Placing poppies more than just remembrance

STUDENTS from Pleasant Street Primary School were hard at work at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial last week helping trusties get ready for a series of upcoming events.

About 100 pupils were involved in placing 2500 poppies beside the names of service men and women listed at the site.

“What’s happened in the last four or five years is we’ve had a resurgence of ‘what about our own history, Australia’s history?’” memorial trustee Bill Bahr said.

“Kids have become a little bit more open to the history of the whole thing.

“There is a resurgence and it’s not militaristic, it’s remembrance. It’s all about remembering those who have been before us.”

The students undertook the task as part of the memorial’s 100 years of ANZAC commemorations and the poppies were also in place for the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Thai-Burma Railway service held on Tuesday.

Trustee Ray Mende said that part of having school students help was to find people who could carry on the work of remembrance.

“The other thing is the children of the future of ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day,” he said.

“They’re the ones who’ll have to carry on when us blokes are not here, so it’s very important we get them involved.”

While you might think 100 kids at a quiet and reflective place like the POW memorial might become a bit rowdy, Mr Bahr said that wasn’t the case.

“It’s interesting because the kids already have that in them,” he said.

“The solemness of the visit to places like our memorial is already there, it’s ingrained somehow.”