By RUSSELL BENNETT
RESPECT and reflect.
They’re the two keywords that reverberate around the Emerald community at 11am on 11 November each and every year.
Remembrance Day this year was no different as shoppers and shopkeepers alike came to a standstill in Emerald’s shopping hub on Wednesday.
A crowd gathered at the cenotaph just outside the Commonwealth Bank to pay their respects, and leading the moment of quiet contemplation was Emerald RSL president Peter Maloney – himself a Vietnam veteran.
“Everyone stops,” he said.
“I looked around and all the shopkeepers had stopped and traffic, slowed right down, too.
“It’s something that, for Emerald, is building each year.
“As long as I’m president of the Emerald RSL, it’ll be a time when I’m encouraging all of Emerald to stop.
“It’s about really getting the importance of the occasion across.
“Respect and reflect. They’re the two words.
“It’s too easy to just put it to one side and forget.”
Mr Maloney said the Emerald RSL’s status as a genuine community club was a main factor behind the strength of its Remembrance Day services each year.
“The RSL is all about making sure that Anzac Day and Remembrance Day are first and foremost in people’s minds, but the factor that makes it all happen to a large extent is that the Emerald RSL is a community club.
“People see us as a community club and, therefore, they embrace what we’re doing,” he said.
“We’re not just a bunch of old farts having a beer – there’s a real community feel about our club.”
Students from Emerald Primary School and Emerald Secondary College paid their respects on the day while descendants of Fred Cullen – one of Emerald’s own who was lost in World War One – were just some of many who visited Anzac Walk and the RSL.
