National Anzac Day Services in Canberra          

Recently, we embarked on a trip to Canberra as part of our roles as the Mount Alvernia 2025 RSL Student liaison. After arriving in Canberra, we visited Old Parliament House where we engaged in a practice debate in the Senate and learnt about democracy. We also visited the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial where we attended the Last Post Ceremony, which was one of my highlights of the trip as it was extremely moving. On our second day we travelled to the Royal Australian Mint, the National Film and Sound Archives, the High Court of Australia and the National Capital Exhibition. We ended our day by participating in a walking tour of the memorials along ANZAC parade. 

The next day we explored New Parliament House, learnt about the process of voting at the National Electoral Education Centre and visited Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre. Our last activities of the trip included a tour past the embassies and finally, visiting Mount Ainslie which provided amazing views of all the destinations in Canberra which we had explored.

The primary purpose of the trip was to attend ANZAC services. The first of these was the last post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial which we attended on day one, and a wreath was laid on behalf of the Kedron-Wavell RSL sub-branch. Other services we attended consisted of the Dawn Service at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the National Service and march at the Australian War Memorial. During these services we were lucky enough to have amazing weather, and it was incredible to be able reflect on the sacrifice and courage of ANZACS at such an important place.

We were also delighted to have two veterans, Pat (WAAF) and Collin (Navy) from the RSL join us for our trip. Having them with us made the experience just that little bit more special. We will never forget the stories of their service and memories they shared with us. We are so very thankful for them travelling with us and look forward to seeing them at the RSL soon.