JEWISH ex-servicemen will hold a separate ceremony on Anzac Day in Cairns after being told there was no place for a Jewish prayer on the official program.

Former Australian sailor Richard benSerai and former US Vietnam veteran Don Freeman are among local Jewish residents who will gather on the Esplanade on April 25 to recite the Kaddish, their religion's prayer for the dead.

Mr benSerai said he asked the Cairns RSL at its first Anzac Day preparation meeting in January for the prayer to be included in an ecumenical service, but was told that would not happen as none was planned for this year's event.

He said he then asked a Cairns Regional Council officer for the Kaddish to be part of the city's observance ceremony but was told there would be no religious element in that ceremony either.

"I phoned the council officer concerned again a few days ago and she told me again this was to be a secular day," Mr benSerai said.

"(But) it was not - it was Christian. The program contains 19th Century Christian hymns.

"If you are having a religious service on Anzac Day then be inclusive and allow priests, rabbis, imams and monks to represent the various faiths of individuals who fought and often gave their lives for this country.

"And if the indigenous ex-servicemen wished to do a smoking ceremony, that should also take place."

RSL national secretary Derek Robson said that while there were broad national guidelines, local Anzac Day services were in the hands of local branches.

Cairns RSL president Peter Turner said had Mr benSerai attended a second preparation meeting, a way for the prayer to be included could have been found.

"He was never told by the RSL that the prayer could not be accommodated," he said.

Mr Freeman, a well-known tourism identity and former owner of Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, said he fully acknowledged Australia's Christian heritage but in modern times all religions needed to be accommodated on Anzac Day.

"It is definitely not secular - it may have been 30 years ago but in this day and age it certainly is not," he said.

Mr Freeman said he "absolutely" would be part of the separate Jewish ceremony at the war memorial on the Esplanade, to be held from 2pm, after official Anzac ceremonies.

Cairns Mayor Val Schier, who will lead the city's observance ceremony, said the council and the RSL co-organised services across the region.

Asked if investigations would take place into the concerns of the Jewish servicemen, Cr Schier said she did not have enough information to comment.

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