By RUSSELL BENNETT
EMERALD is fast forging a reputation for thinking outside the square when it comes to commemorating the Anzac Centenary later this month.
Following on from the launch of the town’s Anzac Walk and Anzac Place projects, a play at the Gem Theatre – While Their Names Are Still Spoken – will explore life in Emerald in 1914 when so many people from throughout the area went to war.
The Anzac Walk will be brought to life in this memorable and emotional Ken Purdham production that will run on Friday 17 April and Saturday 18 April at 8pm, and on Sunday 19 April at 1pm during the PAVE Festival, and also on 24 and 25 April from 8pm.
The town’s Anzac Day dawn service at Anzac Place, next to the Emerald RSL, will take place from 5.30am and conclude about 6.30am.
The crowd will form for Emerald’s morning service at the Cenotaph in Main Street, opposite the Commonwealth Bank, at 10am.
The march will go to the Emerald RSL alongside Anzac Walk and everyone in the hills community is invited to participate.
The official morning service will begin at 10.55am and run until about 11.30am.
All are welcome at the Emerald RSL after the service – with food available and drinks at bar prices.
Two-up games will be played throughout the day and the Anzac Day footy will be shown on the big screen.
The veterans’ football teams of Emerald and Upwey Tecoma will face off at Chandler Reserve in Avonsleigh from 2pm on 19 April while Gembrook-Cockatoo and Emerald will come head-to-head in the latest instalment of their famous Yarra Valley Mountain District Football Netball League (YVMDFNL) rivalry on 26 April from 2pm – again at Chandler Reserve.
Gembrook, meanwhile, is expected to attract the biggest crowd in the town’s history for Anzac Day services later this month.
Gembrook RSL treasurer Christine Borg said more than 600 people were expected to attend both the dawn and memorial services on 25 April for the famous day’s 100 year celebrations.
“(We’re) expecting heaps of people,” she said.
“A lot more than last year, the biggest number Gembrook has ever seen.
“We’d expect 300 at the dawn service, and probably more for the memorial service.”
The dawn service will be held at the Gembrook cenotaph from 6am on the corner of Pakenham Road and Redwood Drive.
A march, led by bagpiper Robert Crozier, will commence from 10.45am and arrive in time for the 11am memorial service at the cenotaph.
The service will also be attended by four sailors and a guest speaker from HMAS Cerberus.
Cockatoo’s dawn service will be held at the RSL on Belgrave-Gembrook Road at 6am and will be followed by a free gunfire breakfast.
The main service, including a march from Cockatoo Primary School, will begin at 10.30am.
The following day there will be a military exhibition at the Cockatoo Community Hall from 10am to 8pm at Alma Treloar Reserve.
At the same location on 27 April a theatrical stage play – Victoria’s Journey of Remembrance – will be shown in conjunction with the Victorian State Government.
There will be sessions at 2pm and 7.30pm with each going for about 90 minutes.
Everyone attending will receive a commemorative pack including three soft-bound books and a replica of the Peace Medal which was distributed to children at the end of the Great War.
The presentation is free, but places must be booked.
For more information, call 0421 219 899.
