Anzac day 2024

As we get older our views in events and history changes, well at least mine have, Anzac day comes and goes and up until about ten years ago, on Anzac day I reflected on the sacrifices that our military personnel made, and those that left families forever; My father served in the middle east as a very young man and made it through to settle in Australia, the conflict was never discussed between us and he really never turned out on Anzac day to my memory. Although he did on occasions share thoughts while watching war documentary’s that were common on early tv, even though the docos then were a bit graphic I have really never thought about how it must have felt to young men, to come from a peaceful land like ours and be taught to kill another human and to carry that out, and live with it mostly in silence.

On Anzac day I will be thinking about peace, and families, how mothers, fathers siblings from all around the globe are feeling about lost ones in war and the ones that have come home and have difficulty coming to grips with their experiences and, are lost. Wars are currently being fought in many parts of this earth, in all cases families are grieving at loosing loved ones, in so many places the war is generating more hatred such a sad cycle, the greed and need for control of others regardless of human life or suffering is almost without exception the cause.

Its unusual for me to put thoughts like this in print, so what started this, as my friends know I am an amateur photographer, and last week I saw three things that made me think about the misery that war brings, first I was photographing the entrance to a park in Lake Caregillo NSW and the entrance led to the local cenotaph, and It struct me as being so serine, and Anzac day there would be special, the other was while photographing in Hilston NSW at the entrance to their cenotaph was a list of names and I felt so sad because one family was represented so many times, and then there is the special tribute that the town of Hay has, reading the many plaques around the painted towers, you know that this town is proud of its people.