It was a quieter day for a very warm and sunny Anzac Day at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra with youth obvious in the Federation Guard and wandering Defence personnel.
No political leaders present, they were off in the marginals of Queensland and the Northern Territory and the capital got the stand-ins for the parade.
Not so for the Dawn Service where the cockies did their usual morning screech and the crowd estimated at 35,000.
But there is a ritual feel to the commemorations, and while the formula remains the same, you still have the parking problems and lots of walking around, crunching over the acorns and negotiating the barricades.
With the Governor-General attending his last official Anzac Day parade in his official capacity it was perhaps for him a significant occasion, but for we who’ve attended lots of these occasions he’s always a comforting presence.
So with shiny medals, gleaming patent leather shoes and perfect uniforms the young members of the Defence Forces are a formidable bunch and take this occasion very seriously.
I, on the other hand, have acorn memories from my youth. We’d avidly collect the biggest to fashion into pipes.
Not that they became units for smoking but we were rather proud of our creations. It was tempting to sit and whittle a few for fun.
