The Silent Anzac a success at Whitehorse Centre

The recent performance of The Silent Anzac at the Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading, was a great success. There were not many dry eyes in the audience at the end of the performance. We were graced with the presence of Whitehorse Councillor Prue Cutts, Captain Ken Greig OAM RAN Ret, Colin & Val Hamley, President, 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion Association, Pitsa Binnion - Principal of McKinnon Secondary College and students Andrew and Mitchell from the Box Hill North Primary School.The performance of the show was our third this year and it was very pleasing to see the level of interest in the show especially from our younger folk. The poppies laid during the show by Box Hill North Primary School students Andrew and Mitchel were handcrafted by students at the school and will be laid by the band at the Australian National Memorial in France in November this year. There was also a lot of interest from our patrons with the WW1 memorabilia and poppies display in the Waratah Room with Captain Greig, Secretary of the AE2 Commemorative Foundation, remarking that he was impressed with the display and information on the AE2 that was put together by our John Hoppe. Captain Grieg was also involved in the search and discovery of the AE1 near the Duke of York Islands in December 2017. The AE1 was lost with all hands in September 1914. In June 2014, Captain Greig was a member of the “Project Silent Anzac” which conducted a final maritime archaeological assessment of AE2. The project aimed to preserve, protect and tell the story of AE2.