by Gabriella Vukman
Head down to the Upwey-Belgrave RSL for the biggest service in the Hills.
The dawn service commences at 6am, with the march down the main street commencing at 10am.
Retired Lieutenant Rowan Smith has a strong connection with this Hills service and said, “It is so important for the local community.”
Mr Smith has a long family lineage of family serving for Australia during both world wars.
“I did twelve years as a reserve officer. My father was in the ninth division and my grandfather went through both wars and then he was a Lieutenant Colonel in New Guinea,” Mr Smith said.
“I lost an uncle in 1943, he was 20, he was a Royal Australian Airforce pilot in the Battle of Italy and I had a great uncle killed on the Hindengberg line in 1918. I lost a great aunt on the Centaur. She was an Australian nurse who drowned after the hospital was torpedoed by the Japanese.”
“Theres this family connection and it’s really important for future and current generations that we remember these sacrifices so that they aren’t repeated,” Mr Smith said.
This year’s hills ANZAC march will include an array of participants including an engineers unit from Ringwood and the local CFA.
Mr Smith said, “It is a major local event and may even be the event of the year.”
“The important thing is that our freedoms today can’t be taken for granted.”
“Because of all of this sacrifice, this service means a lot to me and to the community,” Mr Smith said.
