Parramatta will honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice this Friday, with services set to go ahead for the first time in two years without restrictions.
Hundreds of people are expected to gather on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month in Parramatta for one of Australia’s most important national days of commemoration.
Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the Armistice, which saw guns on the Western Front fall silent and the end of the First World War in 1918.
Today, Remembrance Day commemorates the loss of Australian lives from all wars and conflicts. Every year, on November 11, one minute’s silence is held in memory of all those who died or suffered.
Bryan West, Secretary of the Parramatta RSL sub-Branch, told Parra News it’s vital to remember those who sacrificed their lives to protect the country’s freedom.
“Remembrance Day is particularly important as it remembers those who died in the First World War and subsequent wars, they died defending our freedom and we try to remember their sacrifices,” he said.
The Parramatta Remembrance Day service will be held at Prince Alfred Square and start at 10.50am.
“The service will commence with a prayer reading and our sub-Branch president reciting the ode, then the bugle will play the Last Post,” Mr West said.
“We’ll have students from Tara Anglican School in Parramatta recite prayers and the choir from Parramatta High School will sing some hymns, and then there will be an opportunity for people to lay some wreaths. We’d like as many people to be there as possible.”
For Mr West, it’s a welcome return to a restriction-free Remembrance Day, after a difficult two years of COVID impacting the commemorations.
“In 2020 we had a Remembrance Day but only 20 people were allowed to attend because of the restrictions. In 2021 we were only allowed 60 people to attend,” he said.
“Schools and some organisations weren’t allowed to attend because of the restrictions but they have now been lifted.”
President of the Parramatta sub-Branch Ron Grace, who joined the Air Force when he was only 17, said it is important to focus on peace instead of conflict.
“I think Remembrance Day is more a day of reflecting on the peace that operated at the end of the First World War,” he said.
“It’s remembering that, rather than the war itself.”
The Epping RSL sub-Branch will also hold a Remembrance Day service at Boronia Park, Epping, at 10.30am.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.