A group of about 50 Christians from several of the city’s churches heartily sang out Easter hymns and contemporary choruses as crisp morning winds blew off the foreshore.  

“Christians all over the world have in common the core belief in the same message that Jesus rose from the grave,” said pastor Ben Johnson, of the Presbyterian Church, who conducted the annual open-air service. “They put him on the cross, but it was impossible for death to hold him.”  Naringal Baptist Church also held a dawn service. 

Other church events around the region were well attended by regular congregation members and visitors for one of the most significant weekends on the Christian calendar which kicked off with services on Thursday evening and a combined churches prayer walk around the Warrnambool foreshore on Friday.