GUEST SPEAKER - HARRY PRICE

Gordon introduced Harry Price, a student from Emmanuel College who has just returned from a trip of a lifetime to Turkey for the ANZAC centenary.  Harry thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to speak and making him feel welcome, then proceeded to provide everyone with the most amazing account of his trip. Harry described the application process which involved answering a large number of questions and providing references. This took a week to complete!  It wasn’t until later in the year that Harry received an email advising he had been selected. This was followed up by a trip to Government House to meet the Governor later in the year.

Four of Harry’s great uncles were involved in WW1 and Harry was fortunate to have the opportunity to follow their footsteps on this trip of a lifetime as part of the Victorian Government, ANZAC Centenary tour 2015.

Harry provided an incredible movie he made of his trip and described the places he visited before heading to ANZAC Cove  – the Hippodrome,  Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the underground cistern built in 532 to supply water for the great palace, the Grand Bazaar, and other historical buildings around Istanbul.  They visited the Turkish Martyrs monument, the tallest war monument in Turkey, then Cape Helles which was a British monument, the Redoubt Cemetery. Little did the group know that this was going to hit them hard emotionally, and when they saw the grave of a 16 year old boy most of them started to cry. Personally for Harry, this made him feel proud to be Australian and was the first time that he really felt connected to these people.  When he was standing at one of the graves with no message from their family, it made him think, we aren’t even related to these people and yet we feel so emotional, but then he thought we are related, because these men who served for us, moulded our country into what it is today. Therefore, they are all family.

The trip to ANZAC Cove hit hard emotionally and Harry found it difficult to comprehend some of the feelings he was getting. “How could so much bad have happened in such a beautiful place?”  Standing there, exactly 100 years on, all Harry could hear was the sound of the waves crashing and the birds, even with 10,000 people standing around him. He wondered what drove the soldiers and then when he turned around and saw his newly made friends, he thought “mateship, that’s why”. That 1 minute is a moment that Harry said he would never forget.  “The whole ceremony was the most surreal thing, and in one hour, my life was changed. I struggle to explain the emotions I was feeling, and the ceremony itself, but after many days reflection, I have come to the conclusion that the whole experience has changed all of the 10,000 souls at the ceremony, and I was lucky enough to be one of those souls”.

After the dawn service they hiked to Lone Pine. Harry showed some photos of the view from the top of Lone Pine. “When I was standing there looking at the view, that was when I realised how privileged I was to be able to have the most amazing experience anyone could ever have. But the thing that made it even better, was the people I was with”.

They also visited the Gallipoli High School which was when Harry realised what an amazing school Emmanuel College is; we have grass, we have drink taps, our concrete is flat and not cracked, our music room has lots of instruments, we have chairs that aren’t wooden logs. Yet there was not one student there without a smile, everyone was so happy.

A life changing experience, spent with new lifelong friends. That’s what Harry told the Victorian Minister of Veteran Affairs.

After answering a number of questions from those present, Harry was thanked by Gordon Curran and given a certificate and book in appreciation of his excellent presentation.