For many years, the Glebe Society has supported and participated in an Anzac Day ceremony at the War Memorial in Foley Park organised by our local historian, Max Solling.
In 1973, we were approaching the centenary of the outbreak of the World War 1 – ‘the war to end all wars’. So, on 11 November 2013, Remembrance Day, we organised another ceremony at the War Memorial, again featuring Max Solling as speaker. This tradition continued until 11 November 2018, the centenary of the armistice that effectively brought the War to an end. In that year, the Society also mounted a WW1 exhibition at the Town Hall.
The accent at all our commemorations has always been not so much on military history as on the profound social consequences the War had on Glebe.
The Management Committee has decided that the Society will no longer commemorate Remembrance Day, although of course we will continue to participate in the usual Anzac Day ceremonies. In making this decision the committee considered the following:
- The centenary of the end of the War has now come and gone.
- Anzac Day is the military anniversary most celebrated in Australia. It is gaining in popularity – Remembrance Day is not.
- Anyone who would like to commemorate Remembrance Day can still do so at the Cenotaph in the city.
This in no way affects our remembrance of the struggles and sacrifice that kept us safe through World War 1 and all subsequent wars – LEST WE FORGET.
Ted McKeown
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