As the clock struck the 11th hour on Monday, November 11, Kyabram collectively fell silent in tribute to Australia’s fallen soldiers.
At the Kyabram Memorial Gardens, more than 80 people gathered under the shade of the trees for the annual Remembrance Day service organised by the Kyabram RSL.
Kyabram RSL president Greg O'Connell hosted the event, welcoming veterans, their families, and even a few visitors from the Kyabram RV Country Music Festival who had come from the showgrounds to attend the service.
A minute’s silence was observed at 11am, bookended by the Kyabram Fire Brigade alarm that rang out across town in commemoration.
At the same time, a few streets over, students of the Kyabram P-12 College also bowed their heads to remember the fallen soldiers, participating in a minute’s silence in the shadow of their commemorative Lone Pine tree.
Kyabram Legacy chairman Peter Fitzgerald was guest speaker at the RSL service, offering a fitting tribute to the often-overlooked legatees - the families of fallen soldiers - who are especially remembered on this day.
Kyabram Legacy is a local volunteer-based organisation that provides financial support and care to veterans' widows and dependents, ensuring they are not forgotten.
He read out statistics of the soldiers who went to war, those who returned burnt, battered and bruised and those who never made it back.
“They had all been part of a military machine that kept them floating on adrenaline under they were hardened warriors numb to kill,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“Many families here, no doubt, can remember the experiences of either loved ones or direct descendants that had been a part of those conflicts.
“It’s important that the next generation, and the next generation after that do understand what our forefathers and forewomen have been through.”
Another minute’s silence was observed towards the end, with Mark Bray playing the Last Post and the Reveille, as Russell Kerwin lowered the Australian flag to half-mast.