Spirit of the Anzac Prize 2019

Spirit of the Anzac Prize 2019 - Vietnam

Mustafa Muhammad, Year 9 Humanities student of 2018, was selected from thousands of entrants as a winner of the Victorian Government 2018 Spirit of Anzac Prize.  This prestigious prize offers 42 students from Year 9 and 10 the chance to attend an overseas or Canberra study tour to learn more about Australia's military history.  Mustafa’s entry won him a place in the 2019 study tour of Vietnam.  All staff at Rosehill Secondary College are very proud of this very significant achievement. Mustafa has written below about his experience. 

Danielle Murray

Humanities KLA

So, it’s been almost two weeks since I got back from Vietnam and Singapore on the 16th April. I really have to say, what an experience!  It was really a once in a lifetime trip, and I learnt so much from it. There is so much more you can learn from actually being in a certain place.  You can read about it all you want, but actually being there and experiencing what it’s like to stand there is indescribable.  It also helped massively that we had two Australian war veterans accompanying us along the journey.

We left on the 7th of April, spending eight nights across various cities in Vietnam. We went to the famed Ho Chi Minh City, history-loaded Hoi An and Vung Tau.  Along the way we visited various important battle sites and memorials, including Long Tan, Coral-Balmoral and the Cu Chi tunnels (which we got to crawl in).  We then spent a brief two days in Singapore, visiting World War II memorials, and the infamous battle-box at Fort Canning, where Percival singed the agreement to surrender the fort to the Japanese.  Every day was action packed and extremely eventful, with everyone gaining so much knowledge from the things we were doing.

Aside from the school-centred portion of the journey, it was also incredibly fun.  There are people I’ve met on this trip that I will talk to for the rest of my life.  I have memories with this group that I will treasure forever. On top of that, the staff and caterers were amazing as well. All of the staff members were kind and knowledgeable and having a chat with any one of them was always intriguing. As for the tour guide, well, he was just about the best you could ask for. He always had something to say and I learnt so many things about Vietnam I never would of if it weren’t for him.

Anyway, to sum up, the trip truly was life changing. I learned so many things and made so many friends. And all you have to do to win the competition is write a piece (or make an art-piece, entries are open to pretty much anything), so why not. I mean, you have to do it as an assignment anyway, so, might as well enter. The trip is really worth it, especially considering it was completely free."

Mustafa Muhammad

Year 10