Front row, from left: Anthony Gemaol, Terry Webb, Trent McDonnell and Jack Styles; back row, from left :Peter Noack, Brooke Thompson, Shelby Astone, Brittany Leete, Madeleine Cook and Senator Glenn Sterle.
Camera IconFront row, from left: Anthony Gemaol, Terry Webb, Trent McDonnell and Jack Styles; back row, from left :Peter Noack, Brooke Thompson, Shelby Astone, Brittany Leete, Madeleine Cook and Senator Glenn Sterle. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Students visit battlefields

Staff ReporterHills Avon Valley Gazette

Senator Sterle also raised $60,000 over the past year to send 21 students from Darling Range Sports College to France and Belgium for Anzac Day.

On Thursday, the students will have the privilege of being at Villers-Bretonneux for the dawn service.

Principal Peter No-ack is also on the tour.

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The loss of Australian lives on the Western Front has been the subject of numerous documentaries and books.

The Remembrance Tour will include visits to Messines Ridge, Tyne Cot, Flanders Field, Ypres and Pozieres, culminating with the students playing a role in the 2013 Anzac Day Dawn Service.

‘It is here that the participants will pay tribute to Australian serviceman who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country,’ Senator Sterle said.

‘I’m sure seeing those thousands of headstones and the Australian flag flying on the Western Front will really bring it home to the students.’

He said he hoped that upon the students’ return, they would have a greater appreciation for what the Anzac legend meant and ultimately, what it meant to be Australian. Students also worked on projects such as what conditions were like in the trenches before they left, the stories of individual soldiers including Sir Douglas Haig, while some spoke about their relatives who fought in the French and Belgian locations.

‘It was fantastic to see the effort that these students have put into their research projects,’ Senator Sterle said.

‘The students have worked very hard to research the individuals and places that are synonymous with the sites that we will be touring.’

The group returns on April 29.