FOUR primary school pupils will have the unique honour of reading their own verses before an expected huge crowd at Warrnambool’s Anzac Day centenary commemorations.
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Their thought-provoking words were selected in a competition where all the city’s primary schools and some nearby towns were invited to enter.
Two verses will be read at the 11am service and others will be kept for subsequent years.
Warrnambool Primary School grade six pupil Merrick McDonald’s work, A Time to Remember, is based on the futility of war.
“No matter how hard you try to win, no one wins a war. Everyone loses. Lest we forget,” he wrote in his closing lines.
He said he had studied the Anzac tradition and horrors of World War I and completed his entry during writing classes.
“I tried to make it feel that war has no winners and the fear,” he said.
“But I wasn’t expecting to win.”
Three pupils from Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School worked as a team for their work called Anzac Day Verse.
“As we stand under the angel today, we remember those who fought away. The Warrnambool soldiers who protected us,” is the introductory stanza.
Gemma Lake, Elle Kermond and Stephanie Jenkins were confident readers and writers, their teacher Darren Lloyd said.
“As a school we are very proud of their efforts,” he said..
“It’s really impressive they have mentioned Warrnambool soldiers in the verse.
“They convey how lucky they are because of the sacrifice of others.”
RSL Warrnambool centenary committee co-ordinator Michael Bellamy said he was impressed by the quality of the works.
Secondary school students will also be represented with four film productions portraying Warrnambool links with conflicts from the Great War through to modern times.
The edited packages will be shown on a large outdoor screen at Cannon Hill through the morning. Representatives from Brauer College, Warrnambool College, Emmanuel College and King’s College will feature in live interviews to introduce their particular film.
Brauer College will also have its choir sing the recessional hymn as well as the Australian and New Zealand national anthems.
Music teacher Janet Ferguson said it was the third successive year the choir had been involved.
“I think when they are older they’ll look back with pride,” she said.
