General News
28 April, 2026
Hundreds attend Maryborough service
Maryborough's Anzac Day has been hailed a success with locals coming together to remember service people's legacy both past and present.
Maryborough’s Anzac Day service saw many march and hundreds gather at McLandress Square commemorating the past and ongoing legacy of service people.
The town maintains a traditionally strong Anzac Day, and this year was no exception, seeing strong crowds of all ages attend.
The annual march was led by the Maryborough City Brass Band and the familiar presence of Darryl Wagstaff — himself marking five decades with the band.
Following him were veterans, emergency services, and community members young and old.
Among them was Wayne Sproull who enjoyed his first Anzac Day as Maryborough RSL’s new president.
It was also his first success story in the role thanks to a “fantastic” community turnout.
“Thank you to everybody who has contributed,” he said.
“Without them we wouldn’t be.”
The day’s service looked to the past and the familiar mythology of the Anzac spirit.
Central Goldfields Shire mayor Ben Green said the day was an “extraordinary commemoration” of resilience.
“I pay particular tribute to our locals, of course, but to all who pay the price wherever they are,” he said.
They’re familiar words Highview College’s Isaac Scott put weight to.
“It can be easy in ceremonies like these to let words become familiar. To speak of courage, sacrifice and honour alone we risk these words becoming trite and performative. We risk missing something essential,” he said.
“Our duty of remembrance is to remember not only what happened, but why it happened, to sit with the discomfort of loss and to ensure something so devastating can never occur again. We owe it to those who gave their lives away.
“The least we can do is look at contemporary situations with eyes wide open.”
He shared the story of WWII nurse Vivian Bullwinkel who was the sole survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre.
“In 1942, after the sinking of her ship, Vivian and 21 of her fellow nurses were forced into the surf on Bangka Island and machine gunned from behind,” he said.
As the sole survivor she would spend the next three years in a “brutal” prisoner of war camp.
Following the war she returned home to tell the story of those who died.
“Her bravery wasn’t just in surviving the bullets or the camps. It was in her refusal to let the tragedy be forgotten or repeated,” he said.
“She lived as a testament to the fact that we have the wisdom to choose a more peaceful future.”
However, standing before the local memorial, he said their bravery shouldn’t feel unreachable.
“We call them heroes as a way to excuse ourselves from having to act like them. But Vivian wasn’t a myth. She was a nurse who wanted to go home. She was a woman who saw the absolute worst of human nature and decided, in the wreckage of that beach, she would not let bitterness have the final word,” he said.
“As you think of the nurturing brave woman in your life, don’t just thank them, emulate them. Take the spirit of Vivian on the beach, that stubborn defiant commitment to care, and bring it into the rooms where decisions are made. Let her story be the conscience that prevents us from repeating the tragedies she was forced to endure.”
Maryborough Education Centre’s Naomi Henderson continued championing the contributions of nurses.
“Nurses provide emotional support to those who are frightened, injured, and far from home. In moments of pain and uncertainty they are often the ones holding the soldiers hand offering reassurance and reminding them they are not alone,” she said.
“Today as we remember all that have served let us honour those nurses — the ones who healed, who comforted, and who stood strong when others needed them most. Their courage may not always be seen, and their stories may not always be told, but their impact is lasting and their service will never be forgotten.”
They’re values Maryborough’s Noelle Mason remembers learning from a nurse who served in WWII.
She said when this nurse was on night shift she’d have a big jug of cold water.
“If the men woke up during the night crying, or calling out, and having terrible nightmares she’d go and get them a cold glass of water, help sit them up, and make them drink that first,” she said.
“That seemed to settle them down, gave them something else, and then they could talk about it, or she could listen to them, or just hug them and support them.
“She was the most loveliest nurse that I’ve ever worked with.”
The day wasn’t without its moments of levity, however, particularly for Mr Sproull during the Dawn Service.
In the rush of getting ready he realised he “slipped up” and needed to give some documents to the ambulance service.
Shortly before he was due to speak he gathered up the documents and put them through their door — the only problem was his speech was mixed in.
“There was a little bit of panic and a quick Google search of AI Dawn Service speeches,” he said.
But his wife came through with the save getting him another copy just in time.
Mr Sproull said the stress meant he only considered the crowd later in the day.
“The afternoon service ... gave me a bit of time to sit back and be in awe of the community support,” he said.