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.<\/p>\n
About 100 pupils were involved in placing 2500 poppies beside the names of service men and women listed at the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happened in the last four or five years is we\u2019ve had a resurgence of \u2018what about our own history, Australia\u2019s history?\u2019\u201d memorial trustee Bill Bahr said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids have become a little bit more open to the history of the whole thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a resurgence and it\u2019s not militaristic, it\u2019s remembrance. It\u2019s all about remembering those who have been before us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The students undertook the task as part of the memorial\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Trustee Ray Mende said that part of having school students help was to find people who could carry on the work of remembrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing is the children of the future of ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re the ones who\u2019ll have to carry on when us blokes are not here, so it\u2019s very important we get them involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s interesting because the kids already have that in them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solemness of the visit to places like our memorial is already there, it\u2019s ingrained somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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. \u201cWhat\u2019s happened in the last […]<\/p>\n