This blog has been developed to provide information and encourage sharing for the Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize students participating in the study tours to Darwin in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Time to commemorate and reflect
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Commemoration ceremony at Adelaide River War Cemetery with Major Wayne Langford (RSL SA)
Nightly discussion session after dinner at Knotts Crossing
The son of Frederick Quartermaine Simons and Mabel Bessie Simons, Robert Frederick Simons was born on 24 September 1921, in his hometown of Hindmarsh, in the City of Charles Sturt, South Australia. Robert was one of four children, and the brother of Rhonda, Elizabeth and Reginald Leslie Simons. At nineteen years of age, Simons enlisted to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 18 March 1940. He was based at Darwin’s RAAF SHQ (Station Headquarters), and was assigned the service number, 26040. Robert was appointed the position of guard. Prior to the Second World War, Darwin’s No. 12 Squadron, which was equipped with Avro Anson and Wirraway aircrafts, and flew convoy escorts and flew routine patrols, had no guards. With the donation of .50 calibre machine guns provided by the Americans, the defence of RAAF Station Darwin was exclusively implemented by RAAF Guards, not the Australian Army; and so on 10 February 1942, over one-hundred guards arrived at RAAF Station ...
Leonard Arthur. Barton Leading Aircraftman 18368 was born on the 13 th of November 1910 in Rainbow, Victoria, Melbourne. Leonard was the eldest of seven children. Leonard’s father Arthur. John. Barton and his Mother Sophia. May. Wykes inherited a family business, who they then went on to build a Post office, a state school and many more buildings across the district of Rainbow. Leonard married his wife Marjorie Stewart and they together had 3 children Betty, Robert, and Denis. He worked as a motor mechanic and fitter for 10 years and even managed to own his own business for 6 years in Taverner street, Melbourne. Leonard then enlisted in Melbourne on the 30 th of August 1940. First serving at the no.1 Aircraftman depot in Laverton he then was later transferred to the RAAF Headquarters in Darwin on the 16 th of March 1941. He was serving as a fitter in the Driver Motor Transport when the Royal Australian Air Force Base in Darwin was Air raided and bombed on the 19 th of February 194...
Still waiting for Darwin Study Tour but it will happen!! Unfortunately, we needed to cancel the April trip because of COVID considerations. Whilst incredibly disappointing, the good news is that the trip has been re-scheduled for 1-11 October this year. The itinerary has been completed and booked with only a few changes. The main reason for the changes is that we do not now have Anzac Day commitments in Darwin, and as a result we can spend more time adventuring in Kakadu and Arnhem Land. The new trip looks fantastic and we now have to wait another 6 month before the group finally has the trip to share and learn from. Whilst it has been a long wait, the staff are determined that this will be a great trip for you all. We will probably meet as a group before October because in June a new group of Premier Anzac Spirit School Prize awardees will be announced and presented with their medallions and certificates - you will all be invited to that ceremony if it is held before...
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