Lockie Gardner plays Last Post at six Anzac Day services

So, when the aspiring farm manager was asked to play The Last Post at half a dozen services near Bannockburn this year, he was "absolutely over the moon".

The 23-year-old Bachelor of Business Agriculture student was "dobbed in" by his college last month, leaving him just three weeks to rehearse for the ceremonies after not playing the trumpet for almost a year.

READ MORE:

Mr Gardner's family, who live in the small NSW town of Paterson in the Hunter Valley, posted the precious instrument via mail and before long, he was front and centre at several cenotaphs.

"I spent a lot of time when I was in high school doing music but I always had a passion for ag," he said.

"After I finished school, I'd only ever played it at two different ceremonies.

"So six was a lot but it was good because a lot of people enjoyed it and it was a way for me to give back to my community."

Mr Gardner said he practised the trumpet for five minutes a couple of times a day in the weeks leading up to the services.

"It's not too hard to play, but it's a bit of a difficult task when you don't play for the best part of the year and get asked to play on Anzac Day a few weeks out from the service," he said.

"It was a challenge I really enjoyed though."

Now living on campus at Marcus Oldham, Geelong, Mr Gardner grew up around both facets of music and agriculture.

His mother is a music teacher at the Hunter School of the Performing Arts, Newcastle, NSW, and his father works as an agronomist at Organic Crop Protectants.

After leaving high school, Mr Gardner worked as a ringer at Caldervale Station in Tambo, Queensland, shortly before he was appointed a role as the leading hand at the age of 21.

He then went on to become head stockman at the age of 22.

The property in central Queensland covered half a million acres.

"He was responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the stock camp, all records of cattle numbers and movement within the station and any jobs relating to that," Marcus Oldham deputy principal Elizabeth Gubbins said.

Ms Gubbins said she "dobbed in" Mr Gardner to play The Last Post on the trumpet at the Anzac Day services when she was talking to the president of the RSL which oversees the Bannockburn Teesdale, Shelford, and Inverleigh events.

"He's incredibly talented and was beautifully presented," she said.

Mr Gardner wore WWI and WWII medals from his great-grandfather and grandfather, respectively, during the performance.

"It was really emotional to see the people who came up and thanked him after his performance because of what Anzac Day means to these people," Ms Gubbins, who spent the day travelling with Mr Gardner, said.

"Many people had tears in their eyes."

He also played at the opening of the Inverleigh and Bannockburn football game in the Geelong & District Football League.

The close encounter meant Inverleigh won by four points.