HIS MORNING I ATTENDED an ANZAC Day Dawn Service for the first time. A majority of my offspring helped with enthusiasm for getting up while it was still dark, having an early breakfast and heading off bundled up in hats and scarves. We arrived just a little after they started, joining a crowd of well over a hundred people around the Cenotaph.
It was an impressive but simple ceremony. Encouraging solemnity in a public space in Australia is no mean feat, but there are well known traditions which give the framework which elevates the simple, heartfelt speeches into a moving tribute to our fallen service men and women.
You can read more about Anzac Day from the Australian Army. Although I had not attended a Dawn Service before I was familiar with the Last Post, laying wreaths, the silence, the National Anthem from other sources. It is a common canon of ritual which speaks louder than words.
