ANZAC Day 2025, a time to commemorate those men and women who have served in our defence forces, to think about how their service and sacrifice has contributed to the Australia we live in today and to reflect on what our own contribution to our communities and the nation should be.
Sadly, this nationwide commemoration was marred by the disrespectful behaviour that occurred at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance Dawn Service when some people booed loudly and jeered Uncle Mark Brown, a Gunditjmara man conducting a welcome to country. This behaviour has been widely and universally condemned. At all the commemorative services that I have attended in Hepburn Shire (Drummond, Hepburn Springs, Eganstown and Daylesford) the message of respectful debate over different views, the importance of dialogue and tolerance and acknowledgement of the humanity of those whose ideas you may not agree with, was emphasized by all the speakers whether they were Vietnam vets, recently retired ADF members, those who are currently serving or the student leaders from Daylesford secondary college – message for all of us in the febrile environment we currently live in whether at a local state, national or international level.
The Australian War Memorial website states that 34% of the Australian population at the time of WW1 joined in the conflict (Enlistment statistics, First World War | Australian War Memorial).
Given the other conflicts that Australia has been involved in since WWI, most of us will have a familial connection to men and women who have served in one or other of those conflicts or who migrated here to escape some of the immediate consequences of those conflicts. And we know first-hand, what the impact of that has been not only on those who served but their loved ones. I started thinking about this again when I was asked to read a poem at the Drummond ANZAC service. I chose to read Dame Mary Gilmore’s poem, “War”.
War
by Mary GilmoreI stood at the door
Where he went out;
Full-grown man,
Ruddy and stout;I heard the march
Of the trampling feet,
Slow and steady
Come down the street;The beat of the drum
Was clods on the heart,
For all that the regiment
Looked so smart!I heard the crackle
Of hasty cheers
Run like the breaking
Of unshed tears,And just for a moment,
As he went by,
I had sight of his face,
And the flash of his eye.He died a hero’s death,
They said,
When they came to tell me
My boy was dead;But out in the street
A dead dog lies;
Flies in his mouth,
Ants in his eyes.
Reading it, I was choking back tears at the loss that war brings to all sides. Yesterday I also read about Julie-Ann Finney whose son David took his own life after being discharged from the ADF. David’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all served in our military, his great grandfather at Gallipoli. The recent Royal Commission into Defence Veteran Suicides, that Julie Ann Finney worked towards, has made recommendations about veterans’ care. John Schumann has written Fishing Net in the Rain a poignant song based on David Finney and other veterans experiences. Like Redgum’s I was Only 19, it expresses the lasting trauma of war better than I ever could.
So what’s the link to Hepburn Shire? Well it’s both the message of Anzac Day about treating each other with respect and the Blue Tree Project Home – Blue Tree Project with a shout out to the Daylesford community members who are working to have blue trees in all our major towns. Hepburn Shire is supportive of this initiative. Please support them if you can.
Finally – the next Council meeting is next Tuesday 29th April, and the agenda can be found here. If you have any questions, please contact me at lhewitt@hepburn.vic.gov.au
Cr Lesley Hewitt is a Daylesford resident, an elected councillor for Hepburn Shire and currently the Deputy Mayor.
Councillor Columns are a regular feature in The Wombat Post. We offer this space as an information channel from Council to the community. Councillor Columns are not subject to editorial review by our editorial committee but are published as we receive them from our elected Councillors.
