Australia’s War Memorial website highlights that Anzac Day does not commemorate war; it is a date chosen to remember the courage, endurance and “mateship” needed to bond individuals into forces that will fight to uphold ideals of right and wrong.
In choosing April 25, the date of the Gallipoli landing in 1915, Australians mark a day that started a long and bloody entrenchment when the odds were against their troops.
Craigieburn SES founder Kevin O’Callaghan was a founding force behind the town’s Anzac Day services, which bring together as many as 1500 veterans and families from Melbourne’s northern realms each year.
Mr O’Callaghan, who recently retired from the Department of Defence after 35 years, will be among hundreds who will pay tributes to veterans on Friday.
There will be free public transport around Melbourne on the day for people attending the dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance.
ANZAC DAY SERVICES IN THE NORTH
FRIDAY
■ Broadmeadows dawn service, 5.45am, Maygar Barracks, 150 Camp Road, Broadmeadows East.
■ Craigieburn, 10am, War Memorial commemorative stone at Craigieburn SES, 151A Craigieburn Road West, next to the leisure centre.
■ Epping RSL, dawn service and gunfire breakfast, 6am, 195 Harvest Home Road. Gold coin donation. Phone 9408 1566
■ Sunbury memorial march, Friday, 9am. Starts at train station on Brook Street, heads to Barkly Street and finishes at Sunbury Memorial Hall.
■ Whittlesea Anzac Day march starts at Whittlesea Bowls Club, 2pm.
SUNDAY
■ Pascoe Vale, 10.30am, Cenotaph, corner Olive Grove and Cumberland Road.
■ Glenroy RSL at Post Office Place, 10am.
