{"id":624804,"date":"2026-04-23T02:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624804\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:30:21","slug":"bugler-plays-in-more-than-100-cemeteries-to-be-pitch-perfect-for-anzac-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624804\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugler plays in more than 100 cemeteries to be pitch perfect for Anzac Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the foot of the Snowy Mountains on a cool, drizzly day, the stillness at Tumut cemetery is cut by the sound of a familiar and stirring tune.<\/p>\n

Bugler Adam Farquharson is serenading the graves of veterans with the Last Post \u2014 something he does at a different grave, every day.<\/p>\n

Despite playing the song thousands of times, Adam still gets nervous every Anzac Day, when he is asked to play.<\/p>\n

“Without a lie \u2014 you don’t really know how it’s going to go until you finish,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s big pressure, and to get it right I practise every day.”\"Man<\/p>\n

Adam Farquharson has practised the bugle every day in preparation for Anzac Day. (ABC Riverina: Jess Scully)<\/p>\n

Each day, Adam heads to a graveyard and walks through looking for a serviceman or woman’s grave \u2014 usually marked with a white headstone or bronze plate.<\/p>\n

He then plays the Last Post, recites the Ode of Remembrance, then plays The Rouse or Reveille.<\/p>\n

“It says ‘Lest We Forget’ on the bottom of the headstone, and at least I’m not going to forget,” Adam said.<\/p>\n

He also places a small rock, painted with a poppy by Adam and his daughters as a memento, onto the grave.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Adam leaves a pebble painted with a poppy on the graves he has played the bugle for. (ABC Riverina: Jess Scully)<\/p>\n

Family duty<\/p>\n

Adam’s father and grandfathers served in the armed forces. Being able to honour other people’s loved ones is a responsibility Adam does not take lightly.<\/p>\n

“It was absolutely terrifying being able to play The Last Post at my dad’s, and both my grandfathers’, funerals,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a big honour to be able to do that for other families in the RSL here.”<\/p>\n

\"Hand<\/p>\n

Adam feels the pressure of playing The Last Post perfectly each Anzac Day and at other military events, but also the honour. (ABC Riverina: Jess Scully)<\/p>\n

Adam’s father, Brett Farquharson, was a cook in the army and served in Nui Dat.<\/p>\n

His father’s father, Charles Farquharson, was a lance sergeant and his maternal grandfather Everard James Earl was a captain in the army.<\/p>\n

When visiting a new cemetery, he will pick a grave at random to play for, and record it in a spreadsheet he uses to keep track.<\/p>\n

“When you look up their records, you do feel closer to them, [they become] a person rather than a headstone” he said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes graves will be mossy or overgrown or weathered with holes.<\/p>\n

“Most of the service graves have got rocks on them and there might be holes there,” Adam said.<\/p>\n

“To make them look a bit better, I’ve made myself some screens to screen the rocks out to get rid of the organic matter and the lichen and the moss.”<\/p>\n

\"rows<\/p>\n

Many military graves are marked with a rising sun, by a white headstone or bronze plaque, but others can be harder to identify. (ABC Riverina Jess Scully)<\/p>\n

Usually a trumpet player, Adam said he mainly played the bugle in school but picked it up again as an adult, with a sense of duty.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know whether I was even asked, [the local RSL] said: ‘Robin’s retired, we need a bugler.'” he said.<\/p>\n

“Every trumpeter is at risk of becoming a bugle player.”<\/p>\n

Once he realised his role at Anzac Day, Remembrance Day and military funerals, Adam created a yearly ritual where he would play the bugle in the cemetery every day between Australia Day and Anzac Day.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Adam’s bugle, with his grandfather’s slouch hat and beret. (ABC Riverina: Jess Scully)<\/p>\n

“In 2024, I did the same thing. Came up to the cemetery every day to practice after work, [but] once it came to Anzac Day, I thought, why stop?” he said.<\/p>\n

Since then every day of the year in the rain, hail, or shine, Adam has played at 104 different cemeteries around the country as far north as Darwin.<\/p>\n

Even away from home, he takes the bugle and responsibility with him.<\/p>\n

This Anzac Day, Adam will have played for 819 days in a row.<\/p>\n

“These people gave a lot, so it’s giving back and making sure that they are remembered.”\"Old<\/p>\n

Adam’s father and grandfathers were veterans, including Jim Earl (top right) who was a captain in the army. (ABC Riverina: Jess Scully)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the foot of the Snowy Mountains on a cool, drizzly day, the stillness at Tumut cemetery is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[302680,85102,64,63,302678,134,302679,115037,59221,36106,6900],"class_list":{"0":"post-624804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-adam-farquharson","9":"tag-anzac-day","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-bugler","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-last-post","15":"tag-rsl","16":"tag-tumut","17":"tag-veterans","18":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}