Published on: 3 May 2013



Christ Church boys made headlines on the annual Year 6 Canberra Tour last week when they took part in an unofficial launch of the new Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial. The boys were asked to form a guard of honour and lay a wreath, alongside the memorial’s new director Dr Brendan Nelson, and were featured on The Canberra Times’ website.

Dr Nelson has significantly enhanced the memorial’s simple closing ceremony, as well as renaming it, after being inspired by his visits to the daily Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate Memorial in Ieper, when he was the Australian Ambassador to Belgium. He said he hoped all who visited the great institution would remember the ceremony.

Head of the LW Parry Preparatory School Richard Wright said the Year 6 boys would long remember their visit to the memorial after they were asked by memorial staff to form an honour guard while Lachie Emanuel and Liam Haskett laid a wreath to honour Christ Church’s war dead. “The boys showed exceptional levels of respect and reverence for the occasion, and needed to stand still and quiet for over 20 minutes at the end of a very busy day,” Mr Wright said. “I was extremely proud of the boys.”

The visit to the memorial was among one of the many highlights for 100 Prep School boys who visited Canberra for four days. The tour, introduced two years ago to further support the ‘Inquiry and Initiative’ Phase of Learning in Years 5 and 6, gave the boys a chance to immerse themselves in the National Capital and all things Australian.

The jam-packed itinerary included a tour of the buildings and grounds at Government House, a visit to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, as well as New Parliament House where they toured the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also visited the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum, CSIRO, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Institute of Sport.

Visits to the Royal Australian Mint and Questacon concluded the tour.