Dear members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community
I hope you all enjoyed your Melbourne Cup long weekend this year, as wet as it was, and that any flutter that you invested in was in some way profitable.
In the past, I think I have told you that as a child I spent some time living with my grandmother and this time of year particularly reminds me of her. As we approached Armistice Day, she would always tell me the story of how the firm at which she worked was contracted to build the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. The money to build the Shrine was raised in just six months after a public appeal in 1928, and the Shrine was opened in November 1934. It was in the time of the Great Depression, yet such was the importance of the Shrine to the people of Melbourne it was built. “Miss Larkin, please bring your typewriter into my office,” was what she was told, and she typed the contract to build the Shrine. She also told me that the firm went broke building it.
The importance of this little story is remembrance. In homerooms this week, and as we approach 11 November, we give thanks, we pray and we remember.
On Sunday 11 November 2018, MLMC will join with the rest of our nation to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice to end World War I. Armistice Day is more commonly known as Remembrance Day.
On that morning in 1918, German and allied officials signed the Armistice, which was the formal agreement to stop the fighting. When the agreement came into effect at 11.00am, the guns of the Western Front in France fell silent for the first time in more than four years. The two sides could, therefore, work towards a peace settlement and negotiate the treaties that would officially end the First World War — most notably the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on 28 June 1919 (Reference https://anzac100.initiatives.qld.gov.au/remembranceday/stop-and-remember).
Hence the 11th hour of the 11th month became a very important time, both in tradition and memory. You may recognise the blood-red poppy as a symbol of remembrance, for it’s worn on Remembrance Day and sold to raise money for returned soldiers and their families. This tradition, too, originated during World War I, and it is thought to have been inspired by the fields of poppies that grew in the battle-ravaged fields of the Western Front. The vivid red of the poppy came from the blood of soldiers soaking the ground, just as the red sash worn by infantry also reflects the blood-soaked clothes as they carried the dead and wounded from the field of battle. It is important that we never forget and we teach our children the importance of those who died for us.
Once again, members of our College community will be involved in the Lilydale RSL Remembrance Day service on Sunday. We thank them for their time and the effort they put into this important community event.
Lest we forget.
In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Credit: poetryfoundation.org/poems
In our prayers
Members of our College community also suffer with the passing of loved ones. We pass on our prayers and condolences to the families of Helen Jager, grandmother to Darcy (Year 11) and Marcus (Year 8) Hamilton, and Connie Hawkins, grandmother to Jayde Packer (Year 8). Let us pray for the repose of the souls of Helen and Connie. May they, along with the faithfully departed, rest in peace.
God bless
Philip A Morison
Principal
