Skip to main content

Anzac Day

 


I've never been one to glorify war, but Anzac Day has always held a special place in my heart. Being a trumpet player, I've played The Last Post and The Rouse at many a service, starting from early high school. It's my way of helping honour the past, in particular my great-grandfather - my Dad's favourite "Pop" who served in the first and second world wars.

This year however, reading a little bit more into it. While we were in lockdown for Anzac Day last year, I never imagined a year later we would still be fighting this virus and in another lockdown, but there's a lot that's happened over the past year + that I never expected.

Our ancestors risked and sacrificed their lives so that we could have better lives. We're lucky enough to live lives they never could have imagined in their wildest dreams. But we as humans have a tendency to forget, or maybe fail to appreciate how good some of us have it.

Pop lied about his age to be older so he could enlist in WWI and actually so he could be younger for WWII. He was very young and on the other side of the world. Lately, I've been struggling with the fact that I'm not able to just jump on a plane and head home whenever I need to. I've been very lucky to even have been able to do this in the first place, of course, but the thought of "would I have left if I could never come home" has defintely been weighing heavy on my mind lately.

He left Australia in March of 1916 to join the fight in France, and after a few months was shot in the butt. He was transfered to England for treatment, where he met my great-grandmother, and not long after they married and had my grandmother.

So today, as I'm missing home for more reasons than there are hours in the day, I'm going to try and think about Pop. Barely 18 years of age, fighting in a war on the other side of the world, and then wounded, still not returning home until several years later on the HMAT Orca. If he hadn't been there though, he wouldn't have met my great-grandmother, and the rest is history.

Yes, here in Ontario, Canada, we are in our third lockdown, but if our ancestors can survive the perils of war, we can survive staying home, and giving up the luxury of commercial air travel for the time being, no matter how much we may struggle with it. Today, I've choosen to wear a pinafore adorned with Australian native flowers, and some choice brooches that help my express my gratitude while still giving me that signature flare.

Lest we forget.


Pinafore and belt by Made590

Shirt via thriftshop

Headband by Gracie Klutz

Poppy brooch and earrings by Parksypop

Crest brooch by Kirbee Lawler


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finally a Canadian Citizen!

After nearly 12 years (😱) living in Canada, I am finally a citizen!  Most of you reading this will know my story by now, but to recap, I first moved to Toronto in 2011 on a Working Holiday Visa for what I thought would be a year, but then I met a boy and stayed.  Now here's the real fun part of how I got to this point, as it's a long way from a working holiday visa to citizenship!  Back in 2013 you were allowed to apply to IEC program (International Experience Canada - the Canadian working holiday program) twice, but now a second round is a lot more complicated, so I am grateful it was an option for me at the time.  Something I haven't shared much is the fact that my mum is also a Canadian citizen. She moved Canada around the same age I was when I moved here, for 6 years, and managed to also get her citizenship. My brother and I were actually eligible for Canadian citizenship if we applied before the age of 18, but my dad thought it probably wouldn't be necessary fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yes'23

Today, I made the trek to the Australian Consular office in Toronto to cast my vote in the upcoming Australian Referendum to update the Australian Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. For me, this is a no-brainer. How one of the oldest ontinuous civilizations in the world is not officially recognised in the constitution by those who colonised is baffling, to be honest. As you well know, I recently became a Canadian citizen and had to recite the Canadian oath of citizenship , and affirmed that I would faithfully observe "The Laws of Canada, including the Constitution which recognizes and affirms The Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples". There is no such references in the Australian Constitution, so it's time to change! As a first and second generation immigrant, I know how it can feel to be "othered" for nothing you can control. And of couse as a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Music Education is important

Today I had the pleasure of performing with Sydney Wind Symphony, my former band in Sydney. I joined them fresh out of high school at then trumpet teacher Andrew Hulme's insistence. A lot of people play in school bands all the way through and then just stop, so I was very happy for the gentle nudge to join an A grade level band. But playing trumpet for 28 years would not have been possible without my first trumpet teacher, Tim Rowland, who started at TPS the same year I joined from another school. He saw something in me and quickly promoted me to the Senior bands, and continues to be responsible for cultivating some of the North Shore's most talented young musicians. Playing with Sydney Symphony when I was fresh out of school, and a license late bloomer, would also not have been possible without all the lifts from fellow South Turramurra locals Sarah and Peter Eagling! They were my ride to and from rehearsals, performances and competitions until I got my license at age 21, and ...
Post a Comment
Read more