By KATH GANNAWAY
THE Avenues of Honour found in many of Yarra Ranges’ townships and around the country, are the inspiration for the latest works by musicians Jim Brown and Vince Brophy.
Following on from Brown and Brophy’s ‘Anzac on the Wall’ CD and show, the song “The Avenues of Honour” will be part of the Anzac dawn service at Lilydale, later at the commemorations at Silvan and in other towns around Victoria.
Also known as “As long as poppies dance in Fields of France” the song pays tribute to those who served the countries they loved – Australia and France.
“This clip is a tribute to the Anzacs, the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in the First World War, particularly the Western Front,” said Jim Brown, a Wandin poet and song-writer who teamed up with Vince Brophy about three years ago to work on the Anzac on the Wall project.
Through their song-writing and music, the pair have looked further than the battle fields, which they say are well documented, to what was happening, and what ultimately happened, back home.
Australia was a big country with a small population.
“If we were to respond today the way our ancestors did in 1914 – 60,000 from a population of 5 million, we would have 1.3 million boys and girls overseas fighting on foreign soil,” Mr Brown said.
“At least 300,000 would die and another 300,000 would probably come back damaged and needing care for a lot of their lives.”
The 20 per cent of the gross national product that it cost back then would equate to hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr Brown said.
“The Anzacs were the last to return home after the war, because shipping after the war was scarce, and priority was given to the wounded and married men,” he said.
“It could be two years or more before some Anzacs returned home, and while they waited they engaged with the people of France and Belgium and helped rebuild their communities all but destroyed by the Germans.”
The poppy is a universal symbol of the war in both countries, and, in Australia, the Anzacs are uniquely remembered by the Avenues of Honour that communities planted along roadways to remember their fallen.
“In France, the poppy fields have become a focus for the French to remember the Anzacs who fought so bravely to save their country, Mr Brown said.
“That bravery is remembered forever when the wild poppies bloom in French fields.”
View “The Avenues of Honour” YouTube clip https://youtu.be/EBs8DfqT-SY
