Good morning. Here are your headlines from around regional Australia and beyond. Scroll down and refresh for weather, road reports and more.
Anzac Day 2017
BUNBURY: The HMAS Toowoomba has docked in at Bunbury Port ahead of its role in Bunbury’s Anzac Day services.
The Royal Australian Navy frigate arrived on Monday afternoon for its two-night stay in the city. Read more.
BUSSELTON: Busselton RSL Vietnam war veterans Glenn Woodward and Peter Dalgleish sat down with reporters to talk about their experiences in Vietnam, what Anzac Day means to them and what it was like to return to Australia after the war.
ESPERANCE: In the lead up to Anzac Day, the Esperance Navy Cadets have been doing their part to help the town honour our people in service.
Commanding officer of the Esperance Navy cadets Lieutenant George Barnes said he was proud of the work his cadets have done in the lead up to the day. Read more.
NORTHAM: We spoke to local Vietnam veteran and Northam resident Geoff Scarterfield about his experiences of serving his country and his thoughts on Anzac Day.
State of WA
BUNBURY: A Bunbury paedophile who spent 10 years sexually assaulting seven young female victims will spend at least the next five-and-a-half years behind bars. Read more.
ESPERANCE: A surfer from Esperance has captured moving photographs of a tribute to Laeticia Brouwer, the 17-year-old who was killed in a shark attack on April 17.
The memorial service, which included a paddle-out by the town’s surfing community, was held on Sunday night at the same time as a similar event in Singleton. Read more.
MANDURAH: Land and sea is no barrier for these unlikely friends.
Halls Head dog Braandi has been a water pup since she was adopted, and enjoys regular swims with the dolphin pods of the Peel-Harvey Estuary. Read more.
Police arrested a 32-year-old man, believed to be a close relative, on the front lawn of a Henwood Avenue property shortly after 5am.
Neighbours claim he was “screaming and crying uncontrollably” as he was taken into custody. Read more.
► BALLARAT: Police have confirmed the reported daylight robbery of a disabled man is no longer being investigated.
The CIU was initially investigating a man’s claims that he was attacked by a group of youths when he was returning from a Sebastopol supermarket.
He told police he was frightened, knocked to the ground and robbed of $300 cash. Read more.
► WAUCHOPE: A Vietnam vet from Beechwood, who wanted to have a beer with a very special US comrade, has finally got some news, after sending out a call through the Wauchope Gazette last year.
Mal Butler was a Warrant Officer Class Two Adviser in South Vietnam in 1971, training soldiers how to ambush at night. Read more.
► TAS: Hellyer District Scouts will carry on the tradition of standing watch over the cenotaph in Burnie the night before Anzac Day.
It’s the third year the Scouts have performed the ritual where youth members stand at all four corners of the cenotaph from 6pm Monday evening until 5:55am Tuesday morning.
“To me it [Anzac Day] means we all gather to remember and commemorate about the people who fought in the wars,” Scout Gemma Fletcher,11, said. Read more.
► DUBBO: April 25 is a significant day for people all over the country as they commemorate Anzac Day, and for one returned serviceman in particular it holds an added element of importance.
Dubbo RSL Sub-Branch vice president Jeff Caldbeck will be joined by his son Brendan as the two generations of servicemen take part in Anzac Day services in Dubbo.
Mr Caldbeck teared-up as he explained the pride it brings to march next to his son; an experience he wishes he had shared more of with his own father who served in the artillery during WWII. Read more.
National weather radar
National news
► On the eve of one of our nation’s most significant days, a retired serviceman wants Australia to get it right.
Shaun Buckney, from Brisbane, is the son of a soldier, his father having served in the Australian military for 32 years including time at Vietnam. Read more.
► Thousands have packed Martin Place for the Anzac Day dawn service, amid tightened security and a cloud of terrorism that appeared to have kept numbers below last year's crowds.
Thousands braved the dark to attend Tuesday's Anzac Day dawn service, marking 100 years since the worst losses of World War I when many families lost all of their sons within months, even days. Read more.
International news
Lance-Corporal Vivian George Taylor died in the aftermath of the battle of Le Hamel on July 5, 1918. Read more.
► FRANCE: Emmanuel Macron, the 39-year-old former banker who quit the Socialists for a remarkable tilt for France's presidency, has won the country's first-round vote, finishing just ahead of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
The French Interior Ministry's final figures for the vote showed Macron winning 23.75 per cent of the vote, with Le Pen on 21.5. Read more.
On this day | April 25
► 1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
► 1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
► 1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
► 1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
► 2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
Faces of Australia: Harvey Bawden
Harvey Bawden was still a teenager, just 18 years old, when he enlisted in the Air Force in 1942.
After completing training in Australia, the young man from Pyramid Hill was sent to England to serve with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command.
There, in 1944, he became a gunner in a crew of seven men – six Australians and one Englishman - who flew a Lancaster on bombing missions over Germany. Read more.
