ANZAC DAY AT PATONGA

[Vic Jefferies]

I never attended an Anzac Day march until the Welcome Home Parade in 1987. Haven't missed one since.
However the best Anzac Day ceremony I have ever attended was held in the tiny village of Patonga, a village of about two hundred people that is little more than a sand spit, built on the shores of Broken Bay. Virtually everyone in the village attended the dawn service which was exactly as I have written in the following poem and which I believe was absolutely beautiful in its simplicity, sincerity and purity.


ANZAC DAY AT PATONGA
There were no flash officials
no pomp and circumstance
no clash of drums and cymbals;
politicians to vainly prance.

There was just the villagers
standing beneath the light
shining from the monument
in the last hour of the night

And as the sun arose from
the waters across the bay
a kookaburra chose to send
his greetings to the day.

As his song combined
with the sound of gentle waves
we quietly prayed for those
asleep in distant graves

And in the glimmering dawn
in a true Australian way -
perhaps for the briefest moment -
we shared their Anzac Day.

Vic Jefferies

[Heather]

That is truly beautiful Vic. Thanks for sharing.

Heather

[Vic Jefferies]

Thank you for taking the time to reply Heather. Glad you enjoyed the poem.

Vic

[Neville Briggs]

I know Patonga, Vic.

That would have been a great experience.

[Vic Jefferies]

G'day Neville,
An absolutely perfect Dawn Service that was almost mystical in its simplicity and purity.
I have spoken to many others who were there and who are still moved by the memory of that morning and the call of the kookaburra at precisely the appropriate moment as the sun rose across the bay.