“It is 99 years since the end of World War I,” the nine-year-old told the Bay Post after the 2017 Remembrance Day service at the Batemans Bay Honour Stone.

“We are remembering the people who died.”

Earlier, on the stroke of 11am, Nina had stopped in Batehaven for a minute’s silence, then proceeded to the Honour Stone, in search of “poppies and wreaths”.

Batemans Bay RSL Sub-branch did not disappoint, despite the turmoil engulfing the organisation’s NSW Branch.

Barred from fundraising due to the scandal at head office, Batemans Bay members distributed poppies free of charge.

After the service, Nina’s father Peter took time to explain to her the different wreaths which had been laid on the Honour Stone during the service.

Earlier, the Reverend Rod Slockee delivered a brief, but moving Welcome to Country address, asking the crowd to imagine the Clyde River in an earlier day, lined with Indigenous camp sites.

He opened and closed the service with prayers, calling for respect for the fallen and a plea for peace and universal respect, whatever our cultures and differences.

Sub-branch officials Brian Wheeler and Les Arnould both spoke and Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis and Eurobodalla Shire Council Mayor Liz Innes laid wreaths.

The Sing Australia Choir performed with conductor, Batemans Bay High School music teacher Kathie Harris, who also played The Last Post and Reveille. Rod Slockee played didgeridoo. 

Meanwhile, across the road, a shopper reported the normally busy supermarket too had stopped short at 11am, with customers standing quietly in the aisles.

Nina and her parents, Maggie and Peter, are spending the weekend in Long Beach. They are all looking forward to the end, in a few weeks, of the cancer treatment Maggie has been undergoing for several months.

Maggie wore a colourful scarf to the service – a gift from Nina.