Anzac Day 2016 Hunter Street Newcastle march | photos, video

IT was a long march indeed for three-year-old Sami Cousins, but the New Lambton toddler barely missed a beat striding alongside his grandfather Peter Cousins during Monday’s Newcastle Anzac Day parade. 

Clinging to a Legacy bear and with his great, great grandfather Fred Wood’s World War I medals adorning his small chest, Sami stole the heart of many an onlooker along the route from the Hunter Street Mall to Civic Park.

“He’s too young yet to know what it is all about, but he understands it’s about soldiers and that it’s something special,” Mr Cousins, a Vietnam veteran and former National Serviceman and army reservist, said.

Straining to be heard over the roar of a flypast by jets from the Williamtown RAAF base, Mr Cousins said it was gratifying to see so many people out to mark Anzac Day.

“I think to some extent, it is because Australia is still involved in conflicts around the world,” he said. 

“People can relate to it a bit more these days – it’s on television and it’s not the nasty thing that Vietnam was where you had much of the population against it.”

Crowds up to three and four deep lined the route of the march, many who had attended the earlier dawn service reassembling from inner city coffee shops and cafes after a quick breakfast. 

Spectators in suits mixed with those in casual weekend attire and exercise gear. Children waved flags and a group of onlookers held aloft signs saying “Thank you”.

Several thousand gathered in Civic Park, with regular observers estimating the crowd for the combined march and service to be one of the biggest in 20 years.

City of Newcastle RSL sub-branch president Ken Fayle said the increasing number of descendants and veterans of contemporary conflicts represented something of a changing of the guard in Anzac Day ranks.

“Unfortunately our surviving World War II veterans are largely at the stage where, although they would like to attend, it is physically very difficult, but we are seeing a huge amount of descendants turning out and from our point of view that is just as important,” he said. 

“The other notable change is in the increasing involvement of the younger servicemen and women from later conflicts, which is very important because we will be looking to them to take over the running of these events in future years.”

With his grandchildren playing in the sun at his feet in Civic Park, Georgetown ex-serviceman Michael Hatcher reflected on how different Anzac Day used to be for Vietnam veterans.

“When we came back from Vietnam, people didn’t want to know you and you didn’t want to tell them where you had been,” said Mr Hatcher, who also served in Malaysia.

“I always went to the Anzac Day services but for me it was usually sitting with a few mates in the corner of a bar having a few beers and telling stories.

“These days the turnouts are much bigger and there is a real family involvement, which is great.”

Mr Hatcher shared Anzac Day this year with extended family including his son, Chris, a former air force serviceman who travelled from Canberra for the occasion, and his grandchildren William, 5, and Josephine, 7 who marched alongside him.

He said “just being accepted by the community” had made an enormous difference to the celebration of Anzac Day.

10am

The Newcastle Anzac Day march began in the Hunter Street Mall at 9.15am en route to Civic Park via Darby Street.

As the march came to a halt, thousands joined the marchers to remember the fallen and pay their respects during the commemoration service at the cenotaph.

Raymond Terrace’s Shaun Mate, who staked out the corner of Darby Street and Hunter Street for the widest view of the passing parade, said he loved watching the march partly because of the support it attracted in the Hunter.  

“Back in World War I I had a great-grandfather who served in the army, and his name is actually up on the Anzac Walk,” he said.

“I just love coming down and experiencing it all, and remembering.”