ANZAC and the Sri Lankan Warriors
From L to R: Hirantha Ranasinghe (SLN), Uditha Liyanage (SLA), Viraj Lokupitiya (SLA), Kanaji Wijesekera (SLA), Maj. Gen.Milinda Peris (SLA – Presently serving as the vice Chancellor of the in KDU in Sri Lanka), Ranjith Gunasekera (Retd SSP-SLP), Kelum Udugepola (SLN), Col Rick Maher ( President RSL), Palitha Satharasinghe (SLAF) , Jayantha Pathikirikorale (SLAF) and Anton Swan (Hon Consul for SL in Qld).
This year too the members of Sri Lanka Ex Servicemen’s Association in Qld marched alongside the service personnel and members of Returned Servicemen’s League (RSL) at ANZAC Parade in Kenmore on 25 April 2023.
The traditional Shell Green 2020 T20 cricket match between the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s XI and the Army Team will follow at the Brookfield Showgrounds, Brookfield. At around 10:30 the umpires will inspect the pitch and ask the team Captains out to the middle for the traditional coin toss done with a Penny ‘two up’ style. 2 x armoured vehicles from the 2/14th Light Horse Regiment the Queensland Mounted Infantry will then traverse onto the field and hold ground at either end of the pitch. Mounted Light Horsemen from the Queensland Mounted Infantry Historical Troop (this year with 2 x members of a New Zealand Cavalry Historical Troop) will then lead a contingent of Pony Club members onto the field and deliver the game balls. This act recreates and symbolises the horse muster that took place on the ground site at the commencement of WW1. The local cricket mad Sri Lankan community provides catering to the event in commemoration of the part played in the ANZAC story by the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps (Tea Leaves). The Commander of the ANZAC Corps, General Birdwood, made 71 of these men his guard and personal escort. By the end of the Gallipoli campaign, only 10 remained. Famously, one of the ‘Tea Leaves’ refused a Commission offered by General Birdwood so that he could remain a cook. This same chap later catered Lord Birdwood’s visit to Sri Lanka some years later. Within a month or so the ANZACs used to boast they made “dinkum” Australians of the “Tea Leaves,” who, when away from the General, were to be seen attired as roughly as possible and unshaven, but with a perennial smile on their faces. The local Sri Lankan involvement in this game recognises those brave Sri Lankans who fought alongside the Australians and New Zealanders as fellow ANZACs. At the conclusion of the match, the Shield is awarded to the winning Captain by the Lord Mayor and the ‘Corporal Mathew Hopkins Player of the Match Award’ is presented to the ‘best on field’ by a member of Mathew Hopkins’ family. Player’s player awards will be presented by the Brookfield Historical Society and recognise the efforts of a member of each team as voted by members of the opposing team.
Courtesy: RSL Moggil Branch
Kind regards,
Jayantha
