SENIOR SCHOOL
2021 PREMIER’S ANZAC STUDENT TOUR
S
AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
t Mary’s students Lucy Lönnqvist (Year 12), Grace Hailes (Year 11) and Alana Gregory (Year 10) were afforded the incredible privilege of participating in the 2021 Premier’s Anzac Student Tour, a thoughtprovoking 11-day trip around Western Australia in commemoration of the Anzac legacy.
Belgium or Anzac Cove in Gallipoli to see reflections of the Anzac legacy, because they begin right here, on our own soil.”
From April 16 to 26, the girls and 11 other students from a mix of metropolitan and regional WA secondary schools travelled to Kununurra, Wyndham, Broome, Rottnest Island and Albany in a bid to better understand the Anzac legacy in the context of the State’s heritage. They visited a number of important historical sites during the tour, including the flying boat wrecks in Broome, the Oliver Hill battery and tunnels at Rottnest, and the Special Air Service Regiment Museum at Campbell Barracks.
“Listening to veterans who had fought share their experiences rehumanised the wartime experience for me. They spoke from the heart and the humility surrounding their work was something they seemed to all express.”
While the girls enjoyed all aspects of the tour, their highlights varied in large part due to personal experience. Lucy, a passionate historian, said the tour gave her a greater appreciation of WA’s wartime history. “While these tours typically venture overseas, I feel as though I benefitted from learning the history and heritage present in my own backyard. Learning our local history turns the grand patterns of historical change into concrete stories that tell the lives of individuals. We don’t need to visit Flanders Fields in
30 FIDELITER Senior School
Grace, who has four relatives who served as Anzacs, particularly enjoyed the group’s interaction with Special Air Service Regiment veterans at the Campbell Barracks.
For Alana, the tour’s stops at Rottnest Island and Albany were particularly poignant. Alana’s greatgreat grandfather, Wilhelm Asmus, was held on the Rottnest Island internment camp during WWI due to his German heritage; her great-uncle, Private John Alexander Latto, was killed in action while fighting in the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion; and her grandfather, Captain Roger Blazey, was conscripted to serve as an army psychologist in the Vietnam War. “My favourite part of the trip was being in Albany for Anzac Day. We were fortunate to attend the dawn service on top of Mt Clarence to commemorate those who have served Australia in war. Visiting Rottnest was also very significant for me because my great-great grandfather was a German prisoner on the island during WWI.”
