The ceremony hosted by the Bomaderry RSL Sub-Branch marked the 103rd anniversary of the end of World War I.

Local bugler Peter Williams played the Last Post and Reveille, with the assembled crowd observing the traditional minute's silence at 11am.

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The catafalque party was provided by personnel from HMAS Albatross, while representatives of TS Shoalhaven Navy Cadets and 330 (City of Shoalhaven) Air Force cadets were also present, as was a large contingent of local veterans across a wide variety of conflicts.

Commanding Officer of HMAS Albatross, Captain Robyn Phillips gave the commemorative address, talking about the importance of Remembrance Day.

"We are here today to remember those we have lost in war," Capt Phillips said.

"Armistice Day was conceived in 1920 by an Australian journalist in London, as a day when bereaved families across the British Empire, who had lost members in the First World War, could be acknowledged by their whole community.

"Their daily grief was shared and carried by the whole of Australia on the anniversary of the day the Great War ended."

After the Second World War, November 11 became Remembrance Day, Capt Phillips said.

"It served the same purpose, to recall to mind our honoured dead and support bereaved and grieving families," she said.

"It has evolved into a day where we reflect on the scale of the sacrifice that was made by all Australian men and women who have lost their lives in the defence of the values we hold dear."

Capt Phillips also commented how Friday, November 19 would mark the 80th anniversary of the single most grievous loss of life suffered by the Royal Australian Navy in one day.

The loss of the light cruiser HMAS Sydney in battle with the German raider Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia.

"Sydney's total ships' company of 645 men lost their lives after a short, sharp, close quarters battle, and their battled damaged ship sank," Capt Phillips said,

"The pain and grief across Australia by the families of the crews was intense and made even more difficult to bear through decades of uncertainty as to what had actually happened?"

Some of those questions were partly answered when the Sydney's wreck was discovered in 2008 and with the extent of the damage the vessel suffered was revealed.

The moving service concluded with representatives of various local ex-service groups and community organisations laying wreaths.

Lest We Forget.

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