Governor attends moving Sydney Anzac service
Jewish Scouts welcomed NSW Governor David Hurley to a moving communal Anzac Day service at the Sydney Jewish Museum on April 30.
CHILDREN from the 3rd Rose Bay (Judean) Scouts and a guard of honour by the Scots College Cadet Unit welcomed NSW Governor David Hurley – the patron of the NSW Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (NAJEX) – to a moving communal Anzac Day service at the Sydney Jewish Museum on April 30.
Prayers, wreath laying, lighting of memorial candles and the powerful contrast of bugler Louis Orner’s mournful playing of The Last Post followed by a minute’s silence, formed the centrepiece of the commemoration honouring our fallen Diggers.
Other highlights included a stirring speech by author of Gallipoli: The Road to Jerusalem Kelvin Crombie, the presentation of a copy of Mark Dapin’s book Jewish Anzacs to Governor Hurley, and the announcement by NAJEX of a new leadership award for Jewish school students.
The aunt and uncle of Private Greg Sher, who was killed in action in 2009 in Afghanistan, laid a wreath in his honour.
And wreaths were laid by family members and friends to honour Lieutenant Danny Goldberg and Assaf Namer – dual Australian-Israeli citizens who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending Israel 35 and 11 years ago respectively.
Crombie shed light on the pivotal role Australian soldiers played in the Middle East, claiming it was the only region in which large numbers of Diggers played pivotal roles in major battles in both World Wars.
From the failed Gallipoli campaign in which Anzacs and the Zion Mule Corps fought, to the successes of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the Sinai and the capture of Beersheva by the Australian Light Horsemen, he said the ultimate defeat of the Ottoman Empire led to the eventual establishment of six countries in the Middle East, including Israel.
“In 1941, Australian soldiers were pushed back into Tobruk but ended up forcing the Germans to retreat.
“Had Tobruk fallen and Rommel’s forces continued on their way, the history of the Jewish people in [North Africa and the Middle East] would have been disastrous.
“What they didn’t know was that an order from the highest level in Germany was made to create a special death squad in Egypt.”
NAJEX president Roger Selby said the leadership award for year 11 students at Jewish schools is being initiated to recognise characteristics like courage, loyalty, innovation and teamwork.
“We hope to be able to announce the winners of this new award at our Remembrance Day event,” he said.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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