Commemoration

Private R. Thompson, 2/2nd Battalion, of Sydney, NSW playing his bugle in Gaza village Palestine. (Negative by D. Parer). AWM 001189

Listen to a recording of the Rouse. Download

Bugler playing at the cenotaph in Bowral, NSW, 1999.
AWM 1999/52/07a

After the one minute silence, flags are raised from half mast to the masthead as the Rouse is sounded. Today it is associated with the Last Post at all military funerals, and at services of dedication and remembrance.

Since Roman times, bugles or horns had been used as signals to command soldiers on the battlefield and to regulate soldiers' days in barracks. The Reveille was a bright, cheerful call to rouse soldiers from their slumber, ready for duty; the call has also been adopted to conclude funeral services and remembrance services. It symbolises an awakening in a better world for the dead and "rouses" the living, their respects paid to the memory of their comrades, back to duty. The Rouse is a shorter bugle call, which, as its name suggests, was also used to call soldiers to their duties. Due to its much shorter length, the Rouse is most commonly used in conjunction with the Last Post at remembrance services. The exception is the Dawn Service, when the Reveille is played.