Principal's Message

Welcome to Term 2 and the first of our newsletters this year.  Our newsletter is a great opportunity to reflect on our amazing community.  I encourage you to read our fortnightly newsletter and  bulletins.

Anzac Day

I would like to thank and congratulate all those who were involved in our Anzac Day Ceremony and the local ceremonies. We appreciate the support of our staff, students, parents and community members who made the commemoration special for us.  

I would particularly like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Brigadier Mansford, Sergeant David Kim, Sergeant Michael Troy, Mrs Margaret Marton, our musicians, choir and staff involved in the ceremony.  It was a heartfelt and moving commemoration of Anzac Day.

Anzac Day is a poignant and meaningful commemoration for so many Australians. We have gathered for over one hundred years on to honour the endurance, courage, adaptability, and sacrifice before self that shone on the beaches of the Gallipoli.  In particular, this year the Vietnam war fifty years ago.  We have heard at the assembly that this sense of service and sacrifice continues to live on where our soldiers are involved with conflict around the world.

Our deep connection with the ANZAC tradition is through the legacy passed down from those first ANZACS.  This tradition with ideals of mateship, endurance, courage, ingenuity and a larrikin sense of humour; all part of the ANZAC spirit which has contributed to our Australian identity. Each year we consider Anzac Day in the light of these ideals and balance our commemorations with the reality of war with its loss, destruction and trauma.  We use the rituals and symbols to reflect and remember an event that shapes our understanding of the significance of our freedoms.  The silence, the bugle call, the stories of sacrifice and acts of service, they all provide us with an outlet for deeply human feelings. Purely and simply, Anzac day prompts us to reflect on what it means to be of service.

We consider the significance and relevance of this legacy, this call to sacrifice and service, to those of us at St Mary’s, in 2023.  The spirit of the Anzac teaches us about sacrifice and service as a deeply sacred act of love.  Courage and selfless acts are reflective of Christ’s death and suffering.  Sacrifice is the cost of service.  Service is the gift of love of ourselves to another.   This service is the sacrifice we make that allows Christ to come alive through us, for us to be like Christ for others, to be the Christ who walks amongst us in our imperfect world.

At St Mary’s this year I have asked how do we show are love generously, I asked students and staff to consider how they love with abandon!  This love is shown in every interaction with others. As Brigadier Mansford said, we are together as one, an act of love and sacrifice - you can show you care by being together as one and caring for and about each other, however large or small; for nothing in return – except to give to another.  Nothing, except knowing that your one small act of love will come together with all the other small and large acts of love to make the world a better place. This aligns with the spirit of Anzac Brigadier Mansford spoke about "We are as one".   

So act with love, with generosity and with hope. It is hope that keeps our spirits up to make these sacrifices and to manage the challenges of our everyday human existence.  It is our hope and hope that creates a better world. 

God Bless

Kerry Manders

Principal