ANZAC Day commemorative services were held across the Hilltops Region including Young on Friday. The Young Dawn Service was held adjacent to the Young Town Hall Memorial Tower at 5:45am in Boorowa Street. Following the Dawn Service, Cemetery services were held at the old gate of the Young Cemetery, followed by the Young Lawn Cemetery.
There was also a march and memorial service at 10:45am. The march commenced east along Boorowa Street, then north along Lynch Street, west along Lovell Street to Anderson Park Memorial for the 11:00am memorial service.
President of the Young RSL Sub-Branch, Phillip Mitchell, said, “My guesstimate is there were about two and a half thousand people for the main march, and I would have thought that it was just over a thousand people for the dawn service.
“We went out to Murringo as well, there would have been close to eight hundred at a rough guess. Out at Bribbaree there would have been probably 150.
“It was incredibly well attended. Some of the things that amazed me, when I was on the podium for the main service, I turned around to see whether the Mayor had started to lay the wreath and when I did there was at least probably eight to ten rows of people behind me and I’ve never had people behind me. It’s always just been packed down the other end and now both sides were so I was quite impressed with just how many people had come.
“I remember a decade ago, everybody thought that Anzac Day and Remembrance Days and Vietnam veteran days and all that would die out. I can’t see that ever happening, not with the number of people that are showing up and the young people that are there to support and I had one young person say to me that it meant so much to her because it brings her back close to her grandfather who passed away.
“It’s those things that make the difference on Anzac Day, like all those motorcyclists that came across from Canberra, there were about 30 bikes here. They said it’s one of those towns that welcomes you as an individual, it doesn’t matter that you’ve got a jacket on or that you’re riding a bike. You are welcomed in the town. They said it doesn’t happen everywhere, but that’s typical of our town.
“Overall, I am so impressed with our youth and the way in which our youth really wraps their arms around days like this as being a part of their life, and that allows things to then travel on.
“We went all day. It was amazing. I went with the cadets and they did eight services that day on Anzac Day, I was exhausted by the end of it. I don’t know how the kids do it and they keep on getting back up again. They don’t complain at all. They just do the next one and they keep going. When you have got youth like that, it’s going to be an incredible future that’s coming behind us.”
-Jack Murray
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