COLLIE Senior High School students have been hard at work over the last four months raising funds for the school’s 2024 Anzac tour.
Anticipation is building, however there is still a long way to go before they meet their goals.
Teacher and tour organiser Ed Croft describes the 20 students who will embark on a busy travel itinerary - including spending time travelling the Western Front - as “a very lucky bunch”.
However, Ed also notes that they’ll need to continue putting in the hard yards ahead of boarding their Europe-bound flight.
“We started planning in February,” he said. “This group has been very active and they’re all working hard.
“We’re doing very well, but there really is a long way to go.”
Fundraising events to date have included a car wash, a curry night and a cake stall, with a high tea for Mother’s Day a recent highlight.
“When you have 20 committed families who all have the same goal in mind you can achieve great things,” Ed said.
“We work hard, and this community has been fantastic in its support of the tour. It’s been really wonderful.”
Ed highlighted the broad range of benefits that students gain outside of the classroom, both in the planning of the tour and the tour itself. 
Students learn valuable life skills throughout the process, and need to be proactive in reaching out to and interacting with community members.
Another key feature of the planning process is the strong emphasis placed on teamwork in seeking to achieve a common end goal.
Year 10 student Luca Miller said there have been opportunities to get to know her schoolmates and talk with a variety of people in the community.
“We’ve got two different year groups going,” Luca said. “We all work together and can build friendships.
“All the different activities we’ve done have been fun.”
Fellow year 10 student Gemma O’Brien is looking ahead to visiting in person the different historical sites she has learnt about in class.
“I feel like it’s going to be an eye-opening experience,” Gemma said.
“It will be exciting to see what it’s like out there and to be away from home for so long. I’ve always been interested in learning about the wars and how they’ve impacted and made our country what it is.”
Year 10 classmate Ruby Whitney said she also has a keen interest in Anzac and European history.
Ruby additionally has an Anzac family connection which she is interested in learning more about.
“I have a family member who is buried in France, and I am very interested to go see his grave, learn more about my family history, and go there to honour my great, great grandfather,” she said.
Ruby will also play the Last Post on either the clarinet or saxophone.
Ed said each of the students will have a poem that they will recite, with the group to hold a private service at a grave or memorial for a student’s ancestor or someone from Collie.
The students have been learning the French national anthem, although Ed noted they have a distinct Aussie twang.
A veteran from the Collie-Cardiff RSL will travel with the students, which Ed described as a “wonderful asset” to have on tour.
“We travel to the battlefields of WW I in France and Belgium, and this is very powerful as a history lesson for these students,” he said.
“When you’re there and you see grave after grave after grave, the enormity of the conflict really hits home.
“All the students will be encouraged to research their ancestors.”
The group will attend the Anzac Day dawn service at Villers Bretonneux, and will also observe the rekindling of the eternal flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier under the Arc De Triomphe in Paris.
Throughout their travels, the students will learn valuable lessons about travelling in big cities, and navigating cultural and language barriers.
Moving forward, there is plenty of fundraising still to be undertaken. “We’re continuing to do whatever we can to raise the funds,” Ed said.
“We’ve got a quiz night coming up on July 21, and the students will all be approaching local businesses personally with a letter from the school that politely asks for the donation of prizes.”
While the tours have been running every second year since 2006, this will be the first one since Covid.
“Each successive tour has been slightly different, and has built on the last one,” Ed said.
“We take lots of parent volunteers as well and have lots of fun.”