April 25th 2015 marks the centenary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli Cove. Memorial Services are being held across Australia and in Gallipoli itself.

Local groups are encouraged to mark the event and in 2013 a group in Ferntree Gully first decided to hold a dawn watch at the site of the old quarry, now a public park, where the landscape of water, rock face and mountain ridge suggest the geography of Gallipoli Cove. The service evoked especially the memory of Sergeant William Head of Upper Ferntree Gully who was himself among the first to land and was killed on that day as well as all who have given their lives subsequently.

Last year over 200 people attended a repeat of what many had found a very moving experience. This year a torchlight procession from the church car park to the site (there is not much parking in Quarry Road) is expected to add to the solemnity of the event.

This Dawn Walk and Watch is a collaboration of Mountain District Learning Centre and the Lower Gully Traders Association with the generous support of St John the Baptist Parish in Forest Road. All are welcome.

Anzac commemorations in Knox

• Boronia RSL has organised a commemorative march on 21 April, starting at 2pm at the corner of Chandler and Dorset Roads. An Anzac Day Dawn Watch will begin at 6am on 25 April in Dorset Road, followed by a gunfire breakfast.
• Bayswater RSL has organised a march and wreath-laying ceremony organised for 21 April at 11am. Also a Dawn Watch on 25 April. The community is invited to arrive at 5.45am for the commemorative service and breakfast.
• An Anzac Day Dawn Watch for the community is being held outside the centre library at 10am on Thursday April 25 at Stud Park Shopping Centre, Rowville.

For more information, contact your local RSL.