ANZAC DAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY 2017

ANZAC Day commemorations across Australia were very well attended in all the capital cities and in the bush.

Take the time to read the poem Slouch Hat by Murray Hartin  

M.D.M. Photos from Darwin David Warriner, Adelaide River Mark Wilton, Pine Creek Dawn Service Jess Beckhouse, Katherine Fay Miller and Rex Jeffery. Tablelands Yungaburra Ando, Cairns Michael Trout Townsville M.D.M. Wallumbilla QLD Jenny Underwood, Gold Coast Milly Jensen

A MUST READ SLOUCH HAT

THE SLOUCH HAT

There’s a Slouch Hat in my lounge-room
Pristine and never worn
Standing watch atop a globe
Dawn til dusk and dusk til dawn
It will never go to battle
Never ask the question “Why?”
But it sings to me A Sappers Lullaby

It won’t play footy by The Pyramids
Won’t taste Kokoda’s mud
Won’t feel the heat of Vietnam
Won’t be stained by good men’s blood
It won’t trade shrapnel in the chaos
On a beach at ANZAC Cove
But it tells me quietly why the rough men go

Men like my mate Coops,
Who gave the hat to me
Who back the Engineers
As they clear the IEDs
Thirty feet apart
Treading softly, staggered file
Under the Afghan sun they walk the danger miles

And I’ve shared beers and laughs with Timmy
And I’ve looked him in the eye
Heard him talk about lost mates
And I’ve seen a tough man cry
Just like those who’ve gone before him
And they may go on forever
And the slouch hat, well, it binds them all together

With just a sideways glance
It can set my brain to work
Recall the deeds of Albert Jacka,
Hear the pledge of Ataturk
Eric Bogle sings Waltzing Matilda
And the lyrics haunt my mind
As I think of all the heroes left behind

But the Rising Sun will not forget them
As it shines on new recruits
Brave young men and women
Bold as brass in shiny boots
Duntroon and Kapooka
Passing every test
And beneath the Slouch Hat’s brim they’ll do their best.

So that Slouch Hat in my lounge room
It won’t travel overseas
But it takes me on great journeys
Reminds me that I’m free
A symbol of Australia
No surrender, few regrets
And a shrine to those now gone, Lest We Forget

Murray Hartin

Visit Murrays web site http://www.murrayhartin.com/