VIC: 15,000 attend dawn service despite chilly weather

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2004
VIC: 15,000 attend dawn service despite chilly weather

MELBOURNE, April 25 AAP - Up to 15,000 people braved cold weather and threatening grey
skies to attend the Anzac Day dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance today.

Clouds hung low over the city skyline but predicted showers failed to arrive before
the service commemorating the 89th anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli began
about 6am.

The service was led by Victorian RSL president Major General David McLachlan and was
attended by dignitaries including Victorian Governor John Landy.

The service began with a reading of Ode to the Fallen and the hymn Abide by Me, sung
by the Victoria Welsh Choir and interspersed by volleys of gunfire.

Ballarat schoolgirl Megan Tremano, 15, recited the poem In Flanders Fields.

Former Templestowe College student Warren Evans, 19, spoke at the dawn service about
attending the Anzac Cove and Lone Pine service last year in the footsteps of his great-grandfather,
Gallipoli soldier Horace Scott Holland.

"It was a defining moment for me, a moment that helped shape my understanding of my
family and an understanding of my identity as an Australian," he said.

"Far from being deterred at possible terrorist attacks there were thousands and thousands
of young Australians.

"It was then I thought of my great-grandfather facing those huge cliffs. He was a survivor
but later died when he was gassed on the western front.

"I thought that when he went to war and when my grandfathers went to New Guinea in
the Second World War they were much the same age as me.

"In this moment, I came to understand my place as an Australian."

Shrine of Remembrance executive officer Wal Maguire said crowds were down on the 20,000
people who attended last year's service.

"There were not as many as last year," he said.

"Last year, we stretched out to the roadway but I think the prediction of inclement
weather kept a few away.

"About 15,000 or thereabouts is great."

Mr Maguire said the crowds, including many young people and children, began to gather
about 4.30am.

Hampton Park father Peter Wickman took sons Joel, 12, and Dean, 11, to the service.

He said it was moving.

"I've never been myself and thought it was time to experience it, and I thought it
was important for the boys to experience it with me.

"We got here 45 minutes early but it wasn't early enough to get a good vantage point.

It was a very poignant experience."

An elderly woman in the crowd collapsed during the ceremony.

St John Ambulance eastern region Superintendent Rod Young said an 85-year-old woman
with a history of heart trouble was stabilised by a doctor at the scene before being taken
to hospital.

About 15,000 service people were expected to march to the Shrine later today.

AAP jrd/nf/cat/br

KEYWORD: ANZAC SERVICE VIC

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