Wingham High School commemorated Anzac Day before the end of term one with an official ceremony.
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Special guests for the occasion included Mr Eric Richardson OAM, Mr George Greaves and Mr Ron Irwin, representing the Wingham RSL Sub-branch. Mr Warwick Mitchell played the bagpipes and Mr Terry Gould made a presentation to the school on behalf of the Wingham RSL Sub-branch.
Year nine student, Lincoln Harrell was the bugler, sounding the Last Post and Reveille.
Each year, Eric Richardson OAM sponsors the Year Nine History Essay competition and presents the winners, one female and one male, with cheques of $50 each at the school’s Anzac Day ceremony.
This year’s winners were Charlie Taylor and Kate Rourke, whose essays are reproduced below.
School vice captain, Taj Greaves, read a piece written by Mr Ron Irwin, titled Tears of Happiness.
Gallipoli by Charlie Taylor
When Britain and Germany went to war on August 4, 1914, Australia’s involvement with the First World War began.
Members of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) landed in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. Along with troops from New Zealand, Britain and France, the Australians began a campaign that ended with the evacuation of Anzac troops.
Gallipoli is sometimes described as Australia’s coming of age. In 1901 Australia became a nation and celebrated its federation. In 1914 World War I began and Australia was eager to show its independence from the motherland, and so became involved in its first conflict as a nation with the landing of Anzacs in Turkey.
Here, Australians from different states fought with great powers such as Britain and France. This event presented our nations courage, physical strengths, initiative and equality.
Constant noise, unsanitary conditions, disease, stench, death, horrible food, lack of rest and thirst all contributed to an unforgiving time on the Turkish front.
Constant noise from artillery, bombing and gun fire left soldiers with shell shock and prevented them from obtaining enough sleep which could have also lead to psychological problems. The soldiers may have also damaged their hearing from these noises.
Related reading: Wingham cadet to represent at Villers-Bretonneux on Anzac Day
The uneven form of the terrain and overcrowded conditions limited the safe places that men could fall asleep amongst the front line. Serious exhaustion caused by the noise left men to fall asleep at their posts.
The food rations giving to Anzac soldiers consisted mainly of processed canned meat (bully beef), biscuits and jam. These rations were designed to be lived on for short a amount of time as they provided poor nutrition with a lack of fresh food. As the Anzacs lived on these rations for extended months, it caused major health problems for the soldiers.
There were few opportunities for men to wash themselves or their clothes as there were no bathing facilities. This and the poor diets lead to a plague of disease rapidly spreading during the summer months which lead to the evacuation of thousands of men.
The unburied bodies attracted many flies that helped carry disease, as well as lice, which provided another problem for the soldiers. Thirst and dehydration were common amongst soldiers as the water supply was limited and of poor quality. Small amounts of water were issued to men on the front lines per day and often their main drink was exceptionally strong black tea.
In terms of death and casualties, the First World War was the costliest conflict for Australia. A total of 416,809 men enlisted to fight for Australia from a total population of fewer than five million. Of that, 156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner and more than 60 thousand were killed.
Australia’s participation in war has become part of our national identity. To some, Gallipoli defined our nation in a dramatic fashion on the world’s stage and was important to Australia’s coming of age.
Gallipoli showed Australians what they were made of and the men who enlisted displayed great courage and service for their country.
The Gallipoli Campaign by Kate Rourke
The Gallipoli campaign, also known as the Dardanelles campaign, took place on the Gallipoli Peninsula in World War 1. In order to break the stalemate on the Western Front, Winston Churchill argued for an attack on Turkey who was allied with Germany. Churchill believed if allied forces could force themselves through the Dardanelles and attack Constantinople, they could knock Turkey out of the war.
The plan involved British, Indian, Australia, and New Zealand forces. With control of the Dardanelles, it would allow Britain and France to open a supply route to their ally, Russia. Britain and the France felt it was necessary to help Russia to repay it for supporting the triple Entente in August 1914. Although the idea of the campaign was good, the planning for it was very poor.
It all began in March 1915 when British and French warships unsuccessfully attempted to pass through the Dardanelles. After the attempt failed, Allied forces landed at Gallipoli beginning on April 25, 1915. Both the Anzacs, landing at what is now Anzac Cove, and the British, landing at Cape Helles, went terribly wrong from the start.
The Anzacs found themselves on a very narrow strip of beach backing onto steep cliffs which were full of stationed Turks. On the first day, more than 600 Australian soldiers were killed and hardly made one kilometre of progress. Sadly, the Anzacs never gained higher ground even after many repeated efforts. Out of 44,070 Allied soldiers killed, 8709 were Australians.
Australians entered the Great War welcoming conflict as a test of their nationhood. Charles Bean, the Australian official correspondent, declared that landing on Gallipoli was the birth of their nationhood.
Australians had to endure constant noise, horrible food, cramped living spaces, disease, daily death of friends and lack of rest and water while at Gallipoli. Through all of this the Gallipoli campaign was the birth of Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).
Although there was no military victory, the Australians displayed courage, discipline, endurance and mateship. These qualities became seen as Anzac spirit. Gallipoli has become a symbol of Australia’s national identity, achievement and existence. Gallipoli showed Australians what they are made of and it was something to be proud of.