ANZAC Day 2026 - Yinnar
It was a big few days getting ANZAC day in Yinnar sorted again this year! Our flag bearers from Yinnar Primary School, Harry, Jimmy and Henry, started training on the Wednesday before and with plenty of help from Principal Christine Hall, they were ready to show off their skills by Friday afternoon at the school observance, where each class had prepared wreaths and even poems of their thoughts about the day. I had spoken to Mirboo North Secondary School earlier on the Friday and then again at Yinnar Primary School at their assembly and it is always a privilege.
Dawn Service was preceded by some archive footage of Australians in World War 1 and had narration of the poem ‘Australia today, 1916’ by Banjo Patterson. The Lions provided a delicious bacon and egg sandwich breakfast and Sonia and Jenny sorted out the coffee, tea and gunfire breakfast.
Both the Dawn and the main service were well attended, with guest speaker Captain Cindy Jenkins CSC, providing some welcome remarks on both the historical aspects of the Royal Australian Navy’s involvement in the Gallipoli landings and the relevance to current service life. It was a great honour for us to have a current serving RAN ship’s captain at the service in Yinnar, with proud parents Sheena and Gareth Peters in attendance.
The flag bearers again provided excellent service along with other students from the Yinnar Primary School (Amber, Fletcher, Patrick, Beau, Benna and Zeke) who read out the dedications to each of the crosses from World War 2. Many thanks to Nicky Gill for supporting the students on the day.
The March was further supported by Yinnar Veterans and Families, the Scouts and Cubs (excellent flag drill by Miles Cooper), Kurnai College captains, Yinnar Primary, Yinnar South Primary and Yinnar Preschool.
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Pipes and Drums of the Morwell Caledonian Band for leading us and providing our bugler. They had to dash to make it to the Moe and then Morwell services after that.
Altogether another great ANZAC day.
On ANZAC Day, Henry Cleaver, Jimmy Price and Harry Taylor had the honour of marching down Main Street Yinnar carrying the flags. Captain Luke Townsend gave us orders like “halt” and “attention.” Some parts were pretty hard, especially when we were first learning how to put the flags into the frogs, which are the flag holders. Even though we found it tricky at first, we got the hang of it in the end. Jimmy carried the Australian flag, I carried the New Zealand flag, and Harry carried the Great Britain flag.
It was a real privilege to carry the flags, representing Yinnar Primary School on ANZAC Day. We had to carry them in a special way to make sure we looked smart and respectful. Sometimes it was difficult, like when the flags blew in our faces and we couldn’t see if we were still in step. We also had to stand still in the street for quite a while, while people were speaking.
A big thank you goes to Captain Luke Townsend for spending so much of his time helping us practise. The three of us really appreciated him coming in, to help us perfect our marching. Another big thank you goes to Mrs Hall for giving us the honour of being flag bearers. We all felt really proud to be part of such an important day, and it was an experience we will always remember.
By Henry Cleaver, Harry Taylor and Jimmy Price
Australia Today 1916
They came from the lower levels
Deep down in the Brilliant mine;
From the wastes where the whirlwind revels,
Whirling the leaves of pine.
On the western plains, where the Darling flows,
And the dust storms wheel and shift,
The teamster loosened his yokes and bows,
And turned his team adrift.
On the western stations, far and wide,
There's many an empty pen,
For the "ringers" have cast the machines aside
And answered the call for men.
On the lucerne flats where the stream runs slow,
And the Hunter finds the sea,
The women are driving the mowers now,
With the children at their knee.
For the men have gone, as a man must go,
At the call of the rolling drums;
For the men have sworn that the Turks shall know
When the old battalion comes.
Column of companies by the right,
Steady in strong array,
With the sun on the bayonets gleaming bright,
The battalion marched away.
They battled, the old battalion,
Through the toil of the training camps,
Sweated and strove at lectures,
By the light of the stinking lamps.
Marching, shooting, and drilling;
Steady and slow and stern;
Awkward and strange, but willing
All of their job to learn.
Learning to use the rifle;
Learning to use the spade;
Deeming fatigue a trifle
During each long parade.
Till at last they welded
Into a concrete whole,
And there grew in the old battalion
A kind of battalion's soul.
Brotherhood never was like it;
Friendship is not the word;
But deep in that body of marching men
The soul of a nation stirred.
And like one man with a single thought
Cheery and confident;
Ready for all that the future brought,
The old battalion went.
Column of companies by the right,
Steady in strong array,
With the sun on the bayonets gleaming bright,
The battalion marched away.
How shall we tell of the landing
By the hills where the foe were spread,
And the track of the old battalion
Was marked by the Turkish dead?
With the dash that discipline teaches,
Though the hail of the shrapnel flew,
And the forts were raking the beaches,
And the toll of the dead men grew.
They fixed their grip on the gaunt hillside
With a pluck that has won them fame;
And the home-folks know that the dead men died
For the pride of Australia's name.
Column of companies by the right,
To the beat of the rolling drums;
With honours gained in a stirring fight
The old battalion comes!