The Port MacDonnell Anzac Day Dawn Service will take place at the Port MacDonnell and District RSL Memorial from 6.15am next Friday.
The annual service attracts around 500 people from Port MacDonnell and surrounds including Kongorong, Mount Schank, Eight Mile Creek and Allendale as well as visitors.
Members of the Port MacDonnell community will coordinate the Anzac Day Dawn Service for the fourth consecutive year following the closure of the RSL Port MacDonnell Sub Branch in 2021, which previously hosted the ceremony for a century.
Port MacDonnell Anzac Day Organising Group members Rodney Virgo and Cassandra Missen have coordinated the program.
Following last year’s success there will again be the raising of the New Zealand flag alongside its Australian counterpart as well as the recitation of the New Zealand National Anthem in both Māori and English by Port MacDonnell Anzac Day Organising Group member Linda Driver.
Allendale East Area School (AEAS) will again be heavily involved in the service with former school captain Luke Bald set to MC the event, the AEAS choir lead by Thomas Male to assist in singing the Australian National Anthem and student Skyla Hopgood to speak about what Anzac Day means to her.
Mount Schank local and Vietnam Veteran Neville Telford will have the honour of reading The Ode, Harvey McBain will conduct a flyover and Christopher Mossford-McGregor will bugle.
The Mount Gambier Highland Pipe Band led by Ross Anderson will play their bag pipes and march to the memorial and army cadets will make up the Catafalque Party.
The Port MacDonnell Men’s Shed will loan their flag pole for use at the service while the Port MacDonnell Netball Club will provide breakfast and tea in the Port MacDonnell Community Hall for a small fee as part of their fundraising efforts.
The Port MacDonnell Ladies Craft Group have expanded on their two textile poppy maps which will be laid around the memorial and on the fence.
