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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-15 Daily Xml
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Henley and Grange ANZAC Day Dawn Service

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:13): I wish to take the opportunity today to acknowledge the service the Henley and Grange RSL sub-branch provides our western suburbs community each and every year through the staging of the annual ANZAC Day dawn service. As always, this year we were provided with a respectful and dignified service, this year being particularly pertinent given that we were celebrating the centenary of the end of World War I, or the Great War, and importantly the return of peace from that time.

The dawn service is held each year at the Henley and Grange Soldiers Memorial Hall, which was opened in 1922 and is located on Seaview Road, very close to the beach, with the RSL conveniently tucked in just behind the hall. I am not certain of the number, but it was certainly the biggest in recent years. I know the weather kept a few away last year—it was particularly windy, it was a horrible morning last year and there was a lot of rain—so it was great to see the number up this year. I am told that the unofficial estimate is somewhere in the range of 6,000 to 6,500, so it was a very well-attended event.

This year also featured a video screen in tribute for the very first time. It was prepared by a local school class. It was particularly moving and a great addition to the service at Henley. The Henley and Grange dawn service is particularly special; it always has been. I mentioned before how close the service is to the beach and at times during the silence you can hear the sound of the waves crashing in which, as for many who I have talked to over the years, leads you to ponder what our Diggers would have faced when they landed at Gallipoli.

ANZAC Day morning is one of those times, and there are many, when the community of Henley and surrounding suburbs comes together. Most choose to walk, and it is a sight that I have never grown tired of seeing when locals walk mostly in silence through the side streets and down Seaview Road as a mass of people grows outside the hall.

One thing I particularly like about the Henley and Grange service, and it should be commended for this, is that every community group that wishes to place a tribute is accommodated from local community leaders, and I thank the local RSL again for the opportunity to lay a wreath in honour this year, to our local sports clubs—Henley Sharks, the Henley Lifesaving Club, representatives from the local Western Hospital and service clubs like Rotary—but also young leaders and young people who are particularly interested in thanking our service men and women for their service.

We had representatives from schools: St Michael's, Star of the Sea, Henley High, West Beach Primary, Henley Primary and St Francis School, just to name a few. It was fantastic to see how many young South Australians attended the event this year. Once the service concludes, the RSL puts on a hot breakfast, coffee, tea, and the choice of something harder for those who are keen to dabble. Seeing the community sharing a meal while raising much-needed funds for the RSL is a sight those who think community spirit is dying must see.

We are also very lucky at Henley to stage a youth vigil and we have been a part of that for the 12th or 13th year that the youth vigil has taken place at the Henley Memorial. I was pleased the night before on ANZAC Eve to spend some time with the young people who stood guard overnight. Luckily it was not too cold for those young people this year.

I talked during my maiden speech in this place about local legends who live in the Colton electorate, and one of those local legends is a lady by the name of Kaye Moseley who is the secretary of the Henley and Grange RSL. She goes about her business quietly but she plays such a pivotal role each and every year in organising the service and keeping everyone at the RSL organised. I want to put on record my thanks and the community's thanks to Kaye. I must also thank the president of the Henley and Grange Returned Services League sub-branch, Mike Domarecki, and the whole board of the RSL. As I mentioned, they do such a fantastic job each and every year.

Finally, it came to my attention that Kaye's husband has not been so well over the last week or so, and I wanted to wish him all the very best, and that I hope he gets well soon. I look forward to attending the ANZAC Day dawn service next year. I am sure it will be just as good.

Time expired.

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