ENDEAVOUR Hills resident Asanga Seneviratne was among 76 students chosen to represent Victoria at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Gallipoli, Turkey.
The Berwick Haileybury College explains what Anzac Day and traveling to Anzac Cove means to him.
MY FIRST recollection of Anzac commemoration probably comes from when I was around six years old and in Grade 1 at Southern Cross primary school in Endeavour Hills.
My teacher had spent the weeks ahead of Anzac Day speaking at length about the merits of commemoration and reflecting on the sacrifices that our soldiers had made for the freedom we enjoy today.
Given it was a public holiday and I was also a beleaguered Essendon supporter, I arose on Anzac Day to work out what all the fuss was about as any curious six-year-old would do.
Switching on the television to the ABC I was greeted by the famous Anzac parade.
Veterans marched under an array of banners along St Kilda Road to the Shine of Remembrance, representing their service in all corners of the world.
I was so enamored by the moment that I promptly rushed to make my own medals with crayons and crudely-cut drawing paper, and then marched proudly around the living room just as those on the screen did.
At that point in time, I clearly did not comprehend the enormity of the situation but what did remain with me from that day is what made me march so proudly around the living room that morning – an overwhelming sense of appreciation for the sacrifice of these men and women in making Australia the beautiful, peaceful country it is today; a sense of sadness for those who had fallen; and a pride in the comradeship still shown today.
That’s what the Anzac Spirit means to me. The qualities of courage, mateship and determination that symbolised our Diggers are those that every Australian still endeavours to achieve today.
So when my school approached me with a nomination to be put forward to the State Government’s selection committee for the 2015 Gallipoli Dawn Service Tour last year I was both honoured and terribly excited.
After an extended application process involving school nomination, external references, a personal questionnaire and essay, I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the 80 Victorian students out of a pool of more than 630 student applicants to participate in the tour commemorating the Anzac centenary.
As part of the tour we will be visiting important commemorative sites along the Gallipoli peninsula as well attending the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove, followed by another commemorative ceremony at Lone Pine.
The entire tour will stretch from Monday 20 April to Tuesday 28 April.
It is such an exciting opportunity to represent my family, school and community at such a momentous occasion in Australian history and I will be forever be grateful for the support I have received on this wonderful journey.
I have created a Facebook page to share my experiences at www.facebook.com/gallipoli2015asanga.
