State to send 80 to Gallipoli ceremony

EIGHTY Victorian secondary students will be selected from a statewide ballot to attend the 2015 ANZAC Centenary dawn service at Gallipoli.

Veterans Affairs Minister Damian Drum and Premier Denis Napthine with Eltham High student

EIGHTY Victorian secondary students will be selected from a statewide ballot to attend the 2015 ANZAC Centenary dawn service at Gallipoli.

The special ballot will give year 9-12 students the opportunity to attend the emotional commemoration at ANZAC Cove which marks 100 years since Australian soldiers landed on the Turkish peninsula in World War I.

Victorian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Damian Drum will on Wednesday announce details of the selection criteria for students and other ANZAC centenary initiatives as part of a $6 million package.

The boys and girls will be among 400 students from across the country who will make the trip as part of a government program to help teach a new generation about the ANZAC sacrifice and service which helped define the nation.

The ill-fated eight-month Gallipoli campaign saw 8141 Diggers killed among 26,111 casualties and nine Victoria Crosses awarded to soldiers in Australian units.

The student ANZAC package provides government-funded return air tickets, accommodation and a five-day visit which includes the ANZAC Cove April 25, 2015 service, an Australian service at Lone Pine, battlefield and memorial tours and to historic sites in Istanbul.

“I encourage students from across Victoria, particularly regional Victoria, to apply for the chance to fly the flag for their local community and bring to life the stories of courage and sacrifice that defined the Gallipoli campaign at ANZAC Cove,” Mr Drum said.

Students, enrolled in years 9 to 12 next year, can apply to attend and panels of teachers and principals in the four Victorian school zones will select successful candidates.

The students will join descendants of those who served at Gallipoli, Australian World War I widows and thousands of other Australians who were successful in the national ballot.

Under selection criteria, Victorian students will be asked to write their thoughts on the ANZAC spirit, why they want to attend and demonstrate how they can share their experiences with local communities when they return.

The trip will also seek applications from 18 adult chaperones or teachers who will attend with the student group.

“The government is proud to work with Victorian schools and communities to keep the spirit of ANZAC alive, and pass the torch of remembrance on to young Victorians,” Mr Drum said.

“We want our young people to embrace the stories of the ANZACs, to never forget the sacrifices they made.”

Minister Drum has committed an additional $6 million to help Victorians and community groups commemorate the WWI centenary over the next four years.

The funds will upgrade visitor facilities at Point Nepean, from which the first shot of the war was fired in August 1914; host a First Shot commemoration ceremony next to Fort Nepean; a major event at Melbourne Town Hall to commemorate the mass meeting in 1914 in support of the war effort and other community engagement and information programs.

Student and teacher/chaperone applications for the 2015 Gallipoli visit will close on June 13, 2014 and must be submitted electronically to [e-mail]