Captains Corner
On the 5th of May, the Year 6 House and School Captains, Mrs Scully and Ms McNamara went to the Shrine of Remembrance for the Melbourne Legacy's ANZAC Commemoration Ceremony for Students. We met at Glen Waverley Train Station and caught a train to Flinders Street Station. From there we proceeded to walk to the Shrine of Remembrance and wait until the ceremony took place. The Melbourne Legacy’s ANZAC Commemoration is one of Victoria’s longest running youth remembrance events, held annually at the Shrine of Remembrance to educate students on the ANZAC spirit. This year the 94th annual ceremony brought together thousands of Victorian students for the memorial service, wreath-laying, and honouring service sacrifices.
There were over 3,450 students attending on that day. There were also multiple speakers including Lieutenant-Governor Professor James Angus, Brigadier Michelle McCormack (Australian Army veteran with over 30 years of service), and Melbourne Legacy President Legatee Michael Annett, all of whom delivered engaging speeches about the ANZAC’s and honouring the soldiers who have fought in war. We also heard from Ajay Sonti, winner of the National Legacy Junior Public Speaking Competition, who presented his award-winning speech, Listen to Remember. Ajay’s speech was an engaging tribute to the importance of listening in the act of remembrance. He included some funny jokes but told a very heartfelt story about listening to our elders and their stories.
CAPTAINS REFLECTIONS:
Maya - We went to the Shrine of Remembrance for the ANZAC Commemoration Ceremony on the 5th of May. It was a fun experience that I learned a lot from. On the way when we were walking to the Shrine of Remembrance, we stopped at a police memorial that had plaques with all the police officers’ names that sacrificed their life to the job, it was quite sad how many names there were, with the youngest being aged 21. We looked around for a bit before continuing walking. When we got there, we took our seats and waited for the ceremony to start. I was really excited about this opportunity to learn more about ANZAC Day. The speeches were all SUPER interesting. There was also Melbourne High Boy’s School Band and Mac.Robertson Girls' High School Choir. They played the national anthem and Waltzing Matilda.
Keitarou - Our trip started when we were at the train station where everyone all met. We took the 9:20 train which took us to the city. The School Captains and House Captains walked our way to the Shrine of Remembrance where we stopped at a police shrine. The police shrine was for the police that had died while doing their job as a police. We read the names on the stone that went all the way up to around the 1970’s. When we arrived at the front desk of the Shrine of Remembrance they gave us a badge and a booklet on what they were talking about during the ceremony. I took my spot in a chair where I made a new friend from another school in front of us. At the end of the ceremony we walked and looked around the Shrine of Remembrance. We finally walked back to the Flinders Street Train station where we took the train back to Glen Waverley train station and our parents picked us up.
Aradhya - On the fifth of May at the Shrine of Remembrance in the city, me and Waratah House Captain, Zoe, laid a beautiful wreath made by 6S in front of the Eternal Flame. The flame is a continuously burning, natural gas-fed flame symbolizing eternal life and remembrance for those who served in war. Ignited in 1954 by Queen Elizabeth II, it is located on the Second World War Memorial Forecourt. I also had the honor and opportunity to meet and talk to Lieutenant Governor Professor James Angus. Even before he came over, I was saying how cool it would be if he came over and he did! I felt so nervous, he asked me: What school and where we came were from? If it was our first time here and what I wanted to be once I grew up?
Minul – I would like to take this opportunity to tell you what I enjoyed the most on our trip to the ANZAC Shrine of Remembrance Ceremony for Students. The walk there had many new things we had never seen before such as a police remembrance shrine a bit like the shrine we went to. When we looked at it, it showed us about the men and woman that had sadly died in the line of duty. When we arrived at the shrine, we saw many primary and secondary students and their teachers that had come to the event. After a bit we got up to a point where a young speaker came up and it wasn’t long until they told us that this student was the winner of the Melbourne Legacy public speaking competition, he gave us his winning speech (which included a few great jokes).
