Student News

Music Camp

Anzac Day 2023

In beautiful weather, the crowd respectfully remembered the legacy of the ANZAC campaign and the sacrifices made to contribute to the Australia we live in today. Callum and Ellie reflected on the Vietnam conflict and the lack of recognition of the armed services on their return. Lizzy and Nicholas laid a wreath on behalf of the school and Connor played a part in the catafalque party.

Anzac Day Speech 2023

Ellie: Thank you for inviting Mount Beauty Secondary College to speak at the ANZAC day service for 2023. We are honoured to be able to represent our school today.

Callum and I would like to reflect upon Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. From 1962 to 1973, more than 60,000 Australians served in the Vietnam War and were part of an allied force led by the United States of America. Australia fought alongside South Vietnamese Government troops against the Vietcong (Vee-Et-Cong), a communist-led insurgent force supported by the North Vietnamese Army.

Australia withdrew the last of the troops on the 11th of January 1973. In this 11-year period more than 500 Australian soldiers were killed and over 2,400 were injured. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dispute in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors, and protesters were fined or jailed, while soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home.The Soldiers weren’t met with gratitude and recognition. Instead, they met protests and movements against them. Against them fighting in a war rich with blood, horror and trauma that would scar them for life. A war, many did not want to fight in.

 Callum: In March I was listening to a podcast, the topic wasn’t primarily about war. But there was a small anecdote about a young secondary school teacher who was conscripted as part of the national service scheme to fight in the Vietnam War. Rationally, he refused to go to war, and as such ended up in jail. The National Service Scheme operated from November 1964 to December 1972. It was based on a birthday ballot of 20-year-old men who had registered with the Department of Labour and National Service. Those chosen by ballot were called upon to perform two years' continuous full-time service in the Regular Army Supplement, followed by three years' part-time service in the Regular Army Reserve. The scheme was designed to create an army of 40,000 full-time soldiers.

This got me thinking, would I have been in a similar position if I were born during this era?As it turns out myself and 5 of my male peers in our year level would have been conscripted as part of the 1st or 2nd Transport Platoon of the Royal Australian Army Service Corps. That is 33% of male students in year 12 at Mount Beauty Secondary College this year.

As our peers and I beginning to turn 18, we are becoming ever more grateful of the country that we live in today. Hopefully, we will never have to face the prospect of conscription and the feeling of sheer horror and fear that we could only imagine.

Ellie would now like to read a poem called ‘welcome home... and then’, written by John Hunter of the D Company, 2nd Tour of Vietnam, which presents the emotions felt by soldiers on their return home to Australia.

WELCOME HOME ... AND THEN

And Then.....There were those who didn't survive, who'd laid down their lives, so we could survive.

And Then.....It was over, and we were going home.

And Then.....We'll break up and be on our own.

And Then.....Off the ship at Circular Key, good old Aussie, the place to be.

And Then.....The march, what a glorious sight.

And Then.....The protest, all full of spite.

And Then.....There'll be us who'll just want to forget.

And Then.....There'll be us who'll never forget.

And Then.....One day we'll all meet again.

And Then.....We'll be older, those who remain.

And Then.....We'll rejoice together at last.

And Then.....Just maybe, we can slowly, but slowly forget the past.

And Then.....We've paid our dues, we've been to Hell, only wished the rest of you had been there as well.

And Then.....I can assure you, without any doubt, that you who condemned us, would have learned what Vietnam was all about.

Australian Vietnam ForcesNational Memorial and Dedication, Canberra, A.C.T. 3rd of October 1992.

And Then.....We the survivors have gathered once more. In this 'Place of Honour', to honour our fallen. And to tell them, they will never be forgotten.

We Will Remember Them.

Callum: The song ‘I was only nineteen’ written by John Schumann and performed by Redgum presents another soldier’s experience of war, and reflects on attitudes towards Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict. This song helped many Australians better appreciate the plight of soldiers that returned from conflict. The line "It was a war within yourself" describes the personal battle of life and death that soldiers endured during the War, that at any moment they could die or be severely injured. This must have been a terrifying thought. 

Today, we remember and honour the service and sacrifice of our veterans who served in Vietnam, as well as all the conflicts proceeding and after this war.  We acknowledge the complexity of the war and the impact it had on our society. We also recognise the valuable lessons learned from this chapter in our history, as we strive to be a nation that embraces peaceful diplomacy, values the diversity of opinions, and upholds the principles of democracy. 

Thank you.