WA students and Premier leave on inaugural ANZAC commemoration tour

20/4/04
Premier Geoff Gallop, together with 12 young Western Australian students, will fly out from Perth tomorrow to attend ANZAC Day commemorations in France and the United Kingdom.
The inaugural Government-sponsored trip is part of the Government's commitment to enshrining ANZAC Day as a day of primary importance to all Western Australians.
Two highlights of the tour will be on April 25, when the students and Dr Gallop attend the first dawn service to be held at the new Australian memorial in London's Hyde Park, followed by a commemoration service at Westminster Abbey.
The following day they will visit 10 Downing Street.
Before going to England, the students and Dr Gallop will tour significant Australian battlefields and memorials in France.
The group will visit Australian battlefields including Pozieres, Le Hamel, Fromelles and Villers Bretonneux, where many thousands of Australian soldiers died in World War I.
"Indeed, there are more Australians buried in Australian cemeteries around these villages than in any other part of the world outside Australia," Dr Gallop said.
The Premier will deliver the keynote address at the Australian War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux on April 24.
Dr Gallop said the student tour, which would be held each year until the Gallipoli centenary in 2015, would help keep the ANZAC flame alive.
"The ANZACs wrote themselves into the imagination and history of our nation," he said.
"They taught us priceless lessons about courage, resilience, self-belief and mateship.
"By participating in this annual pilgrimage, students will be able to develop a greater understanding of these core qualities and the real significance of ANZAC Day.
"They will gain an appreciation of why it is so important that we keep these core qualities alive in our society - perhaps now more than ever before."
Students who were chosen for the trip demonstrated a strong interest in, and knowledge about, the ANZAC experience, WA's connection to it and the State's military history in the 20th century.
They prepared a short speech on the topic: 'What is the ANZAC spirit and what does it means to you?'
Students were also required to know of the positive values exhibited in times of war, the lessons of war for the current generation and the importance of international peacekeeping processes and non-violent means of resolving conflict.
The 12 students who will travel with the Premier are:
Sarah Scaife, Year 8, Iona Presentation College
Timothy Grimes, Year 8, John Curtin College of the Arts
Meagan Pillinger, Year 8, Perth College
Danielle Williams, Year 10, Cecil Andrews Senior High School
Tegan Sullivan, Year 9, Narrogin Senior High School
Jon Tiller, Year 10, Merredin Senior High School
Aaron Porebski, Year 10, St Joseph's College, Albany
Edward Robinson, Year 12, Morley Senior High School
Joshua Caddy, Year 12, Hale School
Brock Tucker, Year 12, Sevenoaks Senior College
Melanie Kerrigan, Year 12, Geraldton Senior College
Megan Harrod, Year 12, Northam Senior High School.
The teacher chaperones are: