Lily-Rose Mooney from Gundagai Public School is one of 16 primary division winners across the Riverina in Michael McCormack’s 15th Annual ANZAC Writing Competition.
Lily-Rose Mooney from Gundagai Public School is one of 16 primary division winners across the Riverina, in Michael McCormack’s 15th Annual ANZAC Writing Competition.
The theme for 2025 was “ANZACS: Heroes all”, and there was a huge response to the competition, with more than 680 entries from 23 schools submitted.
Lily-Rose submitted a poem titled ‘Thinking back’, which reflects on the sacrifice of the ANZACs and their families:
Thinking back
As I sit here and think back,
to those that wore the slouch hat,
I think of those families who would dread,
that one of theirs would lay dead,
We stand here at the dawn service,
and speak about the ones that served for us,
Imagine having to listen to that gun,
knowing one day you might be done,
I feel sorry for those that had to eat out of an old tin,
all the agony and pain they were in,
In my mind I can vividly see,
a service man standing right in front of me,
He has a scar from a bullet wound,
As red as the poppies bloom,
we stand in a large and dense crowd,
and say in chorus “Lest we forget” loud and proud.
-By Lily-Rose Mooney, Gundagai Public School
Gundagai Public School Principal Jesse Wheaton said the school is very proud of Lily-Rose.
“We are incredibly proud of Lily-Rose for being one of the primary division winners. With over 1,000 students submitting entries, this is a remarkable achievement,” Jesse said.
Lily’s poem will be published in Mr McCormack’s annual ANZAC Day commemorative booklet, and she will receive a signed participation certificate as well as a special book prize from the Australian War Memorial.
Mr McCormack said he had been impressed by the depth of feeling for ANZACs among the entries.
“Many entries displayed a deep empathy for what our heroic ANZACs endured during their service to our nation, and not just World War 1 ANZACs, but also for Veterans from subsequent conflicts and peace-keeping operations as well as their families and even war animals, such as horses and dogs,” Mr McCormack said.
“The high quality of writing came from not just study, but also from the heart, Mr McCormack said.
Entries were put into Primary and Secondary categories, and divided into North, South, East and West divisions. Lily Rose won the East division for the Primary School category for the book prize.
Each of the 16 winning and highly commended entries have been published in the 36-page booklet, which also contains fascinating articles about the extraordinary deeds performed by ordinary residents who went to war and often performed extraordinary deeds.
These 16 students will also receive a book prize from the Australian War Memorial. The booklet also contains all the ANZAC Day service times from locations across the Riverina, Snowy Moun-tains, South West Slopes and Southern Tablelands.
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