Get your entries in for the Anzac Day Schools' Awards

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Anzac Day Schools' Awards 2019

Entries close on Friday 24 May 2019

Did your school commemorate Anzac Day this year?

Tell us about it and you could win up to $3000 for your school!

Help students learn about wartime experience by including:

Veterans
Current serving members’ of the Australian Defence Force
Other local important people

More information

Great Debates - The Anzac Legend
Great Debates: The Anzac Legend is an inquiry-based resource which uses a debate format and historical roleplay to engage

Year 9 students. It is a ready-to-teach unit of work but flexible enough for class or student differentiation. The activities encourage students to investigate the variety of attitudes Australians have had toward the Anzac legend over the past century.

Visit the Anzac Portal to view the full Great Debates series.

Oral Histories

Oral histories play an important role in historical research. Reflections: Gathering Veterans’ Stories, is a guide which serves as a starting point for you and your students to undertake oral history interviews with veterans. Offering practical advice and some examples from the Veterans’ Stories project, this guide serves as a useful resource for any group planning an oral history project of its own.

To download Reflections: Capturing Veterans’ Stories or to view Veterans’ Stories, visit the Anzac Portal.

For more information, or to request a resource in hard copy, please email education@dva.gov.au.

Veteran's Stories - Captain Reg Saunders

Reg Saunders was the first Aboriginal serviceman to be to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. In 1944 he was nominated for officer training eventually rising to the rank of Captain.

From his earliest days in the army, Saunders developed a reputation for reliability and lack of fear which lead him to become a highly respected soldier and leader.

While serving his country, Saunders enjoyed freedoms and opportunities not available to him in civilian life at that time. To find out more about Reg Saunders and what happened to him when he returned from service, visit the Anzac Portal to download a copy of our educational resources Indigenous Service and Decision—Stories of Leadership in the Services

Indigenous Service

Investigate the wartime experiences of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander men and women from the First World War to the present with an educational resource developed for primary and secondary students.

Two versions of this resource have been developed to target primary and secondary schools acknowledging the service and sacrifice of Indigenous men and women and providing social and political context of their service in the light of past social discrimination.

For more information on this resource visit the Anzac Portal or contact education@dva.gov.au for a hard copy.

National History Challenge

The National History Challenge (NHC) is a research-based competition organised and run by the History Teaches’ Association of Australia.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs sponsors the special category – Australia’s Wartime Experiences.

Students who enter this category must use examples from the Anzac Portal.

The NHC rewards students with cash prizes and travel opportunities. Entries close 30 August 2019. For more information visit the History Challenge website.