On the morning of ANZAC Day, several hundred people will gather in the dark for a ritual that has endured through generations of peace and conflict alike. Before 6am, the crowd will have assembled. By the time the sun rises over the Meander Valley, they will have observed a silence that connects Westbury to battlefields many have only read about.
Phil Steers, president of the Westbury RSL, has watched the dawn service draw 200 to 300 people year after year, a number that still catches him off guard. “For a small community, it’s always amazed me that we’re able to have a parade such as this,” he says. “The attendance at the service that we get, it’s just something else.”
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This year the Westbury RSL has chosen to direct its commemoration toward a chapter of Australian military history that rarely finds its way into public consciousness. While the world wars and Vietnam anchor the national memory of ANZAC Day, Steers wants to draw attention to the Malayan Emergency, a counterinsurgency campaign in which Australia was involved for more than a decade and which cost 39 Australian lives. A guest speaker will address the service on the subject. “It’s one of those conflicts that is basically forgotten,” Steers says. “We’ll never forget World War I and II, and we shouldn’t. But there are other conflicts, and there are other Australians who served and died, and they deserve to be remembered too.”
Steers, who served 21 years in the Australian Army before being discharged in 2001, is clear-eyed about the organisation’s dual purpose. Born in Deloraine, he left at 18 to join up, spent his career posted across the mainland in armoured units and later as a mechanic, and returned to the region for good when his wife suggested the move from Perth. He had, he admits, needed a nudge. “One day she just said, why don’t we move to Tasmania full time,” he recalls. “And here we are.”
He has been a member of the Westbury RSL for eight years and has held the presidency for two. The role carries more responsibility than many might expect. Westbury’s RSL is incorporated, meaning Steers oversees not only the sub-branch and its returned services functions but also the club’s commercial operation, including a kitchen, staff and a bar. The connection between those two sides of the ledger is direct. “Every dollar that goes over the bar comes back into the sub-branch,” he says, “and gives us the finances to look after the veterans.”
The club draws on a broad membership of between 350 and 400 people, well beyond the veteran community alone, and Steers sees that breadth as essential. A club that belongs to the whole community, he argues, is better placed to serve those who need it most.
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He is hoping to step down from the presidency later this year, part of a deliberate effort to keep the role rotating and draw new people in. “It’s a very fulfilling job,” he says, “but there is a lot of responsibility. I think fresh people coming in is good for everyone.”
For those yet to attend a dawn service in Westbury, his advice is straightforward. Be there by 5:45am. The rest will take care of itself.
Dawn Service 6:00am Westbury Cenotaph. Village Green, Westbury.
Main Parade 10:40am Assemble at Westbury Post Office, William St.
Main Service 11:00am Westbury Cenotaph, Village Green, Westbury.
ANZAC services will also be held in other locations across Tasmania.
