The crew of the HMAS Benalla (II) were welcomed into the rural city for which it was named at a special Freedom of the City ceremony and parade.
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A procession of 45 Navy personnel joined the Royal Australian Navy Band to march along Bridge St on Tuesday morning.
Freedom of Entry to the City ceremonies date back to medieval times where a neighbouring armed force was granted freedom to enter a city’s walls while carrying weapons as a sign of mutual trust and respect.
The Royal Australian Navy, since its formation, has upheld the tradition of Freedom of Entry ceremonies as a march through a Ships’ namesake City or township with weapons drawn, band playing and flags flying.
Crew of HMAS Benalla (II), which was commissioned on March 20, 1990, flew down from Cairns for the event.
Captain and Commanding officer of HMAS Benalla, Adrian Eddy, said that coming down to Benalla and being accepted and welcomed was ‘‘phenomenal’’.
‘‘It’s 15 year since the last time the crew of HMAS Benalla visited, and this parade has been 18 months in the making,’’ Capt Eddy said.
‘‘When I took over I wanted to make sure we got the ship’s company down here to reignite the community spirit with namesake city.
‘‘You can appreciate that it’s a tight bond, but a lot of the time people don’t see that from the outside. So we want to make sure we continue this tradition.
Capt Eddy said preparations have been thorough and he was happy with how the ceremony and parade went.
‘‘Preparing for the event takes a while, obviously we need to march, but there’s a lot of moving parts to a ceremony like this,’’ Capt Eddy said.
‘‘The Band have come up from Frankston. We’ve all come down from Cairns. So to get it all right on the day takes some planning.’’
Mayor Cr Scott Upston welcomed the crew to Benalla and spoke of the importance of a Freedom of the City Ceremony.
‘‘I’ve been fortunate in my lifetime to do some fantastic things and this matches up there with my operational service and my time at the London Paralympics,’’ Cr Upston said.
‘‘To receive the salute on behalf of Benalla Rural City as Mayor I’m just blessed, it blows me away.
‘‘I think its important for us as a community to continue our links through our military customs and traditions, and Freedom of Entry is one of those.
‘‘IT allows us to honour those current serving men and women and also acknowledge those who served previously in our community.
The crew fly out of Melbourne tomorrow morning heading back up to Cairns.
‘‘We’ll prep the ship to sail and then we are going overseas as part of the enhanced regional engagement program which is with our regional security partners PNG and the Solomon Islands,’’ Capt Eddy said.
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