PAMS 2017

The 2017 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship tour departed Sydney in late September for London and the start of a once in a lifetime experience. Twenty-two very excited scholars boarded a plane with their accompanying teachers and tour leaders, looking forward to visiting significant battlefields of the Western Front in both Belgium and France.

During their time in Ypres, Belgium, the scholars represented NSW at the official centenary commemorations of the Battle of Polygon Wood, and also participated in the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate.

The scholars were also fortunate to meet Governor of NSW, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) and his wife Mrs Linda Hurley. After sharing lunch together the group gathered to watch two students and the Governor collect soil samples from Polygon Wood for the Anzac Memorial Centenary Project.

The Scholars visited numerous significant sites along the Western Front, including Tyne Cot Cemetery, Fromelles Museum and Military Cemetery, and the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Each scholar completed a research project on a WWI Serviceman or woman and shared that information with the group at different locations throughout the tour. A real highlight was the opportunity to dress in uniform and experience the ‘Life at the Front’ program at the Passchendaele 1917 Museum in Belgium, which gave the scholars a deeper understanding of the experiences of Australian soldiers in the trenches. 

The 2017 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship program was managed by the NSW Office for Veterans Affairs, Department of Justice, in consultation with the NSW Department of Education. Scholars were selected on the basis of their genuine interest in Australian history and the Anzac tradition, their positive contribution to their school community and their ability to be outstanding representatives of their school and the state of NSW. The scholarship provided the students with the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of the history of Australia’s involvement in the Great War and the Anzac tradition and many have since shared their experiences with their local communities. Accompanying teachers will also share the knowledge they gained through the tour with colleagues in their own schools and beyond with essays published in 2018 editions of Teaching History, a quarterly journal published by the History Teachers Association of NSW.

2017 Scholarship recipients

Student	School
Fatimah Abdallah	Kogarah High School
Amelia Aguiar	St Patrick’s College, Campbelltown
Zac Barlow	Finley High School
Rayleigh-Rose Biffin	Camden High School
Tyler Cashel	Hennessy Catholic Colllege
Nicholas Claridge	De La Salle Catholic College Caringbah
Benjamin de Vries	Chatswood High School
Brock Farquhar	Broken Hill High School
Julian Fedele	Freeman Catholic College
Joshua Freeman	St Philip’s Christian College, Port Stephens
Matthew French	Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College, The Entrance Campus
Mary Ghribian	Delany College
Kayla Godeschalk	Jamison High School
Grace Gourley	Northern Beaches Secondary College – Mackellar Girls Campus
Liam Hodkinson	Picton High School
Rachel Hudson	Tweed River High School
Jack McIntyre	Lithgow High School
Pippa Pryor	Pittwater High School
Lachlan Thuaux	Glenmore Park High School
Nicholas Trobec	Knox Grammar School
Stefan Vujanic	Bonnyrigg High School
Waiwai Yeap	Abbotsleigh School