As a 1000-strong crowd paid their respects at the town’s main Anzac Day march and service, two young school pupils stood out.

Zoe Grant and Sam Griffin from St Patrick’s Primary School gave the Anzac Day oration to great acclaim from the crowd.

Zoe and Sam used their speech to not only reiterate what is honoured on Anzac Day each year, but to highlight how the Anzac legacy could be applied to everyday life, even 102 years later.

“The battle of Gallipoli stands out as having defined the spirit of our nation,” Zoe said.

“The Anzac spirit is about courage, bravery, endurance, mateship, determination and sacrifice,” Sam added

Among the many service men and women – past and current – who display this spirit, the pair highlighted Harold “Pompey” Elliott, a brigadier general on some of WWI’s most infamous battlefields and later a Victorian senator.

They spoke of how Elliott wrote of the “absolute trust” of his men being touching and asking that his wife back home “pray now more than ever that I am worthy of this trust”.

Sam and Zoe described that at Fromelles, Elliott was instructed to prepare his men for an offensive action. After his opinion that it was doomed to fail was ignored, he dutifully sent his men forward into what turned out to be a disaster, the pair said.

It’s believed over 5500 men were killed or wounded in one night and Elliott wept as survivors returned from the line.

However, while devastated by the losses, he built his troops back up and led more decisive actions at both Villers-Bretonneux and Polygon Wood.

Zoe and Sam related the qualities of determination and responsibility to values worth upholding today.

“We believe the Anzacs were influential in shaping the Australian character as they fought to uphold freedom and dignity of individuals, mutual respect, tolerance and a fair go for others,” Sam said.

“They set an example for others to follow.”

Very well said.