The Last Post to ring around Docklands

By Jess Carrascalao Heard

The sound of brass will ring around Docklands at dawn on ANZAC Day, with eight buglers set to play The Last Post in strategic locations around the area.

With buglers to be located at both NewQuay and Victoria Harbour Promenades, as well as outside the Forge Building and 90 Lorimer St, The Last Post will be played not only as a memorial to those lost in war, but also to help raise money for veterans.

Docklands Chamber of Commerce (DCC) CEO Johanna Maxwell said she was looking forward to the event, and hoped that the com- munity would get behind it.

“The sound will resonate around the harbour beautifully. We’re inviting people to come downstairs with their candles, or watch from their balconies,” she said.

The event is a part of “The Last Post Project” by Skunkwork Productions, which is working in partnership with the DCC to bring the me- morial to the area.

The project aims to help raise money for veterans’ charities, Women Veterans’ Network Australia and Mates4Mates, as well as rais- ing awareness and educating youth of what ANZAC Day is all about.

Skunkworks Productions co-director Jamie Lawson, who performed The Last Post on ANZAC Day in Docklands last year, said he saw it as “handing the baton across to the next generation.”

“Unless you’re involved with someone or something that does those services, there’s not much chance to be involved,” he said.

Members of the community, as well as schools and other groups, are invited to participate in the project, and are provided with a sponsorship page on the website to encourage people to raise money for the two charities.

There are currently participants in “The Last Post Project” across Melbourne, in Tasmania and even as far away as France, and Jamie Lawson described the Docklands event as the “flagship call” for the whole thing.

Docklands also has its own donations page at the Skunkwork Productions website.

Ms Maxwell said the DCC would be donating for the buglers to play, and hoped the community would get behind the project with donations and support.

She said that for Docklands, the event was partly remembering that the area played its own part in war and sacrifice, with the harbour being host to navy ships in the past.

“There is a link from our community back into that community. We wouldn’t have the country we have were it not for our veterans,” she said.

The 2021 event comes after the success of last year’s lockdown ANZAC Day memorials in the area, which saw Mr Lawson and fellow ex-navy personnel Stuart McCorkelle delivering The Last Post and The Rouse at Yarra’s Edge and Victoria Harbour, respectively.

Local residents lit candles and participated in the memorial from their balconies.

Ms Maxwell said the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the only negative being that NewQuay residents wished there had been someone on their side of the harbour as well.

Mr Lawson also loved the experience, and wanted to play again in 2021, and with both DCC and Skunkworks wanting to expand the event, the current plans were put in place.

Ms Maxwell said she the chamber was glad to host an event that supported veterans.

“Our veterans are often forgotten, and they need support getting through,” she said.

The buglers will deliver the Last Post at 6.00am on ANZAC Day at the following locations:

• Newquay Promenade (near the Banksia Building, near Cargo and Berth, and Conder Building near the Harbour Esplanade corner).

• Victoria Harbour Promenade (near Library at the Dock, near Dock 5, and near the NAB building).

• Near 90 Lorimer St.

• Near the Forge Building.