Richmond is pleased to announce that Lieutenant Colonel Garth Callender will light this year’s cauldron during the Anzac Day Eve pre-game ceremony prior to the Round 7 match against Melbourne.
Each year that it is Richmond’s home game, the Club invites a distinguished Australian to light the cauldron in honour of their service and to represent those others that have served the country.
Callander served the Australian Army with distinction over 25 years in combat intelligence, training, and strategic roles.
He was one of the first casualties medically evacuated out of Iraq when hit by a roadside bomb in 2004.
Callender bravely returned to Iraq in 2006 as second-in-command of the Australian Army’s detachment in Baghdad.
Determined to prevent the kind of bomb attacks that left him scarred, he volunteered again in 2009 to lead a weapons intelligence team in Afghanistan.
Callender’s military deployments and recovery from the attack in Baghdad was chronicled in his book After the Blast.
Having lived and managed some of the most extreme crises across the globe, Callender has gone on to excel in high-profile public and private sector roles.
As CEO of Bravery Trust, Callender provides leadership to the nationally operated charity that assists veterans recovering from financial hardship.
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