Archive for March, 2008
Pay your respects to these fine young men
Sixty Adelaide school students will represent the 60 South Australian sailors lost in the HMAS Sydney tragedy in 1941 during an ANZAC Eve commemoration on the Port River on April 24.
The focus of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 will be on the 645 lost crew of the Sydney when up to 3000 cardboard lifeboats bearing lighted candles are launched on the river from the Birkenhead pontoons.
Adelaide and regional schools students and their families and war veterans make all of the lifeboats.
The names of the 60 lost South Australian sailors will be on the sides of the lifeboats to be launched by the students.
A special March and Salute by the RAN Ceremonial Unit will be a dedication to the officers and men of Sydney and a one-hour Ceilidh Music Concert by the SA Pipes and Drums will include a special Ode to the Finding Sydney Foundation search team.
The SA Pipes and Drums won international acclaim for their Ceilidh Music at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, the Merchant Navy Association SA and the Vindicatrix Association SA staged the first ANZAC Light on the Water on ANZAC Eve 2007 during the first Port Festival.
Work on the 2008 commemoration has been under way since late last year and indications that HMAS Sydney might be found early this year prompted organisers to put plans in place for that.
The overall focus in 2007 was on the merchant seamen who rowed our troops ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.
No commentsNew lifeboat passes Sea Trials test
The new Keith Withey designed cardboard lifeboat for ANZAC Light on the Water on April 24 passed its Sea Trials with flying colours on Friday March 14.
Port River shipping gave the lifeboat a wide berth as it moved gracefully across the water.
On ANZAC Eve a Notice to Mariners will ensure that up to 3000 lifeboats have right of way during the unique commemoration.
Organisers will soon deliver 3000 Visy Board white lifeboat templates to schools in Semaphore, Port Adelaide, other Adelaide suburbs and some regional centres in special packs with instructions and information about ANZAC Light on the Water.
From these students will make their own boats for the ANZAC Eve tribute to the merchant seamen who rowed out troops ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.
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