General News
22 April, 2026
Ready to honour and remember this Anzac Day
ANZAC Day in Horsham will join thousands of towns across Australia in commemorating the anniversary of Australian and New Zealand soldiers landing at Gallipoli in 1915 as part of the Allies' invasion in World War 1.
Horsham RSL president, Gareth Lane, said he hoped the two services planned would draw good crowds, being a Saturday, and was looking forward to the unifying community experience of remembering not just the soldiers who fought in the famous battle, but also the more than two million Australians who have served in the military since 1914.
In the ensuing 112 years, more than 103,000 of them have paid the ultimate price – a sobering statistic.
“We've got our dawn service, which commences a bit after six o'clock,” Mr Lane said.
“(That’s) always a big turnout, (then) people are invited back to the RSL for a gunfire breakfast ... which is like bacon, eggs, sausages, all that kind of stuff, hash browns or toast. That's usually a gold coin donation.
“Then we have a quick break, and then get ready for the commemorative service.
“(Before) the commemorative service, we have the march down the main street, which steps off from the RSL at 10 past 10 – that will be led by the Horsham Rural City Band, (followed by) ex-service members, service members and other associated clubs, fire brigade, Scouts, Girl Guides, which is usually a pretty big turnout.
“Once we've done that, they will march down to back down to the Cenotaph, and then we'll commence the commemorative service, about 10.45.”
The guest speaker at both services will be former Horsham resident, David Eltringham OAM – “he's going to give us a bit of history about Anzac Day and General Monash and all that kind of stuff”.
After the service, he said people would be welcome to return to the RSL for some light lunch, and talked up the planned afternoon to follow.
“Bill (William Armstrong), our senior vice-president, has got a heap of activities lined up,” Mr Lane said.
“There’s a fair few games of Two-Up going on and some Crown and Anchor, and there'll be raffles running all afternoon, things like that.
“So that'll sort of take up the rest of our day … so it's going to be a full day.”
He said the special permission to run the games on Anzac Day had, for a period, not been something they had been able to take advantage of – “there was no one to run it, but when Bill came along a few years ago, he was keen to get it going”, which has included making up a new Crown and Anchor board.
Horsham’s Anzac Day will begin just after 6am, with a short march from Hocking Street to the Cenotaph, then the 6.30am dawn service.
From 9.45am, gather at Horsham RSL to step off at 10.10am and march along Firebrace Street to the War Memorial, where the commemorative service begins at 10.45am.