A Reflection on Remembrance

In her address at this week’s Assembly, CUO Olive, reflected on the meaning of Remembrance Day and the courage shown by those who served, reminding students of the responsibility we carry in honouring their legacy.

To remember is to understand the cost of peace.

Today, we pause to honour the men and women who have served, fought, and fallen for Australia — those who stood where fear might have been, and instead chose courage.

Remembrance Day is not just about looking back at history; it is about recognising the lives that built the freedom we live in and often take for granted. The people we remember were not distant heroes in textbooks. Some of you may have a relative or family friend who was one of those heroes. But whether you do or you do not, they were ordinary Australians — sons, daughters, friends, teammates, and classmates who once stood in schools just like ours.

We often think of soldiers on the battlefield, but there were countless others who served with the same courage and selflessness, like nurses who spent their days caring for the wounded and comforting the dying, often under fire themselves. One of them, Sister Alice Ross-King, was one of the most well-known Australian nurses who served in France during the First World War. Allow me to share an extract from her diary during a bombing raid:

“It was awful. The raid lasted for three hours, and the bombs fell thick and fast. The whole hospital shook, the windows rattled, the men groaned. We went from bed to bed, comforting the poor darlings. One man clutched my hand and said, ‘Sister, don’t leave me.’ I stayed beside him until it was over. I can’t tell you how brave they were, not a murmur of complaint, though many were so shattered they could barely speak.

We have been working day and night. There are hundreds of wounded. The smell of blood and antiseptic clings to everything. But somehow we go on. There is no time for tears. We just keep working, hoping, and praying.”

Her words remind us that courage is not only found on the front line; it is found wherever people put others before themselves.

As a cadet, we wear a uniform that represents service. But remembrance belongs to everyone, cadet or not, because the values we honour today — courage, mateship, and respect — shape what it means to be Australian.

So, as we stand in silence today, let us not only remember loss; let us remember what their sacrifice gave us: the right to learn freely, to live safely, and to hope boldly.

Let us carry their legacy not only in our silence, but in our actions, by showing respect, compassion, and unity in our everyday lives.