The final reception for the prize: a chance to share and reflect

2018 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize Reception in the RSL SA Hall

7th December, 2018

The 2018 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize Reception was held yesterday in the RSL SA Memorial Hall. Again, thank you to RSL SA for their amazing support with the prize and continued involvement. The reception is a chance for the group to get together for one last time and share their reflections and learning with family, education staff and the veteran community. 

The students did a great job reflecting on their favourite moment form the trip and our guest speakers were wonderful in setting the scene for the occasion. Here are just some photographs from the reception that show the great confidence and enthusiasm of the students and the sincere involvement of our guests.

Broson Horan, RSL SA/NT President delivers the opening address.

Diana Hunt addresses the gathering, describing the reasons for her Nui Dat picture choice.

Koby Poulton thanks Deonne Smith, Director in the Department for Education for her support with the Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize over the years.

Neva van Raalte shares her impressions of the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Angelique Dellaney talks about the importance of the story telling of Mr T ... and shows the amazing photograph she took of Mr T.

Jenny Tran showed her wonderful video of the trip - what a great effort and a real surprise to view such a well made and co-ordinated effort.

Cheryl Cates, RSL SA delegate for the trip shares her Long Tan experience.

Oliver Shephard-Bayly talks politics and his impressions of Vietnam.

Rob Manton, Director of Veterans SA addresses the gathering - great stories and a really important perspective re: veterans presented. 

Lainie Anderson, History SA launches the 2019 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize Reception and tells the story of the Smith brothers.

Simon Kelly, Catholic Education SA delegate for the prize and a great supporter of the prize for many years is presented with a thank you gift by Laj Thind and Lila Weidenbach.

Elspeth Grant gets a hug from Angelique Dellaney for all her support on the trip and being just a great teacher chaperone.

Malcolm McInerney, Lainie Anderson and Rob Kearney with the 2019 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize poster. Rob and Lainie will be very important people as the 2019 prize progresses. 

Well, that's it for the 2018 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize - what a great group, a great trip and hopefully not the end to the friendships and learning journey for all involved.

Good luck for the future - it has been a pleasure working with you all.

Malcolm

We all like to laugh! What a weapon for peace and understanding

Laughter Yoga- what a wonderful surprise!

Andrew Penny writes:

Vietnam- a country of wonderful surprises and delights every day

"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." 

 Mark Twain

What a privilege to attend the Spirit of Anzac competition! My sincere thanks to Malcolm, Department for Education, the Premier and South Australian Government for maintaining this study tour. I felt blessed to have learnt so much and feel that it has changed my life.

In reflecting on our adventure, I must admit that the kindness, friendly and graciousness of the Vietnamese people will stick with me.

Martin was a wonderful tour guide, endlessly patient, gracious, honest and funny. The walk down from Camp Carroll with Peter and Martin is one of my happiest memories from the trip as locals waved and smiled, the children rode past us, spoke to us, laughed with us and at us. Along the way we had a chance to learn a little bit more about Martin and his life outside of being a Tour Guide.

I have chosen this photograph because even the final day of our time in Vietnam had a wonderful surprise. We left our hotel for a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake at 6.00am and I continued to appreciate the dedication of the Vietnamese people to physical exercise and well-being. Gym, badminton, jogging, ballroom dancing all occurring down at the park. Malcolm approached a Laughter Yoga group who immediately invited us to join in. Complete strangers held hands and laughed our way through several yoga sets. What a delight it was to relax and laugh with these remarkable people. One lady proudly told me her daughter was studying in Melbourne.

I walked away remembering Ewan Mc Gregor’s comment in the Long Way Round that “deep down people are the same across the world”. We all like to laugh! What a weapon for peace and understanding between different cultures, races and people. It was a remarkably simple but effective way of connecting two cultures and developing rapport and understanding between people.

Finally, we can be hopeful for the future of Australia given the character of our students. I lost count of the number of times foreign tourists stopped me to commend our students on their behaviour. They represented South Australia and themselves in a very positive way throughout the study tour.

I came out of Vietnam full of ideas and thoughts from history to culture, to politics

Oliver Shephard-Bayly writes:

In the cloud of Communism

Although the pure ambition of Marxist Communism seems to have left the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, being in its cloud allowed me to greatly reflect on its legacy. Walking through the streets of Hanoi we saw signs hailing the triumph of communism. With the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum, draped in the communist colours and surrounded by sorrowful mourners, I could see the true feeling the Vietnamese people appeared to have for this little man.

Having previously studied the great personality cults of the 20^th century, I  have contemplated the effectiveness of it all. Did people really believe in the myth and just accept the propaganda that was so often promoted by these authoritative leaders and their party. I was amazed by the respect in an almost sacramental way Vietnamese people talked of Uncle Ho, although I understand some people may put this on for show to escape government harassment. Such is unknown to us in Australia. What seems clear is even today a considerable percentage of the population has a great respect to their ‘dear leader’ in an almost religious way.  

While pacing around the mausoleum I also reflected on communism's political legacy. Although communism fell in the Soviet Union and economic liberalisation in the east is celebrated (and rightly so), the legacy of State totalitarianism has still not ended in Vietnam. You can see this as you walk around and see patriotic posters, the strong police presence and read the government newspapers. I wonder whether Vietnam will ever transition to a liberal democracy like Australia? Will the communist party continue to have a grasp over Vietnam for years to come? It’s probably somewhere in between.     

Being in a different political environment also makes you question your own. In Vietnam I contemplated whether our heavily liberalised individualist society is the best structure? Certainly, it’s got its merits, but I think what I saw in Vietnam of the philosophy that you are just a societal cog and not a selfish individual is worth thinking about. Although I find the erosion of individual rights appalling, I am interested in the mentality that you are connected to a society which you give what you can and receive what you need. 

I also found the Vietnamese approach to the welfare system compelling. At every park I looked at the woman sweeping up the leaves. Being paid by the state to do this simple task gave these women a purpose and dignity to have money for their own work. As I don’t know much about the system, I cannot say if I would support such an approach in Australia but the idea that anyone can get a simple job with the State if they wish, is a comforting one. I believe as technology progresses and manual skills become less in demand, we will need policies to provide an income to unemployed people, whilst providing them with a purpose in life. I wonder how we can reflect on systems like this around the world to find solutions to our own problems, in the present and future.  

So, I came out of Vietnam full of ideas and thoughts from history to culture, to politics, each of which are so intertwined. I cannot easily separate them.

I am so grateful for having such an amazing opportunity with so many incredible and interesting people and I hope that I can continue to ponder these amazing societal thoughts back home.