NSW: 200,000 line streets for Anzac Day march

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2004
NSW: 200,000 line streets for Anzac Day march

By Tara Ravens

SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - The NSW Returned Services League has hailed this year's 25,000-strong
Anzac Day march in Sydney, which attracted around 200,000 spectators.

NSW RSL president Don Rowe said the parade was a great success, drawing an estimated
200,000 people to the CBD, believed to be a near record in recent years.

"We have been very pleased with the turn-out," he said.

"The good weather and an appreciative public has meant that we have had almost as many,
if not more people, than in previous years."

Under clear blue skies the annual Anzac march began shortly after 9am (AEST), with
spectators and marchers celebrating the Anzac legends of courage, loyalty and mateship.

The march was led by 105-year-old Marcel Caux, Australia's last World War I veteran
to appear in public.

"It is a very special day," he said as the parade kicked off.

The other five remaining World War I veterans are physically unable to join parades
around the country.

Like many people who participated in the march, Mr Rowe said it was an emotional experience.

"I got a lump in my throat now and then," he said.

"People are very much aware of the sacrifices made by so many men and women."

The march was followed by a memorial service in Hyde Park, attended by NSW Premier
Bob Carr and the Governor of NSW Professor Marie Bashir.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, gave the official Anzac address,
pointing to the tragedy of war, and the loss of young life.

"Only the very young or the very foolish glorify war. I've never met an ex-soldier
who did," he said.

Mr Carr also cautioned against celebrating rather than commemorating on such a solemn day.

"This is a day not of celebration but of national memory," he said.

"It's a day when we learn, and learn again, of the horror of purposeless war.

"It is a day for looking after your mates, cherishing your home, your neighbourhood and family...

"It's a day for realising how rare this wonderful country of ours is and how precious it is."

AAP tr/jh/sjb/jlw

KEYWORD: ANZAC MARCH NSW LEAD

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