Lest we forget: How the Great Southern town of Katanning marked Anzac Day in 1922

On Anzac Day, Tuesday, April 25, a united memorial service was held at the Katanning Fallen Solders’ Memorial, which was attended by about 1500 people including a large number of returned men, who paraded under Lieut. A. A. Guy. In order to accommodate those who were taking part in the service, a platform had been built in front of the gun, and on this chairs were placed, which were occupied by Captain Mawson of the Salvation Army, who led the service, and the Revs. H. Roy Heard, Canon Burbidge, Harry Moore, C. E. Hipwell, and Captain F. M. House, President of the Katanning sub-branch R.S.L. and Mr Geo. McLeod, Chairman of the Katanning Road Board. The Katanning Brass Band was in attendance, and a massed choir of children under the leadership of their respective Sunday School teachers, led the singing of the hymns, in which all present heartily joined. Taking as his text “Their Name Livith for Evermore,” Mr Hipwell delivered a stirring address from the platform erected in front of the Memorial. He said: “Today we celebrate Australia’s National Day. Whatever day other nations might celebrate as their memorial anniversary, Australia must ever choose Anzac Day, for on that day Australia was born as a nation among nations. The old pioneers had laid the foundation of the character that bore the men up the cliffs of Gallipoli, and bred the spirit of Nationhood. That stamp of Nationhood was more and more indelibly impressed on the heart of Australia as her sons were called upon to face yet more difficult experiences, alongside the men of the Old Country, who were their kinsmen, at Gallipoli, on the sodden fields of Flanders, and in the sands of Palestine. The call was clear and the path was plain. Not for conquest did the sons of Australia cross the seas to fight unknown foes, but as the servants of liberty. Australian manhood deemed it an honor and a privilege to offer itself for the perpetuation of world democracy and the safety of our own land. And today we lift our hearts to the unseen Anzac in reverent salute, a something more than memory, a something but little less than prayer. Our link with the fallen is spiritual, and one that should lift us to higher levels to help us to live for the real genuine service to mankind. Let me give a word to those whose heads are bowed afresh today at the thought of loved ones, cut off in their prime, and lying in far off graves. Sad as these thoughts are, it must be remembered that they themselves had compensation for their sacrifice. They had experienced the glorious brotherhood of the camp, the battlefield and the trench, a real and unforgettable brotherhood. They had the joy of knowing the Christly spirit, how ever unconventionally, by being partakers of his sufferings to save a stricken world. And they knew of the Greater Love.” M. Hipwell concluded by drawing lessons from their sacrifice and sufferings for the direction of the growing generation in the love of their country and love for each other. He said that if those that had gone were able to speak, he was sure their message would be one of comfort, and a direction to cease mourning for them, and rather help those that were still with us. At the conclusion of this deeply impressive service, and during the rendering of the Dead March by the Band, a number of beautiful wreaths and floral tributes were placed at the base of the Memorial by the returned men, the solemn notes of the “Last Post” terminating this portion of the service. ENDNOTE: This article was published in the Great Southern Herald, April 29, 1922