Tas VC recipient honoured on Anzac Day

Victoria Cross recipient Cameron Baird has featured in Tasmania's Anzac Day commemorations in Hobart.

Australia's most recent Victoria Cross recipient Cameron Baird has been honoured during Anzac Day commemorations in Tasmania.

Corporal Baird, 32, from Burnie in the state's northwest, was killed in Afghanistan in June 2013 and his bravery recognised posthumously with the high military honour.

On Saturday Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner unveiled Corp Baird's name on Hobart's wall of remembrance, which lists the state's 10 VC recipients, at the city's cenotaph.

It was one of the final events on Hobart's official Anzac Day schedule, which began with a dawn service attended by a record crowd reported to have topped 5000.

The service focused on the importance of the Anzac legacy to young people, with an address by local high school student Ziah Cooper, whose great uncle served in WWII.

"This is a time for us to stop and reflect upon the courage of those who have served in war," he told the early morning crowd.

Young people of today and future generations should forever on Anzac Day remember the cost of war and the devastating impact it has on families, he added.

"It deserves a higher place, or rather a deeper place, in our national contemplation," Ziah said of the Anzac legacy.

Crew from Australia's largest warship, HMAS Canberra - currently moored in Hobart - took part in the city's Anzac Day parade.

More than a thousand marchers, including school children wearing relatives' service medals, took part in the parade, which travelled a short distance from the city's Town Hall, to the cenotaph.

A wreath-laying ceremony was preceded by an official address, delivered by the state's former governor and son of a WWI serviceman, William Cox.

"The scars of war can be deep, not only of body, but mind," he told an attentive crowd.

"Let us always remember ... without the efforts of the brave ... we would have inherited a far different life from that which we enjoy."

More than 15,000 Tasmanians enlisted to serve in WWI and close to 3000 were killed.

A keynote speech delivered by Premier Will Hodgman offered thanks to those who served.

"I thank them for what they have done to give meaning and value to our sense of national identity," he said.


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Source: AAP

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