Their silhouettes could barely be seen, even under the soft light of a full moon.
The only evidence of their presence was the occasional murmur, muffled by chirping insects.
Survivors of Queensland's deadliest floods started their day in silence, handing red candles to each other.
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Everything was still in Grantham as hundreds of people gathered to mark the first anniversary of the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley floods.
The families of the 12 people who died in Grantham laid wreaths at the foot of a new memorial monument, before children released butterflies into the warm morning sky.
The railway bridge that became a poignant symbol of destruction - now clear of debris - was revealed behind the monument as the sun rose. There was no sign of the wall of water that tore through the town on January 10 last year.
"Those terrifying images of the floodwaters raging through the Lockyer Valley and Grantham will forever be a part of the Queensland consciousness," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.
"This (past) year has been one of the most painful in living memory for these tiny communities, and I am pleased to be here to remember all of those who lost their lives and pay tribute to the remarkable fighting spirit of the people of the Lockyer Valley and Grantham who have overcome such enormous tragedy.
"It is wonderful that they begin 2012 united as such a strong community."
Ms Bligh will attend ceremonies in several Lockyer Valley towns on a day that has been officially declared a special holiday."
She is expected to be joined by several other dignitaries and politicians.
Ms Bligh visited Toowoomba on Monday and will attend services in Ipswich on Wednesday and Brisbane on Thursday.
Of the 35 people who died when more than 70 per cent of the state flooded last summer, 22 were killed in the state's southeast. Three remain missing.
Ms Bligh later said Grantham residents had shed tears as they gathered under a beautiful clear dawn to remember those lost a year ago.
"This is a community of just under 300 people. They lost 12 loved ones. Everybody knew them, everybody was close to them and everybody felt a great loss," she told the ABC after the service.
"There was a lot of tears, as you would expect ... as those people were remembered."
But she said there was hope and optimism too, as the community reflected on how much had been done to repair the "war zone" the floodwaters left behind.
"At the end of 12 months, they're rebuilding, they've cleaned up; they're back on their feet again and have a lot to look forward to in 2012," she said.
"Moments like today's anniversary, services like the one here at 4am, they are really important moments to just stop and say look how far we've come."
She said challenges remained for Grantham and other Lockyer Valley communities.
Among them was the looming demolition of homes smashed by the floodwaters, as families move to a new Grantham township on higher ground.
"We've got one family already in, another moving in this week. As they do their old homes will be demolished down in the older parts of Grantham, near the creek and on the flat," she said.
"Some of those have already been demolished and there's a bit of sadness about that. For some, these are third and fourth generation family homes."
The Grantham pub is gone and there are no plans yet to replace it, but essential services, including rail lines, have all been restored, Ms Bligh said.
"It's very symbolic that a train came through during the service - a reminder that with that sort of thing, it's business as usual."
Ms Bligh said other valley communities including Postmans Ridge and Murphys Creek would hold their own services today, with others in flood-hit parts of Ipswich and Brisbane to follow this week.
She said there was still a lot of work to be done to return Queensland's road network to its former condition.
About $6 billion still being held in a recovery fund would fund that work, the premier said.
"There was 9000 kilometres of roads that were undriveable. They were made driveable with temporary fixes," Ms Bligh told the Seven Network.
"Over the next two years they will be fixed permanently. The long-term, permanent fixes are two to three year programs."
She also fired a salvo at some unnamed insurers who she said had compounded the pain for the state's flood victims.
"Not all insurance companies are the same. Some I gave a nine out of 10 to," she said.
"Some of them went out of their way to make a terrible situation even worse."
