A beach Anzac Day Dawn Service in the heart of the Sunshine Coast will return after it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021.
The Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club has announced its service will return on Monday, April 25, at 5am.
The last two editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the committee is preparing for this year’s event to be one of its most significant.
The service is even more poignant as the lifesaving club will celebrate its centenary this year.
The club will welcome the local community to share in the remembrance service, in a moving tribute that will acknowledge former and current servicemen and women from Australia and New Zealand.
The service will include the traditional Last Post, with the Mooloolaba Surfboats Raised Oar Salute during the one-minute silence.
In a solemn and breathtaking symbolic act of remembrance, as the sun rises over the water, boat crews will row out, lay wreaths of native Australian flowers and then raise their oars to the haunting sounds of the Last Post.
The Last Post will be accompanied by a lone horseman from the 2nd Light Horse Regiment – Woombye Troop galloping along the beach.
The ceremony will also include retired Defence Force veterans leading the ANZAC DAY ceremony and Ode, Sunshine Coast Grammar School Bel Canto Choir and a Didgeridoo solo performance by Peter Tilney.
New Zealand servicemen and women will be honoured with the Karanga (a Maori spiritual call of welcome uniting ancestors and the living) performed by Shelley Janssen.
The service will also include a local Maori Haka and the New Zealand national anthem sung by Graham Stewart.
The lifesaving club’s nippers will lay 12 wreaths representing Australia and New Zealand’s past campaigns, wars, peacekeeping missions and nurses.
It will be the 13th edition of the service at Mooloolaba Beach, providing locals and visitors with an opportunity to honour and reflect on the sacrifices made by many brave men and women.
The Chairman of the MSLSC ANZAC Day Committee, Ian Atkinson, said Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club had a proud history of support for its veteran members, including Vietnam and Young Veterans.
“MSLSC Service Veterans are a tight-knit bunch and we meet up at least every week,” he said.
The Vietnam Veteran and former Warrant Officer Class II said the event had grown significantly.
“When we started planning our first ANZAC Day service in 2008, we had 200 people watching from the beach,” he said.
“The event has grown, with around 10,000 community members predicted to share their solemnity and appreciation of lives lost and those still serving.
“We were disappointed when services were cancelled in the last two years due to the pandemic.
“So, this year we are looking forward to a fitting tribute for our ANZACs.”
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Attendees are advised to arrive by 4.55am for a 5am start.
The ceremony will take place on Mooloolaba beach in front of the Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club.
The Queensland government’s current social distancing regulations will be required to ensure public safety and for future ANZAC Day Dawn services to continue.
For more information, visit Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club.
