Several hundred people gathered at the cenotaph for a Remembrance Day service commemorating the end of World War One and honouring the sacrifice of ex-servicemen and women in all the wars that followed.

Shaun Wilson, captain of Hastings Secondary College Port Macquarie campus, delivered the official address.

He said the lives lost in war and the important legacy left behind has shaped our nation.

“When the guns fell silent 98 years ago the world spoke once again. A new era of optimism, upheaval and change swept the world. With this change came new ideas, nations and nationalisms.

“The world felt the blasts of the Great War but the impact on the individual is far more powerful than any artillery barrage.

“This is a day dedicated to the sacrifices of soldiers of World War One.

“On this day we do not quarrel over beliefs or opinion, we do not quarrel over race or creed.

“On this day we remember something greater than ourselves.

“It is our responsibility, our privilege as great citizens of this country to uphold the values of the RSL .

“We as young people we are destined to carry the flames of service, duty and sacrifice into the future.

“It is how we are defined as a generation by the way in which we carry this flame.”

School and community groups, community leaders and ex-servicemen and women laid wreaths beneath the cenotaph.