June 24, 2016
Reserve Forces Day is being commemorated this weekend in Wondai, a little earlier than usual due to the Federal Election.
Reserve Forces Day events are co-ordinated by the Australian Reserve Forces Day Council and are usually held in early July each year.
The Wondai commemoration is one of only three ceremonies being held in Queensland this year.
On Saturday (June 25), there will be the Armed Forces Challenge Social Bowls at the Wondai Country Club, beginning at 1:30pm.
A barbecue lunch will be available, and the social bowls are open to all players.
In the evening, a meet’n’greet will be held at the Hotel Cecil from 5:30pm, with light entertainment.
The main day is on Sunday (June 26).
A flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremony will be held from 10:00am at the Memorial in the forecourt of the former Wondai Shire Council Chambers.
At the conclusion of this ceremony, participants will be invited to proceed to the Parade Assembly Area in front of the Wondai Post Office to enjoy a coffee at the QCWA stall.
The Parade Marshall will call the parade to fall-in at 11:00am, after which marchers will travel along Mackenzie Street past the dais to enter Coronation Park from Scott Street.
Marchers will then assemble in front of the Rotunda for the Recognition Service.
When the Service ends, the parade will be called to attention for the Lowering of the Flag, after which everyone in attendance will be invited to retire to the Wondai Diggers Club for refreshments.
The South Burnett Reserve Forces Day committee is a sub-committee of Wondai RSL Sub-Branch.
For more information, contact Noel Selway on (07) 4169-0448.
The themes for this year’s Reserve Forces Day cover the World War I battles at Fromelles, Pozieres and Flers on the Western Front, and Romani and Magdhaba in the Sinai.
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by Noel Selway
The Reserve Forces Day Parade this year commemorates centenary of the baptism of the Australian Imperial Force in action in France and Belgium and the Light Horse in the Sinai.
By 1916 the Australian soldier was beginning to be defined as an aggressive and thinking soldier. The work of the Infantry and Artillery on the battlefields of Fromelles, at Pozieres and Flers has been well recorded, less well-known is the work of the Light Horse at Romani and later at Magdhaba in the Sinai, in both the defence of the Suez Canal and the advance across the Sinai to Palestine.
In addition to the attention being paid to the events of 1916, other commemorations are also being observed.
In the United Kingdom, June 25 is Armed Forces Day and this year Cleesthorpe in the north of England is the centre of activity recalling the naval Battle of Jutland which was called a draw by both the British and the Germans.
Reservists are also celebrated with a sixth of the British Armed Forces made up of its personnel in specialist and technical branches.
Also recalled is the 159th anniversary of the presentation of the first Victoria Crosses which occurred on Friday, June 26, 1857 in Hyde Park where Queen Victoria presented the award to 62 recipients.
And as an aside although important, it is recalled that June 25 is also the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn where five companies of the US 7th Cavalry were defeated by a much large Indian force who, on that day, determined to stand and fight.
