Last Saturday, along with millions of others across Australia and NZ, Hobart Baptist Church commemorated the Anzac Day Centenary holding our own service of remembrance.
Our unique focus was to honour those associated with Hobart Baptist Church who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Their names are listed memorial plaques hanging in our main building.
Anzac Day, perhaps more than Australia Day, is our most important national occasion. It is the day the nation stops to remember those who served in the living hell that is war. It is unique among national days. France has Bastille Day, the United States Independence Day along with many other nations, and Britain has the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar. But this day centres on an ignominious defeat in a side show theatre of WWI.
It can look foolish, celebrating a defeat, but for Australians it is a deeply proud day. We focus not on war itself, but on the character displayed in the face of great adversity. This character, with its values of self-sacrifice, community, mateship and redemptive suffering, resonates deeply in the Australian soul and arouses feelings of pride and national identity. On to Page Two >>>
Random thoughts of a fellow traveller