First Remembrance Day in Camden

Camden Remembrance Day

On the first Remembrance Day in Camden in 1946, the Camden News recorded the event with a poem. 

They are not dead, that cannot be,
They’re part of you and part of me,
The smile, the nod, the steadfast look
Could never perish at Tobruk.
Nor could there fade on Bardia’s sand
The cheery voice, the friendly hand,
Though seas and lands and years divide,
The Anzac lives – he had not died.

It was written by ‘a Digger who had served in two World Wars’.

George Sidman, the editor of the News, wrote:

‘The strongest of our emotions during this month will be the remembrance of those who have served and for who Remembrance Day has been set aside, and when you wear a Red Poppy, it will remind you at the sacrifice made by those gallant men. It will remind you of courage, of long patient effort and a final victory one’.

Local folk were reminded that poppies were sold throughout the British Empire to wear on Remembrance Day. The proceeds from the sale of the poppies in Camden were supervised by the Camden branch of the RSS&AILA (Returned Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmens’ Imperial League of Australia and later RSL). The Association promised to retain half of the funds raised to ‘assist local cases’. In 1946, Poppy Day was held on Friday, 8 November.

The Cultural and Recreation Website of the Australian Government reminds all that:

Originally called Armistice Day, this day commemorated the end of the hostilities for the Great War (World War I), the signing of the armistice, which occurred on 11 November 1918 – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Armistice Day was observed by the Allies as a way of remembering those who died, especially soldiers with ‘no known grave’.

On the first anniversary of the armistice, in 1919, one minute’s silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony. In London, in 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front.

The Flanders poppy became accepted throughout the allied nations as the flower of remembrance to be worn on Armistice Day. The red poppies were among the first plants that sprouted from the devastation of the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. ‘Soldiers’ folklore had it that the poppies were vivid red from having been nurtured in ground drenched with the blood of their comrades’.

Camden’s first Remembrance Day in 1946  was held at the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on the evening of the 10 November. Mr Buck, the minister, conducted the service, which was attended by the mayor and the aldermen from the council. There was also the local member, Mr Jeff Bate, members of the Camden sub-branch of the RSL, the Camden Red Cross, Voluntary Aids, and representatives from the Eastern Command Training School at Studley Park, Narellan. It was reported that:

The church was beautifully decorated with flowers, together with the Union Jack and Australian Flag on which was placed a laurel wreath, the tribute of the congregation of St Andrew’s to the Nation’s Fallen.

During the ceremony, the mayor, Alderman HS Kelloway,  read out all the names of local men who had been killed in action in the First and Second World Wars.

Mr Buck spoke in his address of the solemn nature of the occasion and remarked:

‘Greater love hath no man than this, to-night we keep silence for those whom we can never forget – our own who gave their lives. With that gift no other gift compares. This service will have no meaning whatever for us unless – in Lincoln’s noble words “We highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain”.

Mr Buck concluded the service  by adding:

May God help us all to highly, resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.