Gunnedah RSL Sub Branch

24/04/2026

🫡 Supporting Veterans After Service in Business

We are extremely proud of our local veterans.
One veteran in particular:

Hannah Riley | Veteran | Airforce
And also now… Whisked Away by Hannah

Hannah has donated all proceeding of her ANZAC DAY themed delights to the our Gunnedah Rsl Sub-Branch
(See below)

For those attending the Dawn Service Coffe & BBQ - you will enjoy what WHISKED AWAY BY HANNAH has created!

Thank you Hannah - for also laying a wreath on behalf off airforce at the 11am ceremony.

24/04/2026

📣 WREATH LAYING ORDER - 11am Service

24/04/2026

PLEASE SHARE 📣

We are grateful to Coffee Buzz Van Gunnedah - Mobile Coffee Van to come along to the Dawn Service and support Gunnedah Rsl Sub-Branch’s Dawn Service BBQ!

We invite all those attending to stay after the Dawn service and enjoy a warm beverage and conversation.

We especially invite current and ex serving members, and their families and supporters to gather and connect in conversation.

24/04/2026

📣 ANNOUNCEMENT - THANK YOU!

Commemoration | Conversation | Comradeship | Coffee | BBQ

When - After the Dawn Service @ 0600hrs
Where - Gunnedah Cenotaph

ALL WELCOME - especially current and ex serving members and families/ supporters

Thank you very much to the Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce, Streater Family Butchery and Gunnedah Woolworths.

21/04/2026

Gunnedah RSL Sub-Branch is preparing to launch an ANZAC Day Photo Competition for our community.
This initiative is being developed to encourage the sharing of respectful and meaningful images that reflect the spirit, significance, and story of ANZAC Day remembrance, service, sacrifice, tradition, mateship, ceremony, memorials, veterans, families, community participation, and moments of reflection.
The competition is intended to run as a public community initiative through the official Gunnedah RSL Sub-Branch page. This will allow the wider Gunnedah community, along with the broader communities of RSL, to view, reflect on, and engage with the images shared.
Photos are intended to be submitted publicly through this official competition post so the community can help recognise and reflect on ANZAC Day through photography.
Please refer to the first comment below for terms and conditions.
For now, we encourage the community to start thinking about the images and moments that best reflect the meaning of ANZAC Day.

21/04/2026

DID YOU KNOW?

ANZAC Day rosemary
Traditionally pinned to lapels or medals on ANZAC Day, rosemary has been a symbol of remembrance since ancient times. But rosemary became especially significant to ANZAC Day following World War I.

Native to the Mediterranean coast, rosemary grows wild on the slopes of the Gallipoli peninsula. As the tale goes, a wounded digger brought home a small rosemary bush from ANZAC Cove. He planted it in the grounds of the Army Hospital at Keswick, South Australia, and cuttings from that bush have been used to propagate rosemary plants across Australia.

Since then, Australians and New Zealanders have worn sprigs of rosemary on ANZAC Day in memory of the fallen.

20/04/2026

DID YOU KNOW?
Dawn Service
ANZAC Day Dawn Services are public commemorative ceremonies usually conducted by the RSL with involvement from the three arms of the Australian Defence Force – Navy, Air Force and Army.

In line with their name, these services begin just before dawn, with the sun rising as they draw to a close. Many of the cenotaphs where Dawn Services are held are in beautiful locations, which adds to the poignancy of the occasion.

But why dawn?

An Australian battalion held a dawn service on the Western Front on the first anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, and Dawn Services began to be observed around Australia in subsequent years. The timing is likely based on the fact that the ANZAC forces started the landing on the Gallipoli peninsula at dawn.

20/04/2026

The Gunnedah RSL Sub-Branch is honoured to welcome Corporal Harry Britt as a guest speaker for our ANZAC Day Commemorative Ceremony. From Gunnedah to the 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment and School of Infantry, Harry represents service, standards and the enduring spirit of the Australian soldier

20/04/2026

19/04/2026

DID YOU KNKOW?

The catafalque party
At ANZAC Day and other remembrance ceremonies, you'll often see four members of an armed guard. These four people – most commonly of the Defence Force – are known as a catafalque (‘cat-a-falk’) party and act as a mark of respect for the fallen until the end of the service.

They stand, head bowed and with the weapons they are carrying reversed, around a cenotaph or shrine. The catafalque party is posted at the start of any ceremony and leaves their posting after the playing of the National Anthem.

While the origin of this tradition is not clear, it’s thought to have been used by a Commonwealth soldier at the ex*****on of Charles I in 1649 and again at the funeral for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough in 1722. Today, you are most likely to see a catafalque party during ANZAC Day or Remembrance Day services, while a person (such as a politician or member of royalty) who has died lies in state for the public to pay their respects, or during a military funeral in a church.