Stratford High School: Head girl Ella Hussey's Anzac Day speech

Stratford High School head girl Ella Hussey spoke at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Stratford this year. Photo / Vicki Zieltjes.

During the civil ceremony for Anzac Day in Stratford, the head boy and head girl of Stratford High School were invited to give a speech. The Stratford Press is delighted to publish the speech by head girl Ella Hussey in this edition, with the speech by head boy Duncan Sheed to be printed next week.

One hundred and six years ago, when the Anzac soldiers landed where they now call Anzac Cove, the first of thousands of sacrifices were made.

To leave everything behind with the potential of no return took a level of courage that, to me, is unfathomable. The bravery of these men and women, 80 per cent of whom were volunteers, entering a situation with the prospect of being fatal filled those back home with a sense of pride.

New Zealand was on the world stage, working alongside our Allies to protect their homeland from the constraint felt elsewhere.

The Anzacs, especially the "Kiwis", gained a reputation for being a group who would continue to fight hard and to the end, even when conditions were especially tough.

This reputation has played a fundamental part in the formation of a national identity and the feat of the Anzacs' has inspired us all.

Over the past year we all have had to make sacrifices of our own during lockdown due to Covid-19 and as a country have had to come together, just as the nation did then, to help prevent the situation escalating further.

Due to these events last year gatherings such as this one could not occur to commemorate Anzac Day, so now it is more important than ever to remember those who sacrificed everything for our freedom, and for us to be in the position we are today.

World War I, The Great War, the war to end all wars, but as we know this has not been the case. Even now there are those still serving and fighting to obtain peace in this world and freedom for us all.

Today we do not just remember those who fought at Gallipoli but also all those others who served during World Wars I and II, the Vietnam war, in Korea, and those on peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Timor, and countless of other places.

We gather to show appreciation for their efforts and sacrifice to make this nation a better place. Let's not forget all those New Zealanders who will continue to serve our country in the future, who will continue to us to live a life as we know it, who will continue the legacy of those who served before them. We will remember them.