Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to congratulate five local schools in my electorate who will be sharing in $14,850 to help them commemorate the Anzac centenary through watching and performing the theatrical production Do not forget Australia. Southern Montessori School, Cardijn College, Christies Beach High School, Southern Vales Christian College and Woodcroft College successfully applied for funding to participate in the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. This grants program was set up by the previous government as something really important to allow local communities to recognise and mark in their own way the 100 years since our first involvement in World War I. These schools have come up with a very innovative way of organising a production that will allow them to explore the experience of students revisiting the battlefields of France. I think this is a really interesting and innovative way to allow these students to get an understanding of what it was like for those who served and also what it is like to research your history.

These schools will now have the chance to perform for the wider community in the play Do not forget Australiaby From Page To Stage. This is a non-profit organisation which promotes Australian theatre works that have a historical or educational context. It will help the students to empathise with the characters and think about what life would have been like for them. This is a very exciting opportunity and is one of a number of applications that our local community has made to commemorate the Anzac centenary. I would particularly like to put on record a big thank you to our local steering group, which had representations from organisations such as the RSL, local cadet groups, schools and Legacy. They all generously gave up their time to look at applications and evaluate them.

While our first involvement in World War I was 100 years ago and some might think that it would not be relevant to young people in our community, each Anzac Day I am very pleased that young people are looking at ways that they can commemorate the sacrifice that was made 100 years ago. Youth Vigil in the South, which is in its 11th year this year, has an honour guard overnight at the memorial, where the dawn service will be. This is something which young people participate in and it really focuses their minds. So I congratulate the schools and wish them all the best as they perform.