Connecting Spirits 2017 Community Tour: Looking back number 3

Connecting Spirits and Youth Leadership

When reflecting over the last 13 years of Connecting Spirits, one of the many significant outcomes of the project, has been the contribution of the Youth Leaders. The Youth Leadership part of Connecting Spirits has its origins in the actual formation of the project in 2004. This aspect of CS happened almost by accident not design and has evolved over the past decade. Through the passion and dedication of Remembrance 2004 Mt Barker High student, Donna Handke (now Mellors) this young woman carved a path not only for herself but those young leaders who followed in her footsteps. Her role in the formation of Connecting Spirits is well documented in numerous places including the webpage of the project (www.connectingspirits.com.au ) . Donna established the template in one sense by taking part in the 2004 tour then through her ongoing support and passion for researching and commemorating our war dead, worked with me to establish the inaugural CS project of 2006. As a young person working with her peers, she had a unique perspective on all aspects of the project. From that point on, others followed her lead and the contribution of these young Australians can not be underestimated. Each of them initiated fund raising activities, contributed to decision making, assisted and took responsibility for many other areas. By giving that practical support to both Mal Jurgs and myself, they gained a broad range of skills and experiences that produced a CV that most school leavers would only dream of. There are many stories and accounts of their work and CS has been enriched by all their contributions. Thank you…

CONNECTING SPIRITS YOUTH LEADERS FROM  2006- 2017

2006 Donna Handke (now Mellors) – co-project manager

2008 Flo Bourke & Chloe Oborn – Singer /song writer (Flo) and co- author of the CS book (Chloe)

2010 -Hamish Jurgs & Hayden Biddle- peer support on tour

2012 – Molly Flanagan – established the Connecting Spirits project for Willunga region through the local RSL sub-branch

2014 – Ashleigh Martin – co project manager on the St Francis De Sales project

2015-Tamika Williams & Mollie Sandercock – co project managers on the CS Anzac Centenary Tour

2017- Tamika Williams- co-project manager on the CS Community tour supporting Mal Jurgs at Meningie Area School

THE FUTURE…

The Connecting Spirits project continues to evolve and is now a community based project not an exclusive DECD initiative. Continuing with the concept Youth Leadership, Mal and I are working closely with Tamika Williams who is studying to be a teacher specifically in the field of Aboriginal Education. As we begin the planning for the 2019 tour, it is to be hoped that Tamika will continue to have an active role in the decision making and overall project management and to travel with the next group. The skills she is developing will stand her in good stead when she enters the classroom as a fully qualified teacher and thus continue the work of CS. If you, your company or organisation value our young people and can financially assist Tamika in her Youth Leadership role, please contact me on julie@juliereecetours.com.au

                                                         2004-2008: Donna Handke (now Mellors)

Donna Handke at Rufus Rigney's grave 2004- the Connecting Spirits journey begins

Belgian television covered the Harelebeke ceremony with Donna 2004

Through Donna's initiative, the soil from Rufus Rigney's grave in Belgium was returned to his niece the late Dr Doreen Kartinyeri in the Connecting Spirits Anzac event on April 23rd, 2005 on the shores of the Coorong....Ngarrindjeri country. Connecting Spirits was born.

Donna leads the inaugural 2006 CS tour : seen here with Chloe Oborn who returned to the battlefields as a joint Youth Leader with Flo Bourke in 2008

Coverage of the 2008 Connecting Spirits ceremony at the grave of Rufus Rigney.

2008 - Donna with underground WW1 expert Johan Vandewalle. Donna is wearing her Ngarrindjeri shirt with pride.



2008 - 2010 : Flo Bourke and Chloe Oborn

Chloe and Donna share a commemoration in 2008

Flo Bourke

Flo Bourke Youth Leader in 2008, plays the song 'Tired old piano' in Talbot House, the inspiration for one of the songs she wrote and recorded. Flo was mentored by iconic performer Eric Bogle.

2010: Hamish Jurgs

Hamish Jurgs was a wonderful support to his peers while on tour.

2012: Molly Flanagan 

Molly Flanagan was a member of the 2010 CS tour and when her family moved to McLaren Flat and to Willunga High School, Molly made contact with the local RSL sub branch to establish another CS project for that region. Molly initiated the Willlunga project and worked with the RSL members to take CS to a new community.

Molly with future Youth Leader Mollie Sandercock and the President of the Mclaren Vale RSL sub branch, Brian Flavel at Kranji war cemetery in Singapore.

2014: Ashleigh Martin & the St Francis de Sales project

Ashleigh Martin takes the lead from Molly Flanagan and sets up a 3rd CS project ('Anazc Fallen Heroes')  with St Francis De Sales college in Mt Barker. The impact of these youth leaders continues ...


2015 : Mollie Sandercock and Tamika Williams on the Anzac Centenary tour

Add Mollie Sandercok and Tamika Williams departing on the 2015 tour.

 

Connecting Spirits Community Tour 2017: Looking back ...number 2

'THEY HAD NO CHOICE'

The 2017 Connecting Spirits Community Tour introduced a number of new sites and areas of focus one including the acknowledgement of the role of animals in war over the years. Our youngest member Charlotte Treloar who is an accomplished horse rider, did a brilliant effort with her research into the part played by many different animals in W.W.1 including two very famous Australian horses. As part of her moving and beautifully presented commemoration to the horses of war, she read the poem by 'Banjo' Paterson called 'The Last Parade'. As she read A.B Paterson's words in front of the Hyde Park memorial to all animals of war, all of us added another layer to our knowledge of the Great War. Thank you to the youngest member of our group Charlotte Treloar. 

THE LAST PARADE by A.B (Banjo) Paterson

With never a sound of trumpet,

With never a flag displayed,

The last of the old campaigners

Lined up for the last parade.

Weary they were and battered

Shoeless and knocked about:

From under their ragged forelocks

Their hungry eyes looked out.

And they watched as the old commander

Read out to the cheering men

The Nation's thanks, and the orders

To carry them home again.

And the last of the old campaigners,

Sinewy, lean and spare-

He spoke for his hungry comrades;

'Have we not done our share?'

'Starving and tired and thirsty

We limped on the blazing plain;

And after a long night's picket

You saddled us up again.

'We froze on the wind-swept kopjies

When the frost lay snowy-white

Never a halt in the daytime,

Never a rest at night!

'We knew when the rifles rattled

From the hillside bare and brown,

And over our weary shoulders

We felt warm blood run down.

'As we turned for the stretching gallop, 

Crushed to the earth with weight;

But we carried our riders through it-

Sometimes, perhaps, too late.

'Steel! We were steel to stand it-

We that have lasted through,

We that are old campaigners

Pitiful, poor and few.

'Over the sea you brought us,

Over the the leagues of foam:

Now we have served you fairly

Will you not take us home?

'Home to the Hunter River,

To the flats where the lucerne grows;

Home to the Murrumbidgee

Runs white with the melted snows.

'This is a small thing surely!

Will you not give command

That the last of the old campaigners

Go back to their native land?'

They looked at the grim commander,

But never a sign he made.

'Dismiss!' and the old campaigners

Moved off from their last parade.

Of the 100,000+ horses that left Australian shores, only one was brought home 'Sandy' : the horse of Major General Sr William Bridges. There has been a common mythology that all the horses left behind were shot. This is not accurate as their fate was quite varied. Many were sold on to the locals and the British Army however those that  were deemed to sick and unfit were destroyed. Despite this the end result for these loyal and hard working animals of war must have created many layers of grief for their military masters. 

And as the memorial in Hyde Park in London so poignantly states:

THEY HAD NO CHOICE...