Coonamble MPS staff joined with resident and WWII veteran Bill Crowe (seated) and other MPS residents to acknowledge ANZAC Day 2020 during the Coronavirus crisis. PHOTO Libby Cock.
THE restrictions around public gatherings due to coronavirus has not dampened the community enthusiasm for ANZAC Day commemorations around the country.
Across our own area, in the absence of official marches up main streets and ceremonies at local cenotaphs, individuals and families marked the occasion in their own way and still managed to show and share their respect for returned servicemen and women.
In Coonamble, the dawn was heralded by The Last Post broadcast via loud speakers secured to a scissor lift in the front yard of local audio engineer Terry (Eccles) Lees.
“My original idea was to have it at the cenotaph – just me and my sound gear,” Mr Lees said.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions meant that it wasn’t legally possible for Council to authorise any size ANZAC event so Mr Lees decided to go ahead in his Castlereagh Street yard.
“I didn’t want to tread on toes, I just wanted to pay my respects,” he said.
“I’ve done the Dawn Service and the march for 30 years, I was a Director on the board of the RSL Club and President for two years before it closed,” Mr Lees said.
“So I did something in my driveway on a bigger scale – it was my way of showing appreciation to the diggers.”
A full-sized flag was supplied by Robert and Carol Stanley, and Mr Lees hung it at half-mast from the scissor lift and illuminated it on Friday night.
Early on Saturday 25 April he was joined by half a dozen local veterans, all suitably spaced, to have a traditional drink of rum before combining to conduct a special service at the usual time of 5.45am.
“They did what they’d normally do,” Mr Lees said.
“We did the first part of the Dawn Service, Ian Tandy read the service.”
“We played the Last Post, raised the flag, played Reveille and Advance Australia Fair – I wanted the whole town to be able to hear it,” Mr Lees said.
“Between 9.30 and 10.30am we played the local radio station live because they interviewed Ian Tandy, Bob Ellis and Jeff Tym read his address.”
“Then at 11am, Ian did the service and Reverend Tym came and read the four usual prayers.”
Mr Lees had taken the precaution of contacting the local Police on Friday and says they were very encouraging.
“I’d marked lines where we had to stand inside my yard and we ended up with about twenty people scattered around outside on the street,” Mr Lees said.
Former RSL Secretary/Manager Carol Stanley said it was very important to the returned men.
“You’ve got to buck the system every now and then,” she said. “We did both the dawn and the main service and it was there for the whole town to hear.”
“Everyone obeyed the rules,” said former RSL Secretary/Manager Carol Stanley.
“The Police drove past and waved.”
Mr Lees says he’s had nothing but positive feedback.
“I was proud of what I’d done,” he said. “No councillor or council person has criticised what I did and many people thanked me.”
All around the district, families and neighbours were joining in the ANZAC spirit with their own versions of the traditional ceremony to mark the occasion.
Flags, candles, poppies, home-made wreaths and posies of rosemary popped up in town driveways and at isolated farm front gates.
On the southern side of Coonamble, another thoughtful gesture was embraced by the community.
Teresa Stanford, a nurse at the Residential Aged Care (RAC) unit of Coonamble MPS, had dreamed up a last-minute way to connect 98 year old resident and veteran Bill Crowe and the other RAC residents to the rest of the community on ANZAC Day.
After gaining approval from Health Service Manager Libby Burnheim, she contacted local emergency services before putting the word out by phone and social media.
At 10am on ANZAC Day, Police and Fire & Rescue stopped traffic so that dozens of vehicles could safely execute a ‘drive-by’ procession past the Hospital where Mr Crowe, the other RAC residents and MPS staff were waiting and waving flags as the people tooted and honked in acknowledgement.
“I was commentating to Bill because his eyesight is not great and I just burst into tears,” Ms Stanford said. “I just didn’t expect the amazing response.”
“People had decorated their cars with poppies, and some had signs saying ‘thank you’ to our veterans,” she said.
Mr Crowe said it was very different to marching past everyone else – as he has every ANZAC Day for the past 70-odd years.
“He was proud that so many people went out of their way for him,” said Ms Stanford. “He said his arms were getting tired from waving.”
Neither Ms Stanford or the Police had anticipated such a huge turnout at such short notice.
“It was very emotional, very powerful,” she said.
“It’s so much about the community spirit – if people didn’t answer the call it would’ve been a flop.”
But Coonamble were not the only renegade community to “buck the system”.