Members of the Shepparton Interfaith Network attended the 2014 Anzac Day ceremonies in Shepparton. Attendance at Shepparton’s Anzac Day dawn service has dramatically increased in recent years.
Shepparton RSL president Peter McPhee said members were concerned as the crowd grew each year more and more people were finding it difficult to see the service.
‘‘It was just a sea of faces,’’ he said of the crowd that spread across Welsford St and Fryers St into Monash Reserve.
With this year marking the centenary of the start of World War I additional measures were put in place, including a larger public address system, fencing and portable grandstands.
The aim was to spread the crowd and keep a clear line of sight to the memorial, so more people could see the service.
But those measures were overwhelmed by the biggest crowd ever seen at a dawn service in Shepparton.
An even bigger crowd is expected next year to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landing.
HMAS Shepparton fitted out as a survey vessel, with radar, an extra bridge and bamboo survey markers.
