It was an Anzac Day dawn like no other in Mount Isa and across Australia and New Zealand this morning.
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With all official mass gatherings cancelled due to COVID-19, people were encouraged to stand on their doorstep and "light up the dawn" while listening to or watching the ABC broadcast of the national service in Canberra to which the public was not invited.
A handful of people attended the Mount Isa cenotaph while most commemorated at home.
Bluey Johnston would normally have attended the cenotaph but today stood outside his home with a candle to commemorate his father who served in the Second World War and was interned by the Japanese at Changi.
"My father came home and died aged 71," Bluey said.
"He was one of the lucky ones."
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Lesley-Ann Peterson was also on her porch at 6am but prior to that came into town to light up her shopfront in Miles St in an Anzac Day tribute designed by a friend and which included a lone poppy with the name of a soldier Arthur Waters Barratt who was killed on the Western Front in 1916
She said she did that in honour of all servicemen and women especially her son who was in the forces.
Meanmwhile the Wainwright family kept their own candlelight vigil at home instead of attending the cenotaph as they would normally do.
Rachel and Ian Wainwright and their daughter Casely were honouring Rachel's pop Colin Toddly who served in the RAAF
Members of the Mount Isa Police also had their own flag raising ceremony outside the station while listening to the ABC broadcast.
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