Emerald student Anastasia Maher receives Premier’s Anzac Prize

A Central Queensland high school student is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime after being one of eight across the state to receive this year’s Premier’s Anzac Prize.

Anastasia Maher is one of eight recipients of the Premier's Anzac Prize from across Queensland.

A Central Queensland high school student is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime, learning first hand about the courage, mateship, endurance and sacrifice embodied by our Anzacs.

Emerald State High School student Anastasia Maher is one of eight students from across Queensland to receive the 2023 Premier’s Anzac Prize.

The annual prize provides a “life changing” opportunity for eight high school students to engage with Anzac tradition first hand and explore how the Anzac legacy relates to modern life.

The students will depart Brisbane for Europe on Thursday for a two-week tour where they will visit key sites important to Australian war history.

The group of students will be accompanied by two chaperone teachers.

Anastasia applied for the prize after forging a deep appreciation for the Anzacs during her childhood.

“My great grandad served in WWI, we had a close family friend serve in Vietnam, my great uncle served in New Guinea and my Dad was in the army reserve, so all of that has contributed to my passion for Anzac Day,” she said.

“I was introduced to it (the prize) by my Dad who was a chaperone for the trip in 2017, then last year my history teacher encouraged us to apply for it also.

“As part of the application I had to make a five minute video about the relevance of the Anzac spirit to young Australians forged by the generation that served.

“I was absolutely thrilled and lost for words when I found out.”

During the trip Anastasia and the seven other students will read two eulogies, written by them, for two soldiers chosen by them.

The students will also attend the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux in France.

“There’s so many really educational experiences and it allows you to see these things you’ve read about online and learned about in school,” she said.

“Seeing in person it will be much more emotional and will give us a deeper understanding.

“But as well as it being educational it will also be very fun.”

Anastasia it was “crucial” for the younger generations to learn about the Anzacs and how they shaped the country.

“The traits shown by the Anzacs are the defining traits of Australia,” she said.

“Courage, mateship, endurance and sacrifice, those are real defining words for Australians and are things young people are demonstrating now through fighting climate change, fire, flood and Covid.

“It’s crucial to continue that representation of the Anzacs as Australian icons.”