Guy Barnett: Reserve Forces Day

Today July 1 is Reserves Forces Day, an annual commemoration of the value of Reserve service to the nation.

This will be the 17th year this event has been held since 1998, with thousands of former and serving reservists now participating in parades across the nation in honour of the 1.25 million Australians who have served with Reserve forces over the years.

Reserve forces have played a key role in Australia’s defense over the years with militia—the pre-cursor of today’s Reserves—forming the backbone of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF), the first Australian forces deployed overseas during WWI, and also of the famous Australian Imperial Force (AIF) that fought with such distinction and courage through Gallipoli and the Middle East and on the Western Front.

The Liberal Government encourages the community to attend the main Reserve Forces Day March in Tasmania which will be held at Franklin Wharf in Hobart on Sunday, July 6 2014.

A special ceremony will be held with the Lord Mayor of Hobart and Mayor of Launceston placing a special plaque near the site where 1000 Tasmanian volunteer soldiers left our shores for WWI one hundred years ago in 1914.

The Liberal Government thanks all those who volunteer their time and effort with the Reserve Forces Day Council, both in Tasmania and nationally, to ensure that the service and sacrifice of our Reservists is appropriately commemorated and remembered.
Guy Barnett, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier