The man behind the sound was bugler Peter Williams, who has been playing the instrument since he was just seven years old.

Now 83, Mr Williams has 76 years of practice up his sleeve and travels the Shoalhaven to play at memorial services and Anzac Day events throughout the year. 

“I do 18 Anzac Day services,” he said. 

“I do all the school and churches in Nowra and on Anzac Day I do the dawn service in the morning, then race up to the Catholic Church for the mass, before I head back for the main service. Sometimes, I do a fourth.”

When asked how he fit it all in, Mr Williams said “with great difficulty”.

The instrument “plays itself”, he says. 

“I don’t practice. I have been doing it for so long,” Mr Williams said. 

“I started playing in brass bands when I was seven and I took to the bugle.” 

The bugle Mr Williams plays has been in his possession for 60 years, but is almost 120 years old. 

“I bought it from a collector,” he explained. 

“It’s from 1899 from the Boer War. I checked up with the National War Memorial and they confirmed it.”

The piece of history will eventually be passed onto his 17-year-old grandson, who has also learnt to play the bugle. 

“He will get this,” Mr Williams said. 

“He plays at services as well.”

Although a tuba player at heart, Mr Williams said the bugle held a special place in his heart because he is an ex Army serviceman. 

“I just pull it out for Anzac Days and memorial services,” he said. 

“I do love it. My father passed on the love of music to me and I passed to down the generations.”