Australian schoolchildren will learn Queensland poet Rupert McCall’s poem for the Anzac centenary

CLASSROOM teachers will ditch the computers and technology for children to learn about the Anzac centenary. Watch the video and share your thoughts. Are you happy with your child learning this?

Private William Arthur Fisher's letter. Pic Annette Dew

POET Rupert McCall has penned a special tribute to the Anzacs, A Hundred Years from Now, which will be a part of Australian classrooms.

The poem has been commissioned by the Australian War Memorial as part of the commemoration of 100 years since the landings at Gallipoli.

The touching ode to our Diggers has been shortened and will be taught in schools, thanks to a partnership with Queensland charity SunnyKids and the Australian Government’s Read2Remember program.

“This is just another chapter in the Anzac legacy that I’ve been passionate about for a long time through my grandfather who was a rat of Tobruk,” McCall said.

“I condensed it into five verses, that would best suit the classroom.

“It pays tribute to the passion and pride of the Anzac spirit.”

The Read2Remember program will see schools all around Australia learn the poem, similar to children learning McCall’s Pledge of Remembrance on Remembrance Day in 2013.

McCall takes you back to 1914 and into the shoes of a young soldier about to go to war.

“When I wore my country’s coat of arms to pledge a solemn vow; I didn’t think they’d honour me a hundred years from now.”

The latest work from the Brisbane-based poet is a follow-up to McCall’s poem, 90 Years Ago, which he recited at Gallipoli Cove in 2005.

McCall will recite his tribute to attendees at Anzac Day services in Redcliffe and Mango Hill, north of Brisbane, on Saturday.

To commemorate 100 years since the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, and recognise the sacrifices of those men and women who have served out country since WWI, Quest Community Newspapers will publish one story each day online in the lead-up to Anzac Day.THIS story is part of Quest Community Newspapers’ 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which will profile Queensland WWI heroes and families as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.

Originally published as Australian schoolchildren will learn Queensland poet Rupert McCall’s poem for the Anzac centenary