Bright RSL centenary to be marked with Freedom of Entry parade

The service personnel from the 4^th/19^th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment will be in the Ovens Valley town to be granted Freedom of Entry by Alpine Shire Council.

The symbolic right is the highest honour that can be conferred on a military unit and was granted to the same regiment at Beechworth by Indigo Council in 2001.

This time it will see members of the Melbourne-based regiment, which once had squadrons in the North East and came to the aid of bushfire-hit Alpine areas in 2019-20, parade through Bright on Saturday, October 28.

Commencing at 11am, it will head along Bakers Gully Road into Ireland Street to be greeted by police before proceeding to the cenotaph where the regiment's leader will be presented with a scroll from the mayor John Forsyth.

"It will be massive, the streets will be closed down," Bright RSL sub-branch president Phil Keeghan said.

"It's something the township will never see again, these things don't happen every day of the week."

Alpine Council formally approved the granting of Freedom of Entry at its last meeting.

It followed an initial conversation in 2022 between a sub-branch member and then Alpine mayor Sarah Nicholas before a formal offer was sent to the regiment by her successor Cr Forsyth in April 2023 and accepted in July.

In speaking on the matter at the council meeting, Cr Nicholas said she was really excited about the ritual and expected it would add to a big day in the region with the Myrtleford Show being held on the same date.

"To me they're complementary, rather than conflicting because of the timing," Cr Nicholas said.

Councillor Ron Janus suggested a delegation could attend the show.

"Being the show that day, there would be a number of horse people that would welcome their presence on that day, so I would appeal to their sense of mateship there as the first Anzacs, to perhaps consider Myrtleford," Cr Janus said.

However, Mr Keeghan said that would not be possible because of the logistics involved.

He said the regiment would have an open field day at Bright's Pioneer Park on the Sunday and On the Home Front, a play inspired by World War I letters would be performed at the Bright Court House on the Saturday.

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