ANZAC day at Coogee

We were in Coogee for ANZAC Day yesterday - and experienced the Coogee Dawn Service for the first time, down by the beach - along with THOUSANDS of locals!!

This was a Sydney Morning Herald photo of the huge crowd at the Coogee Dawn Service..........

The ceremony started at 5.30 and lasted a good hour and a half - but full of heartfelt moments, a ton of respect, wonderful singing and playing and much more inclusive than other services we've attended over the years. A rabbi provided the blessing, a children's choir sang beautifully and there was a strong Aboriginal focus including our horrible National Anthem sung in Dharawal language - which made it sound SO MUCH BETTER!

And it is so very poignant being by our beautiful Coogee Beach at sunrise - and imagining all those young men landing on the beaches of Gallipoli 108 years ago, as dawn was breaking ............

Afterwards those thousands of people caught up with friends, neighbours and old mates - the pubs and cafes were overflowing with camaraderie (and coffee) and lots of breakfast takeaways by the beach - a BIG day for Coogee (and a rowdy afternoon of two up games in all the local pubs and clubs). ANZAC Day is HUGE at home in Campbell too but I really liked the way the day started here in Coogee.

We avoided the two up games in the pubs and clubs in the afternoon and headed over to Manly on a very crowded ferry full of families intent on enjoying the rest of the day. We made our way up to the Q Station at North Head to catch up with my dear friend Tania and to see the work of Anna Dudek on the final day of her artist in residency at the Q - her residency was part of her prize in the Les Sculpture Refusees exhibition of 2021. 

In her work Anna Dudek plays with forms to highlight the spontaneous movement of natural light. Her starting points in this open studio exhibition were two perspex boxes lined with dichroic film.

But that was just the starting point ..........

The setting for the Les Sculptures Refusees studio spaces at the Q Station is just awe inspiring (especially those views from the verandahs!).

So, ANZAC Day was quite a magical day for us in Sydney - and we're here for another few days, until Sunday!