Sacred Cathedral artefacts included in Anzac Day dedications

Christ Church Cathedral's hallowed Warriors Chapel will be incorporated into Newcastle's program of Anzac Day Commemorations for 2018.
 
The Anzac flame monument at next Wednesday's Nobbys Dawn Service will be lit from a flame that has flickered in the chapel since Great War widows and family of the fallen gathered to mourn husbands, sons, brothers and fathers buried on foreign battle fields.

^{Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes with Dean of Newcastle, The Very Reverend Katherine Bowyer, with the Sanctuary Flame at Christ Church Cathedral.}
 
The sanctuary lamp will be ceremonially relit by Dean Katherine Bowyer during the annual Anzac Service on Sunday evening, before Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes uses it to light the Anzac flame at the 5am Dawn Service.

"This is a wonderful addition to the extensive commemorations organised by Council in cooperation with the City of Newcastle RSL," Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
 
"I look forward with great pride to receiving the flame from Dean Bowyer at the Dawn Service next Wednesday morning."
 
Newcastle Sub-Branch RSL President Ken Fayle said Newcastle's Anzac Day Committee was proud to include the Warriors Chapel's treasures in the commemorations.
 
"By tying in the lighting and blessing of the flame from the Warriors Chapel we are seeking to create more interest in the Anzac Service in the Cathedral, which has been held since 1916 without a break, and highlight what amounts to an incredible museum of our war history," Mr Fayle said.
 

Other items on display in the Warriors Chapel include:

• The Book of Gold (pictured above), a book bearing the names of Hunter men killed in the Great War made from the wedding rings and other jewellery donated by local war widows.
• The Birdwood Flag, an Australian red ensign presented to General Birdwood on the battlefield in Ypres in 1917. General Birdwood returned it to Novocastrian Dora Sparke, who had it made with funds from the Hunter branches of the NSW Field Force Fund, and she presented it to the Cathedral in 1922.

^{The Birdwood Flag} 

• The Gallipoli Flag - Union Flag was presented by Colonel G. Burnage, Commanding Officer of the 13^th Infantry Battalion, AIF, who served at Gallipoli, to the Cathedral at the first Anzac Day service there on 25 April 1916.The fabled Toc H lamp was endowed by Australia's then-Governor General Sir Henry Forster in 1926, after he had lost two sons in World War One, to the international good will Toc H movement, which emerged from a beloved shelter for soldiers in Belgium during World War One. A Ceremony of Enshrinement was held in 1926 and the Toc H or "Forster" lamp was placed in the cathedral's Warriors Chapel, making it the spiritual home of Toc H in Australia. 

^{The Gallipoli Flag} 
Below is a summary of the events and a full Anzac Commemoration program, including orders of service for each event, all of which can be viewed here in Newcastle City Council's 2018 ANZAC Day program
 
Serving Country Exhibition Launch
 • Date: Friday 20/04/2018
 • Time: 5.30pm to 7.30pm
 • Location: War Memorial Cultural Centre, Laman St Newcastle
 • Toilets: Civic Park, Cultural Centre and City Hall
 • Parking: On-street and Gibson Street car park
• Public transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
Serving Country Exhibition
 • Date: Saturday 21/04/2018 to Saturday 09/06/2018
 • Time: From 9.30am Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays
 • Location: War Memorial Cultural Centre, Laman St Newcastle
 • Toilets: Civic Park, Cultural Centre and City Hall
 • Parking: On-street and Gibson Street car park
• Public transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
Memorial Walk Sunset Ceremony
 • Date: Saturday 21/04/2018
 • Time: 5pm to 6pm
 • Location: Anzac Memorial Walk, The Hill.
 • Toilets: King Edward Park
 • Parking: On-street and York Dr King Edward Park, Bar Beach Carpark.
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
ANZAC Commemoration Service Christ Church Cathedral
 • Date: Sunday 22/04/2018
 • Time: 6pm to 8pm
 • Location: Christ Church Cathedral
 • Toilets: Christ Church Cathedral
 • Parking: On-street and limited in Cathedral Grounds
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
War Memorial Grove Candlelight Vigil
 • Date: Tuesday 24/04/2018
 • Time: 5pm to 7pm
 • Location: Memorial Grove, Civic Park
 • Toilets: Civic Park, Cultural Centre and City Hall
 • Parking: On-street and Gibson Street car park
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
ANZAC Day Dawn Service
 • Date: Wednesday 25/04/2018
 • Time: 5am to 6am
 • Location: Shortland Lawn, Nobbys Beach Carpark and surrounds.
 • Toilets: On-Site Event Toilets, Nobbys SLSC, Carriage Sheds
 • Parking: A free Park and Ride Service will operate from Broadmeadow's McDonald Jones Stadium from 3.30am, running every five to 10 minutes on a loop between Queens Wharf. On-street, Bolton St parking station, King St parking station, Pitt St Reserve, Stockton Foreshore.
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
ANZAC Day Field of Remembrance Project
 • Date: Wednesday 25/04/2018
 • Time: 5am to 5pm
 • Location: Newcastle Museum
 • Toilets: Newcastle Museum
 • Parking: A free Park and Ride Service will operate from Broadmeadow's McDonald Jones Stadium from 3.30am, running every five to 10 minutes on a loop between Queens Wharf. Honeysuckle Precinct car parks and on-street, Bolton St parking station, King St parking station, Pitt St Reserve, Stockton Foreshore
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
ANZAC Day March
 • Date: Wednesday 25/04/2018
 • Time: 9.15am to 10.00am
 • Location: Hunter St Mall, Perkins St, King St to Civic Park
 • Toilets: Cnr of Hunter St & Perkins St
 • Parking: A free Park and Ride Service will operate from Broadmeadow's McDonald Jones Stadium from 3.30am, running every five to 10 minutes on a loop between Queens Wharf. On-street, Bolton St parking station, King St parking station, Pitt St Reserve Stockton Foreshore
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
ANZAC Day United Service Commemoration
 • Date: Wednesday 25/04/2018
 • Time: 10am to 11am
 • Location: Civic Park Cenotaph
 • Toilets: Civic Park, Cultural Centre and City Hall
 • Parking: A free Park and Ride Service will operate from Broadmeadow's McDonald Jones Stadium from 3.30am, running every five to 10 minutes on a loop between Queens Wharf. On-street, Bolton St parking station, King St parking station, Pitt St Reserve Stockton Foreshore
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info
 
Fort Scratchley Open Day and Firing of the Guns
 • Date: Wednesday 25/04/2018
 • Time: Noon to 4pm
 • Location: Fort Scratchley
 • Toilets: Fort Scratchley
 • Parking: Limited on-site parking, on-street, Bolton St parking station, King St parking station, Pitt St Reserve Stockton Foreshore
• Public Transport: www.newcastletransport.info