Image above: A scene on the track up to the site of the US base called Camp Carroll.
A
journal extract from 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize student Abbie Nourse about the hike up to Camp Carroll in the heat and tropical rain.
Thank you Frederick John Schenscher and Errol Wayne Noack for being a major part in my journey
Thank you Frederick John Schenscher and Errol Wayne Noack for being a major part in my journey
Finding
a favourite photograph of my adventures on the 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit
School Prize Vietnam Study Tour is near impossible to find, especially on my
first overseas trip. Every photograph I took on this trip has meaning and a
special significance to either the country of Vietnam or my travelling
experiences in Vietnam. Every part of Vietnam is different in its own kind of
way and every day I learnt and found something new either about myself as a
person or the country of Vietnam. I could go on all day long about our travels
and adventures in Vietnam but that would be like reading a very long essay and
then I reckon it could turn into a novel.
I chose this picture as my significant/ favourite photograph because I believe it captures the culture and meaning of Vietnam and especially holds unforgettable memories. This photograph I took was of a local Vietnamese villager/ farmer whilst walking up to Camp Carroll to the site of the old US base. After 3kms up a steep hill we finally found the memorial to the base! After I was nearly taken out by the massive load of leaves this woman was manually carting down the hill, I quickly snapped the photograph which I consider as a significant memorable photograph.
Walking up the hill of Camp Carroll is something that I will never forget and I believe it made the trip more memorable and meaningful by experiencing all types of weather conditions that the servicemen and women would have endured during the Vietnam War.
As we walked up to Camp Carroll I felt like giving up as this hill seemed never ending with the odds of finding the memorial against us, but then I began to think about both my two South Australian servicemen I had researched for the 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize. I thought about our Australian soldiers walking in these weather conditions in Vietnam, a country so climatically and culturally different to their country and hometown of Australia. They would have felt just as homesick as I did but at least I knew that we were hiking to find a US memorial unlike them who were commanded to hike to some province unknown to them, a place they would have never heard of.
My perspective on life has changed since this trip; I now look at everything in life with a new and different perspective. I am so lucky to have experienced such a life changing adventure with incredible passionate students and mentors. I never knew a group of Aussie tourists and passionate historians would be so popular to the Vietnamese locals!
I chose this picture as my significant/ favourite photograph because I believe it captures the culture and meaning of Vietnam and especially holds unforgettable memories. This photograph I took was of a local Vietnamese villager/ farmer whilst walking up to Camp Carroll to the site of the old US base. After 3kms up a steep hill we finally found the memorial to the base! After I was nearly taken out by the massive load of leaves this woman was manually carting down the hill, I quickly snapped the photograph which I consider as a significant memorable photograph.
Walking up the hill of Camp Carroll is something that I will never forget and I believe it made the trip more memorable and meaningful by experiencing all types of weather conditions that the servicemen and women would have endured during the Vietnam War.
As we walked up to Camp Carroll I felt like giving up as this hill seemed never ending with the odds of finding the memorial against us, but then I began to think about both my two South Australian servicemen I had researched for the 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize. I thought about our Australian soldiers walking in these weather conditions in Vietnam, a country so climatically and culturally different to their country and hometown of Australia. They would have felt just as homesick as I did but at least I knew that we were hiking to find a US memorial unlike them who were commanded to hike to some province unknown to them, a place they would have never heard of.
My perspective on life has changed since this trip; I now look at everything in life with a new and different perspective. I am so lucky to have experienced such a life changing adventure with incredible passionate students and mentors. I never knew a group of Aussie tourists and passionate historians would be so popular to the Vietnamese locals!
Vietnam has so much culture and history, each city we went
to was always different from the last. Vietnam is full of depth, pain,
happiness, laughing yoga, exercise craziness, French heritage and architecture
and hidden Chinese treasures. We also met gorgeous, grateful and happy little
orphanage and school children who light up your day with sunshine despite the
threatening storm clouds and the incredible but peaceful huge limestone rocks
at Ha Long Bay and Marble Mountain. I cannot imagine what this country would
have looked like during the Vietnam War.
I feel so privileged and honoured to have researched two
incredibly fascinating servicemen. Every step of the way on the trip I could
feel my soldiers with me and not on one day did I forget about them. Thank you Frederick John Schenscher and Errol Wayne Noack for being a major
part in my journey this year. This has been a life changing experience and I am
so thankful for being selected as an awardee.
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