By CASEY NEILL
TWO Cranbourne students will attend commemorations in Gallipoli to mark 100 years since Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Anzac Cove during World War I.
Gul Dasta Ali from Alkira Secondary College in Cranbourne North and Samantha Chapman from Casey Grammar School in Cranbourne East were among 76 students and 14 teacher chaperones chosen to represent Victoria at the Anzac Day dawn service in Turkey on 25 April next year.
South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP Gordon Rich-Phillips said more than 630 students and 104 teachers applied.
“We want our younger generations to experience and establish connections with this important place, and share the lessons they learn with family, friends, colleagues and classmates,” he said.
The intensive selection process asked students to demonstrate a connection to their community and an understanding of the spirit of Anzac.
Gul, 13, said she was “exhilarated just to be able to take part in such a momentous event with other like-minded young people”.
“It will be an extraordinary opportunity to make a physical connection with Australia’s history,” she said.
She said the trip would provide her with an understanding of the surroundings in which WWI was fought.
“I took up World War I as a history elective. We went through the theory,” she said.
“It will just really put context to what I learnt in class.
“To physically see everything, I think I’ll have a renewed gratitude for what the soldiers went through.”
Gul has a middle-eastern background.
“I think my family don’t quite understand what the Gallipoli campaign was and the contemporary significance,” she said.
“I’m quite excited to come back and to share that.”
Samantha, 17, is a Royal Australian Air Force Cadets member with her sights on joining the defence force as a combat paramedic.
Her sister is serving in the Army and her great uncle, Percy Billingham, fought in Gallipoli.
“I did a bit of research on him before I applied for Gallipoli and found out that he was in the First Light Horse Battalion,” she said.
“My grandfather rode, and my dad trained horses.
“I ride as well, so it was great to find out he was in the light horse brigade.
“He didn’t die overseas, he returned. It will be just amazing to see where he was.”
Samantha will research Gallipoli and other stops on the trip before making the journey.
“I think it will just be surreal,” she said.
“I’ll just be in awe I think.”
