Natimuk Brass Band started proceedings with songs before Natimuk RSL members, veterans and residents marched in Main Street towards Natimuk Memorial Hall.

The crowd piled into the small hall before Natimuk RSL’s Robert Grant and Horsham Rural City councillor Tony Phelan started the service.

Cr Phelan said for him, Anzac Day provided a trigger of reflections and outcomes of all wars.

“Every year, we turn out to recognise the sacrifice and the commitment the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps made for their countries in the First World War,” he said.

“You only have to look around the walls of this hall to see the names of locals who served.

“It is important and appropriate that we acknowledge the more than 78,000 combined veterans and the unimaginable suffering of survivors in the pursuit of a victory that would supposedly end the need for future wars.”

Cr Phelan emphasised the importance of looking after men and women who had returned from war.

“I’ve never been to war. As a 20-year-old in 1968, my birth date was not drawn from the barrel that was part of the conscription process. I’m thankful,” he said.

“Friends of mine were conscripted, and the lives of individuals and families went in unplanned and often uncontrollable directions.

“We sometimes place too little value on the service and personal costs of those representing us in conflict.

“I reserve gratitude to all those who serve their country.

“I understand the Vietnam Veterans Association’s motto is ‘Honour the dead, but fight like hell for the living’.

“I thank organisations like the RSL, Soldier On, and others for their work in honouring those who have paid the ultimate price in the nation’s interest, and the ongoing commitment they display in fighting for the living.”

Father Peter Hudson from Ss Michael and John's Catholic Parish in Horsham also paid tribute to soldiers.

He said Anzac Day was an integral day on Australia’s calendar.

“As Christian people we model our own lives on the self-sacrificing love of God for us, and we thank God for the self-sacrificing love of so many who died in war, and those who have returned,” he said.

“We remember them, we pray for them, and we thank them.”