It was great to see so many students battle the cold and turn up for the ANZAC Day service at Greymouth High School last week. An important day to honour and remember those who fought and died for our country.

Read Mrs Samantha Mortimers speech below. 

Kia ora koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Thank you all for coming to our Dawn service and I am honoured to give a short speech reflecting on what Anzac day means to me in 2023.

As some of you might know, 2023 is our 100 year’s anniversary of Greymouth High School being on this site. For the reunion I was privileged to read lots of archival information, watch old videos and our documentary "An Ocean of Many Waves." This documentary had interviews of past students and teachers, some who were in their 80s and 90s and they had seen a lot of life! During the reunion itself I got to meet some of these folks and others. All of this led me to thinking about what life was like for students in the past at Grey High and the stories they told were similar to things that happen today. Therefore, my conclusion was that kids are kids whatever the era!

However, there is one major difference that stands out for me and this is the threat of war. So many of our previous students had their lives shattered by war and our cenotaph is a reminder of this.

It always amazes me that these people would have been not much older than our rangatahi standing here today and many of them were probably the same age as my own children. In terms of the people remembered on our cenotaph I have tried really hard to put myself in the shoes of their parents and whānau. However, I can't visualise how I would feel if it was my own child who was called up to defend our country. We have had so many years of general peace that even imagining my child being called up has become so far removed from my reality.

But it is vital that we remember all of these people and that we also remember how their parents and whānau would have felt when they found out that their children were leaving NZ and then found out they were not coming back. We thank all of the Grey High people who fought for our country and we especially thank the ones remembered on our cenotaph for giving their lives so we can have peace.

Tena koutou

Tena koutou

Tena koutou katoa