Principal's Message
ANZAC Day
The nuance of our ‘annually shifting’ calendar means that significant days such as ANZAC Day (25 April) can fall within term time or, on occasion, during the term break holidays. This year, ANZAC Day was scheduled for the first Saturday of Term 2. In seeking to honour and respectfully commemorate this special occasion, PSA Sport brought all senior school fixtures forward to the Friday, effectively scheduling all Middle School and Senior School games across many venues throughout a very busy day. At all venues, ANZAC Day Memorial services were held. I was present at our Waterford Playing Fields last Friday and witnessed our students, joined by staff, coaches and parents, give wonderful reverence and solemn respect during the simple ceremony. Our boys deserve much praise for the way they sincerely commemorated all service men and women.
The ‘ANZAC tradition’ - the ideals of courage, endurance and true mateship - was established on 25 April 1915, when Australian and New Zealand troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The long campaign lasted eight months and resulted in some 25,000 Australian casualties, including nearly 9000 who were killed or died of disease shortly after. Many of these men were only teenagers, some as young as 16, and some, as our College’s rich history will attest to, were actually students from this school. The Honour Boards in the Trinity College Chapel commemorate our Old Boys who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The names of 139 young men lost in WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War are situated within the most sacred space in our College, and the spirit of our Old Boys is honoured each time we gather in the Chapel in prayer and reflection.
Every year we gather on ANZAC Day, not to celebrate war, but rather to remember those who have served our country during conflict and crisis. We remember those who are currently deployed overseas, we remember those who have recently served our country, and we respectfully look back on those many thousands who have served our country as part of our relatively short history. We remember too, those on the home front – the contributions and sacrifice of family and loved ones was, and still is, of no lesser service.
ANZAC day is not merely a date on the calendar, but rather it gives reference to a sense of spirit- on the qualities of past generations of Australians who in hardship displayed courage, discipline, self-sacrifice, self-reliance, mateship and had the conviction to do what is right. As individuals, we could all do with some of these ANZAC qualities and commemorating ANZAC day allows us to reflect and draw upon such values. I believe that this is what the ANZAC spirit asks of us, both on ANZAC Day and, in fact every day. It is as much about what it challenges us to do in our lives and relationships today as it is a commemoration of battles past. I believe that ANZAC Day asks us to examine those very values that our servicemen, past and present, intrinsically believed in and fought for.
That is:
a spirit of service before self
of being in real community, where we genuinely look out for each other
in retaining an abiding sense of honesty and being genuine in our dealings with others
a sense of individual and group responsibility
a commitment to cohesive and loving families being at the core of a just and caring society
and an absolute conviction that the basis of justice for all can be found in sound morals and the Gospel Values that we look to follow at our College.
In acknowledging and honouring our service men and women, I trust that we continue to appreciate their service and seek to follow their example. I hope and pray that we can all be instilled with some of their qualities.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
L Binyon
Lest we forget.
Live Jesus in our hearts.
Mr Darren O’Neill
Principal