A day of remembrance

By Owen Sinclair

Apr 29, 2025

From Strathmerton to Barooga, Cobram to Katamatite, thousands of community members turned out on Anzac Day to reflect and pay respects to those Australian servicemen and women who lost their lives during war.

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A dawn service at the Cobram Civic Centre inaugurated the public holiday, drawing the young and the old alike as the sun lit up the morning sky.

A commemorative service at the memorial later that morning drew a larger crowd of community members, dignitaries and veterans.

Setting out from Federation Park and led by the Cobram and District Pipe Band, a line of marchers made its way through Cobram’s CBD to finish at the memorial outside the civic centre.

There, a service was held which featured a performance of Side by Side by the Cobram Anglican Grammar School choir, followed by an eloquent speech on the meaning of Anzac Day by Commodore Ashley Papp.

Both the dawn and morning services, along with the services at Strathmerton and Tocumwal, were each treated to a flyover by pilots from Tocumwal Airport.

Cobram-Barooga RSL Sub-branch president John Hanlon said he was impressed by the size of the crowd at this year’s services in Cobram.

“We were very happy with the way things went,” he said.

“It gives the community the opportunity to reflect on our country and what our soldiers, sailors and airmen did through the conflicts over the years.”

The absence of rainfall came as a relief to organisers, with the forecast wet weather remaining at bay until later that weekend.

Mr Hanlon said he had noticed an increasing number of young people at the services over the years, with the primary and secondary schools across the district consistently supporting the event.

Alongside a host of schools, including Nathalia’s St Mary of the Angels Secondary College, the morning service was supported by the Cobram-Barooga Apex Club, Lions and Rotary.

The Australian Defence Force School of Health provided the catafalque party.

At noon, a smaller ceremony across the Murray River was held at Sporties Barooga.

Meanwhile, in Strathmerton, Victoria Police blocked off the service road to enable a procession of community members to march east from the Strathmerton Fire Station to the Strathmerton Public Hall.

Guests enjoyed a morning tea after the service inside the hall, joined by serving defence force personnel from Albury-Wodonga.

Across in Tocumwal, Deniliquin St swelled with a crowd of at least 1000 community members, emergency services personnel and veterans who paid their respects to the town’s involvement in the conflict and those who lost their lives in it.