News
Benalla honours Anzac sacrifice with record-breaking services and touching speakers
Benalla went over and above to honour the sacrifice of the Anzacs, and all who have lost their lives or been injured serving their country.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
On Anzac Day, April 25, the Benalla RSL hosted a dawn service, with many commenting it was the best attended in years.
The crowd filled the area around the cenotaph and across the road outside the fencing.
The RSL also hosted a breakfast and lunch for former and serving members at its rooms on Nunn St and arranged a well-organised Anzac Day march, culminating in the traditional service, which was also well attended.
Benalla RSL sub-branch president Paul Hartland hosted the dawn service, introducing guest speaker state Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland.
“We are gathered here today in the quiet stillness of morning, as Australians have done for over a century, to remember those who have served and sacrificed so much in the name of freedom, mateship and duty,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Anzac Day is a time to reflect not only on the great battles fought far from our shores, but also on the incredible individuals who came from places just like this, who were born in our streets, raised in our schools, and who carried our community’s values into some of the most challenging places on earth.”
Ms Cleeland went on to discuss two of Benalla’s favourite sons, Captain Hec Waller and Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop.
“Today, as we lay our wreaths, as we fall silent and as we remember, let’s carry their stories with us and carry their stories for all of our fallen sons and all those who served and represented our region with pride,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Let’s not only honour their sacrifice, but their values. The values that live on in our schools, our sport clubs, our RSLs and our homes.
“Because Anzac Day is not just about the past. It’s about who we are today and who we strive to be. Lest we forget.”
The dawn service also included readings from local students, including Australian Christian College’s Flynn Mosley, a recent recipient of a Kokoda scholarship, Amber Armstrong from Benalla P-12 College and FCJ College’s Sophie Hammond.
Later in the day hundreds marched from the corner of Bridge St East and Nunn St to the cenotaph, with crowds clapping and cheering along the way.
Brett Taylor-Parking was emcee of the service following the march. He introduced a number of speakers, including Mr Hartland, Mr Mosley, Mia Hamm from Cathedral College Wangaratta and Salvation Army Captain Ben Anderson, who read several prayers.
Benalla RSL member Delano Dube was on hand to sing the New Zealand and Australian national anthems, with help from the Rose City Band.
The guest speaker for the service was Ian Robertson, who was assisted by Benalla RSL sub-branch welfare officer Kylie Dennis.
The two told the story of the Gallipoli landings, through the voices of those who were there.
Mr Robinson and Ms Dennis’ speech at Benalla’s 2025 Anzac Day service.
“Whenever Winston Churchill, while praying to the bouts of depression he called the Black Dog, he would dream about Gallipoli and the Dardanelles, of the dead soldiers in the water and on the cliffs,” Mr Robinson said.
“The campaign had been his idea. If it had been successful, it could have changed the course of the war. But it wasn't successful and all that was altered were the lives of many Australians, New Zealanders and their allies.
“When war was declared in August 1914, men from around the country lined up at recruiting stations and willingly enlisted.
“Many believed they could even be home by Christmas.
“They signed up to serve their country. They left their families behind. They honoured their pledge and for thousands, they gave their lives.
“During a farewell reception at Dimboola in 1914, the new recruits were given the following advice by the recruiting officer, who was also the commander of the local military and a Boer War veteran...”
Ms Dennis read that advice.
“Now lads, you are leaving your mothers, your fathers, your sweethearts, your sisters and your brothers on every opportunity that you get,” she said.
“Write to them. You will be in the midst of excitement. They will be waiting anxiously and looking for news from you. Write loving words to them.
“They may not see you again, although I hope they will. You may depend upon it that they will hand those letters around amongst friends and that they will be read with interest.”
Mr Robinson continued.
“These men sailed off to the war in the first convoy,” he said.
“Benalla local Alfred Guppy and his commanding officer, Colonel John Monash, both of the 14th Battalion, sailed soon after.
Twenty-one-year-old Philip Schuler, a reporter with The Age in Melbourne, also sailed in the first convoy.
“The destination was an unknown, but finally Egypt and then Gallipoli.
“Winston Churchill proposed a strategy to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war, open up supply lines to Russia and protect British interests in the Middle East.
“This was approved and the Anzacs’ fate was sealed.
“Sir Ian Hamilton was selected to lead the expeditionary force to take the Dardanelles.
“He was handed his orders six weeks before the landings took place at Gallipoli on April 24.
“As the men waited to head to the peninsula, they were read a force order that Hamilton had written.”
Ms Dennis read that order to the crowd.
“Before us lies an adventure unprecedented,” she said.
“Together with our comrades of the fleet, we are about to force a landing upon an open beach in face of positions which have been vaunted by our enemies to be impregnable.
“The landing will be made good by the help of god and the Navy.
“The positions will be stormed, and the war brought one step closer to a glorious close.
“Remember, Lord Kitchener said, as he bade me farewell, that once you put foot on the Gallipoli peninsula, you must fight the thing through to the finish.
“The whole world will be watching our progress. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the great feat of arms entrusted to us.”
Mr Robinson continued.
“That night, under a full moon, the flotilla of ships sailed towards Gallipoli, with the men sitting in silence or wondering what fate held in store for them.
“At the same time, Australia’s submarine, the AE2, was breaching the heavily mined Strait of the Dardanelles and would run amok for several days.
“Philip Schuler couldn’t go with the troops, but reported the landings for his Melbourne readers as he saw them through a telescope and binoculars.”
Ms Dennis read that report.
“The battle opened at 4.17am the racket of rifles reached the ears of the other brigades,” she said.
“With locked still in the transports, the men jumped from the boats into the icy Aegean up to their armpits, sometimes their rifles held above their heads, and slowly facing the stream of lead, waded to the shore.
“Eager to be free of action, they at once dropped their packs and charged.
“Some Turks were running down the beach to oppose them. These were killed, wounded.
“At other places around the northern extremity of the cove, the boats were drifting in, and along the broader shore were grounding on the beach, only to be shattered and the whole parties in them decimated by machine gun.”
Mr Robinson continued.
“Gallipoli raged on for several months, places like Shrapnel Gully and battles such as the Neck, claiming many Anzac lives,” he said.
“George Martindale, a man from Dimbilla, sent a letter home and told his family of one such battle.”
Ms Dennis read that letter.
“How can I describe Lone Pine? I don’t think the great devil himself could. I don’t think anyone can,” she said.
“It wasn’t warfare, it was slaughter. We stood up to it in a hail of bombs and bullets for three days and nights.
“Here also were some awful sights to be seen, what with removing the dead and wounded. The latter, I won’t write about it.”
Mr Robinson then spoke again.
“After many months of fighting, the decision was made to abandon the campaign,” he said.
“The stalemate of the situation, the need to reinforce the Western Front and the mounting pressure from the people at home over the rising casualty lists forced the politicians and the top brass to make the decision.
“Brigadier John Monash was the officer in charge of the withdrawal of the troops from Anzac Cove. Which was completed without the loss of one man.
“Monash went on to command the Australian Army Corps on the Western Front. Become a revered leader and a household name.
“Among other lifelong achievements, he built the bridge which stands behind us today (in Benalla).
“Quartermaster Sergeant Al Guppy, our Benalla local, wrote the following poem reflecting the emotions of leaving Anzac Cove.”
Ms Dennis read the poem.
“Not only muffled is our tread to cheat the foe. We fear to rouse our honoured dead to hear us go. Sleep sound old friends, the keenest smart which more than failure wounds the heart. Is thus to leave you thus depart. Comrades, farewell,” she said.
Editor