The Mercury sponsored five local students to tell readers of their experience in Turkey attending the dawn service at Anzac Cove. Here is what they had to say.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jack Olive
After a memorable day paying our respects at the dawn service in Gelibolu, we turned our attention to another significant event, the Anzac Centennial Ball in Istanbul.
After days in joggers, touring the battlefields, it was nice to get dressed up.
The girls wore exquisite dresses designed and made by Hunter Valley TAFE students and the boys wore dinner suits.
Photos were taken and yet again we felt a sense of excitement and anticipation ahead of the next major event on our tour schedule.
The Anzac Centenary Ball was not only a celebration, but a commemoration because in the midst of all the awards, music and dancing, we were reminded of the sacrifice and the true reason that we were on this journey.
A highlight of the night was when a boy from Barker College gave a speech that examined the well-used phrase of “Anzac spirit” and what aspects of it were true.
Almost everyone in the room questioned his confronting thesis, but the longer he spoke the more we questioned ourselves.
His presentation highlighted examples of bravery, valour and mateship that the Anzacs went through at Gallipoli.
After some further presentations, we still found time for fun.
For someone who isn’t a big dancer in public, it was exhilarating to use our pre-practised dance moves during the live music of the Barker College band.
We all agreed that there couldn’t have been a better way to end such an emotional and life-changing journey.
Scarlett Budden
The day following Anzac Day, members of the Hunter Valley Gallipoli tour group dressed in our finest attire to attend the Anzac Centennial Ball.
This was an exciting night and held great significance for us as it was another way for us to remember why we had come.
Throughout the night, there was a sense of celebration as we enjoyed special music from the Barker College band and some dancing.
During the night, several people spoke of their experiences from the past few days, reminding us of the mateship, bravery and sacrifice we had learnt about throughout the week.
The speech that stood out to me the most during the night was one about the Anzac spirit presented by a student from Barker College.
Throughout this address, he investigated the particular traits that the Anzacs showed at Gallipoli to determine whether or not the legend of Anzac was indeed correct.
He spoke of specific events and the actions shown by many involved in the conflicts at Gallipoli and throughout World War I.
This speech helped many of the group to once again realise the purpose of our trip and remember all of the men who we had come here to honour.
In my opinion, this ball was a fitting celebration for such a historical important event.
Lauren Wood
Looking out the window and watching the sea and islands roll by makes me think of how fast this trip has gone.
This trip has been a journey full of laughter, tears, learning, and connecting with our nation’s incredible war history and its soldiers on a more personal level.
It has also led to a great deal of growth for us as individuals and as a group.
The most significant moment of this tour would be having the privilege to visit my
great-great-uncle, Sydney Sawtell, and pay my respects to him at Lone Pine.
Here, at his grave, I delivered a letter to him telling him who I was and why I had come.
I also wanted him to know of the family back home who remembered his sacrifice.
Another significant moment was when we went to The Nek and stood in the middle of no-man’s land, an area only 40 metres wide, and a mass grave of Australian soldiers.
These men, each with their own story, numbered over 300 and laid unnoticed for five years after their horrific and futile deaths.
Later, as I was walking through the maze of trenches still evident on the peninsula, I became aware that I was following in the footsteps of the soldiers who were there.
The space I was in once contained many different souls - men of differing nationality, faith, ages, experience and rank.
Despite these differences, all had families they had left behind and the horrific reality of staring death in the face.
So many men, from both sides, who lost their futures.
As I walked through these eroded trenches, I tried to imagine myself in the shoes of those brave fathers, sons and brothers, and I don’t know how I would have reacted.
I have been having a constant battle in my head over the past few days about my feelings toward Turkey. On one hand this country was our enemy, but at the same time we were invading their country.
While they killed my great-great-uncle, I wonder how many uncles, brothers, fathers and friends were killed on their side.
One hundred years ago, the thing we had in common was that we were at war. Now we share a common goal of peace and forgiveness.
The universality of the words from Luke 6:37 remind me that to forgive is to be forgiven. Then peace can be our ultimate goal.
Adam Robinson
This Hunter Valley Combined Schools Tour has taught me a lot about the values and traits of mateship.
On this tour, it didn’t matter where you were from or what rivalries came from each school, but what did matter was our common purpose.
That purpose was to honour and respect all those who had came before us, whether it be Allied forces such as our own Anzacs or, as we’ve come to realise, the Turkish forces who also lost much.
We were there so that we, as the next generation, will never forget what happened before us.
We will never forget that war is no thing of glamour, nor is it a thing to glamorise. The majority of the people who died in the Great War were sons, brothers, uncles and fathers.
We cannot forget what we lost nor can we grow complacent and repeat humanity’s greatest mistakes.
The students on the tour expressed feelings of empathy and respect towards, not only the fallen, but to each other.
As we walked where the Anzacs had walked and the terrain that they, as soldiers, had to face, we developed a further understanding of what they had been through.
One battle site which particularly affected us was The Nek.
We stood on the graves of over 300 Australian soldiers, where they had faced an impossible task.
The past three weeks have left me feeling both inspired and perplexed about the Gallipoli campaign.
Something that the next generation must not and will not forget is that all soldiers were individuals, individuals who performed extraordinarily under the most stressful conditions and strove to do their best.
Georgia Filis
The most memorable part of our pilgrimage for me was when we were on the track coming down from Plugge’s Plateau, as this will stay with me forever.
Our tour group was labouring down the rugged, mountainous terrain when I heard the soft whistling of Waltzing Matilda behind me.
I recognised the tune and felt shivers down my spine.
Here we were, struggling down the path. We were huffing and puffing even without 60 pounds on our backs, without hellfire and shrapnel falling around us and we even had a path to follow.
The contrast of this moment and what our soldiers had gone through filled me with immense respect.
I can only imagine how this experience affirmed how much the soldiers would have had to rely on each other to get through the experience. I can only imagine the mateship our soldiers would have created to simply live through that hellish war.
This tour has created a pathway past the stories and songs we’ve all heard about the war and given us a much better understanding of it.
It has given us all the ability to make many soldiers’ stories come back to life and link our research to real places.
The tour has kindled a fire inside me that makes sharing this experience imperative and I will do everything I can to forever remember them.
The journey continues to make all of us grow. Not just through knowledge, but also with each other. We have all made incredible bonds and memories that will stay with us our whole lives.
I know we all took every opportunity offered within our journey, but it still feels to me that we could have done more.
We have been given an extraordinary insight into what occurred on the battlefields and what was lost there.
I can’t even imagine not coming back to the places I’ve visited. It feels like we have just started the next chapter - there are so many more stories to be revealed and soldiers to be remembered.