Anzac Day 2020 was like no other we’ve experienced before. It was touching to see that the challenges the coronavirus placed on our community in commemorating Anzac Day 2020 had no impact on the level of gratitude witnessed on the day. 

Whilst restrictions on physical distancing and reduced crowds hampered our traditional way of commemorating our Anzacs, we observed first hand the various non-traditional ways the community remembered our heroes.   

From an ex-serviceman’s own street parade in Avoca with neighbours commemorating from their driveways, to home-made letterbox poppies and driveway tributes by candlelight. Perhaps you had a musician in your local area performing the Last Post, or you lived close enough to the Central Coast Stadium to hear the live performance of the Last Post and Rouse. 

Central Coast Councillors commemorated our fallen and ex-servicemen and women through the private laying of twenty-two wreaths at various memorials and cenotaphs across the coast.

Our commemorations are never confined to one day, and today we honour our fallen through the naming of three new roads after our local World War 1 veterans. 

The importance of Anzac Day is far stronger in the hearts of the community than the coronavirus and I am extremely proud of our community in the way we conducted ourselves in remembering our diggers. 

Mayor Lisa Matthews
Central Coast Council