented Australia in wars, conflicts and peace operations for more than a century,” Mayor Greg Cummings said.
“The scars of First World War can still be seen in Cumberland one hundred years later. Nearly every suburb has a cenotaph or memorial to those killed. Behind each name is an often untold story of hardship, sorrow and sacrifice.
“Sadly the ‘war to end all wars’ did no such thing. Australians would be called upon to serve with distinction throughout the 20th Century and into the next. On this day we naturally turn our minds to those men and women currently on active deployment.”
For more information please visit www.cumberland.nsw.gov.au/events or contact your local RSL.
