From the very young to the elderly, a crowd in the hundreds spread out at the Warragul cenotaph and along neighbouring footpaths in Victoria and Smith Sts to pay respects to Australian service on Remembrance Day yesterday.
On a warm and cloudless morning many took advantage of the shade shopfront verandahs provided to pay respects at a moving service for those killed in wars, others that later died from wounds and injuries, those living today with the consequences of their service and those currently serving with the Defence Force.
The attendance of students from many district schools and their laying of wreaths caught the attention of guest speaker and former Royal Australian Air Force commissioned officer Nick Rainbow who said they showed the increasing acknowledgement, recognition and appreciation in recent years for Australians that had served in conflicts from World War 1 more than a century ago until the present.
It is different and much better, he said, than when he joined the RAAF as a navigator a couple of years after Australia's involvement in Vietnam ended.
For Mr Rainbow further evidence of the change for the better came when he spent two days last week at a stall selling poppies for the RSL's annual Remembrance Day appeal.
"I didn't have to sell any; people just came up wanting to buy," he said.
It was a hushed crowd when local Private Andrew Gordon, a member of the Australian Army Band, played the Last Post and the town's fire siren sounded to signal observance of one minute's silence for the soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that had lost their lives in combat.
"Remembrance Day is a solemn day," said Warragul RSL president Ben Vahland who led the service.
It is a day to not only acknowledge those who died but also all those that have served including First Nations people that have been involved in all wars and conflicts in which Australia has been involved since Federation in 1901, he said.
There were moving presentations before, during wreath laying and the close of the ceremony with playing of the New Zealand and Australian anthems by the Warragul Municipal Band and Warragul RSL Pipes and Drums Band.
Wreaths were laid by Warragul RSL, South African veterans, Member for Narracan Wayne Farnham, Central Gippsland Legacy, Baw Baw Shire, Warragul Pipes and Drums band, Warragul State Emergency Service, Country Women's Association of Victoria, the Liberal Party, Warragul Scouts group, Ambulance Victoria, Buln Buln, Ellinbank, Nilma, St Angela of the Cross, St Joseph's, Warragul North and Warragul primary schools, St Paul's Anglican Grammar school, Warragul and district Specialist School and the Country Fire Authority.
Remembrance Day, for several decades known as Armistice Day, is held at 11am on November 11 to mark the time and date on which gunfire ceased in World War 1.
Mr Vahland explained the significance of several of the central features of the day's commemoration - wreaths, the red poppy and the tombs of the unknown soldier.
Wreaths, he said dated back to Ancient Greece and have been used to mark, victory, bravery peace and sacred grounds and their round shaped represent the circle of life.
The poppies were sent in letters to loved ones by many soldiers that fought in Europe, especially Belgium, in World War 1. And the unknown soldier - "he is one of us, he is for all of us" - was first entombed in Westminster Abbey in London in 1926 and in Australia an unknown soldier was exhumed from his grave and entombed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Remembrance Day 31 years ago
Mr Rainbow, who served in the air force from 1973 to 1986, said a visit he made to Europe last year brought home to him the respect and regard with which Australians were held for their contribution to allied efforts in the world wars with many monuments and tourist facilities dedicated to them.
Mr Vahland closed the ceremony asking people to remember another thing - the rate of suicide among former and present members of the Defence Force.
He said despite an average of three suicides each fortnight the federal government had not acted on 122 recommendations handed down by a Royal Commission more than two months ago.
Mr Vahland said the findings "must be implemented now," suggesting that prospective service members "not enlist until things are fixed".