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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Steve Evans

What's happening at this year's Remembrance Day ceremony

The young will be centre-stage at the national Remembrance Day ceremony at the Australian War Memorial (AWM).

For the first time, they will lay poppies at the solemn event marking the 106th anniversary of the ending of the First World War on November 11, 1918.

As the order of service puts it: "Laying of poppies: Students representing the youth of Australia." About 350 students are expected to attend the ceremony in Canberra, with a dozen or so laying poppies on the Stone of Remembrance

As well as the actual anniversary of the end of the "war to end all wars", the ceremony is also to remember those who died in succeeding wars.

Those who run the Memorial are keen to emphasise the institution's importance in educating the young.

Hugo Sims with his father's slouch hat. His father is currently serving in the army. Picture by Gary Ramage
Five-year-old Eleanor Sims prepares for Remembrance Day at the Australian War Memorial. Her father is currently serving and has conducted several tours of duty. Picture by Gary Ramage.

Every year, about 95,000 children, mostly in year 6, visit the Memorial and the galleries of its museum section in groups, according to Robyn Siers, the AWM's education manager.

For children, the Memorial's task is to educate while not traumatising them about what Mrs Siers called "this difficult subject".

"We are not in the business of lecturing. We tell stories of Australians who have served. With quite small children, we talk about uniforms; what they might have had in their packs; where they went; what they did.

"We remember the people who served to protect our way of life, our democracy.

Pipe Major John Mitchell. The pipers will perform at the AWM on the evening of November 11. Picture by Gary Ramage

"You have to be truthful with children but you also have to be mindful that at certain ages, they can only take in so much."

The tours are tailored to school curriculums so secondary students in year 9 learn about the First World War and those in year 10 learn about the Second World War.

This will be the first Remembrance Day service to take place on the Memorial's new parade ground. For the last three years, the ceremony has been moved to the side of the Memorial while the building and its surrounds have been redeveloped.

"Our major development project, which is now well under way, will enable us to reflect the stories and experiences of more recent service, as well as improve accessibility for more visitors for decades to come," the Memorial's director, Matt Anderson, said.

"Since opening on Remembrance Day 1941, the Memorial has become the keystone of the nation's commemorations," he added.

This year's Commemorative Address was to be delivered by the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn. The prime minister was also expected to attend.

The Remembrance Day ceremony happens in the morning. The culmination will be the one-minute's silence at 11am (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month when the guns fell silent in a war which took the lives of 60,000 of the Australian 416,000 volunteers).

Afterwards, at 1pm, the Memorial will be open. The daily Last Post ceremony will be held at 4.30pm, preceded at 4pm by a performance by six members of the Scots Guards Pipes and Drums. They will give a second performance on the Memorial's forecourt at approximately 5 pm.

This year's ceremony is the 31st anniversary of the interment of the unknown soldier.

Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers his speech at the funeral service and entombment of the unknown Australia soldier. Picture by Graham Tidy

On November 11, 1993, prime minister Paul Keating delivered a eulogy which brought a tear to many eyes.

"He [the Unknown Soldier] may have been one of those who thought the Great War would be an adventure too grand to miss," he said.

"He may have felt that he would never live down the shame of not going. The chances are he went for no other reason than that he believed it was his duty; a duty that he owed his country and his King."

Mr Keating described the Great War as a "mad, brutal, awful struggle distinguished more often than not by military and political incompetence" and how "the waste of human life was so terrible that some said victory was indiscernible from defeat".

And he said that "nobility and grandeur belong not to empires and to nations, but to the people on whom they, in the last resort, always depend".

Thousands more lined up in the following days to lay single flowers on the tomb. As they waited along the cloisters, people began pushing paper poppies into the names on the Roll of Honour, sparking a tradition that continues today.

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