The Last Post
THE hauntingly sombre bugle call of the ‘Last Post’ is traditionally used to signify the end of the day’s activities at a military post, just as the more cheerful ‘Reveille’ call signalled the start of a soldier’s day. According to the Australian War Memorial, the Last Post bugle call has become incorporated into military funerals and commemorative services, such as ANZAC Day, as a final farewell and to symbolise that the duty of the dead is over and they can rest in peace.
Red Poppies
DURING the First World War, vivid red poppies were among the first flowers to emerge from the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium which had been soaked in the blood of thousands of soldiers. In 19th century English literature, poppies symbolised sleep or a state of oblivion and during wartime poems, they came to symbolise the shedding of blood. Poppies are popular in ANZAC Day wreaths and are also used to adorn Honour Rolls as personal tributes.
Rosemary Sprigs
ROSEMARY has long been believed to aid the memory and became an emblem of fidelity and remembrance. Shakespeare even makes a reference to the herb’s supposed properties in [I]Hamlet[/I] when in Act 4, Ophelia says to Laertes “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance”. Growing wild around the Gallipoli peninsula, the aromatic herb has come to have a special significance and many people wear sprigs of it at services.
The Unknown Solider
REPRESENTING the men of the British Empire who died during the ‘Great War’, the original unknown soldier was entombed in Westminster Abbey on November 11, 1920. Plans to honour an Australian solider did not come to fruition until 1993 when the body of an unknown Australian solider was recovered near Villers-Bretonneux in France. Honouring all Australians killed in war, the unknown soldier was interred at the Australia War Memorial on November 11.
The Lone Charger
A SINGLE riderless horse, with a pair of boots set backwards in the stirrups and the saddle stripped, often leads ANZAC Day marches and parades as an additional sign of mourning, often for the men of the Light Horse Units. In some ancient cultures, warriors would be buried with their horse so it could serve them in the afterlife. In more modern times, a horse would lead his master’s funeral.