"THE DAWN SERVICE"

In the cemetery of the Queensland town of Herberton, is a grave beneath a slab of white washed concrete, above it stands a cross with just two words written on it "A Priest".

It is the final resting place of a man who started the Australian tradition, The Dawn Service.
The grave of the inspirator of the Dawn Service lies far removed from where the tradition began - right at the other end of the country.

In 1919, the Reverend Arthur White was repatriated to Australia after being gassed on the Western Front serving there as a Padre.
For rehabilitation, he was sent as a relieving Rector to Albany, on King George Sound in Western Australia.
The very last sight Anzac soldiers had of their country.
It occurred to the Reverend White that this was the last glimpse that many thousands of Australians would ever have had of their homeland.

On 25th April 1923 there at Albany, The Reverend White, together with a party of friends held the first observance of the Dawn Service held on Anzac Day.
As the sun rose over the morning sea a man in a boat lowered a wreath, which was seen to gradually float off towards the horizon in the direction the troop ships had taken.
As twenty onlookers silently watched, it drifted away & the Reverend White spoke the words, "As the sun rises and goeth down, we will remember them."

All were deeply moved & the story of that Dawn Service spread across the nation.
The Reverend White worked around the country finally arriving in the Northern Queensland town of Herberton.

Shortly before his death in 1954 he decreed he wanted just two words on his tombstone, the words "A PRIEST" and thus he was laid to rest.

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