This week at school we have commemorated ANZAC Day, as is fitting. Australians have been very active in our Army, Navy, Air Force and policing operations for more than a century. This involvement has stretched from the Boer War in 1899 through to the First and Second World Wars, Korean War and Vietnam War, the Malayan emergency (the Indonesian Confrontation), Iraq, Afghanistan, and the undeclared and asymmetrical wars and policing operations in East Timor, the Pacific Islands and the Middle East. The high numbers of Australian casualties in the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second World War (1939-1945) were disproportionate to the Australian population at these times. In the First World War in particular, the rigid tactics of generals, whose thinking was still posited on the Napoleonic Wars of 100 years before, were not suited to the new age of mechanised warfare. Machine guns, poison gas and the just developed tanks and aircraft took a terrible toll. Trench warfare was a mincer – a charnel house.
ANZAC Day 1915
It is perhaps a quirk of the Australian character that ANZAC Day celebrates a military disaster. The assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps on 25 April 1915 was ill conceived by the British Ministry of Defence and was a failure. The troops met unexpected stiff resistance by the Turkish Army and were unable to fulfil their mission of breaking through to Constantinople (now Istanbul). After eight months of fighting, the surviving troops were evacuated. The ANZAC legend saw the newly federated Australia as emerging on the world stage through this baptism of fire.
Is the war over?
A century ago, expressed Christian faith was far more common than today and soldiers understood the war through this framework. This is less the case in recent conflicts. Society reflected a Christian consensus; the divisions were not between faith and secularism. They were sectarian: Protestants and Catholics. Adherents of both saw themselves reflected in Jesus’ prescription, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
While it is right to commemorate the sacrifice of these men and women in the service of their country, we need to resist the cultural trend to corral Christian faith simply to ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day (remembering the Armistice in November 1918 which effectively ended the 1st World War). After the cessation of the Vietnam War in 1975, there were no more world conflicts of this size for the rest of the century. The collapse of the Soviet Union and demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989 seemed to usher in, as American Professor Francis Fukuyama titled his book, ‘The End of History and The Last Man’. It seemed that Western liberal democracy had won, convincingly and permanently. To say the least, this forecast proved premature. In 2026 there are wars and insurgencies proceeding, whether declared or not, obviously in Ukraine, Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Palestine, Lebanon and those we hear much less about because there is no TV footage of them. These include Myanmar (Burma), Somalia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Islamic fundamentalist-generated insurgencies in Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Syria, Burkina-Faso, Niger and the Central African Republic. Seething tensions exist between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and on the India/China, Thailand/Cambodia borders, as well as between China and Taiwan. Most of these flare periodically into actual fighting. A nuclear armed North Korea threatens South Korea. US President, Donald Trump, has variously threatened to invade Canada, Greenland and Cuba. The immense challenges of the current and foreseeable geo-political situation are enough to jolt we Australians out of any complacency, bred by the benefits of the so-called ‘Tyranny of Distance’, down here at the bottom of the world.
A certain future
While Christian faith speaks into these conflicts and there are some parallels between sacrifice by combatants and the sacrifice Jesus made of himself, our faith relates to the broad vistas of life and not just to peak times. The Bible looks forward to the last times, to the New Age of Jesus’ return when “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). As the prospect of war involving Australia seems to grow more likely, remembering the sacrifice of the ANZACs and military personnel that came after them is increasingly poignant. Our earnest hope and prayer is that none of our graduates are embroiled in warfare in the future.
Maranatha! (Come, Lord Jesus, come!)
Dr John Collier
Interim Principal
It is a blessing to pray together as a school community! Our Prayer Group warmly invites you to join them in prayer every Thursday during term time, from 9.00-9.30am in Cafe Covie.
Each week in the Covie Weekly, our Prayer Group provides a passage of Scripture for us to meditate on and some prayer suggestions for the week ahead. These can all be found here.
Monday 27 April | Anzac Day Public Holiday (School Closed)
Tuesday 28 April - Friday 1 May, 8.00-11.00am | Cafe Covie open for parents
Thursday 30 April | Junior School (Primary) & Secondary School Cross Country
Friday 1 May, 9.50am | Infants Assembly in the PAS
Friday 1 May, 1.40pm | Primary Assembly in the PAS
We warmly invite all Covie mums and mother figures and their children to join us for a Mother’s Day celebration at school on 8 May. This will be a wonderful opportunity to spend time together and celebrate the beautiful mums in our community.
Join us on Monday 18 May for a practical, faith-informed evening equipping parents with evidence-based tools to best understand and support your child.
Chris Cipollone will present a theology of anxiety, followed by Vanessa de Sauty, a Christian practising psychologist, sharing practical strategies for supporting children from everyday worries through to clinical anxiety across the different developmental stages.
Please note this is a parent only event.
A reminder to all Association members to please complete both the dinner RSVP and the Annual Adherence to Association Membership using the links below.
2026 Annual Adherence to Association Membership
Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our Association.
Join us every Thursday to pray.
If you do not have a social media account, you can view our posts via our moments gallery
On Tuesday, our school gathered for our ANZAC Assembly. Special guest, Navy Chaplain David Hastie from HMAS Penguin shared a thoughtful and meaningful devotion, helping us reflect deeply on sacrifice, service and remembrance. We thank David for his time with us.
Our Junior Choir also led us beautifully in singing the Australian National Anthem, School Captains spoke about ANZAC Day from their own perspectives, Dr Collier recited the Ode of Remembrance, before we stood together in a moving minute of silence as The Last Post was played.
We thank God for those who bravely fought for our country, and we give thanks to Jesus for His ultimate sacrifice, reminding us of the hope, freedom and peace we share today.
Thank you for your patience at drop off and pick up times each day; it makes a big difference. We recognise there is a lot of traffic congestion at these times, however, the safety of our students is our greatest concern.
In the interests of community safety, parents must not enter or exit the Dell Street car park by vehicle between 2.55pm and 3.10pm, until the school buses have left.
Thank you for helping to reinforce this important message and keep our community safe
Notices from local sporting clubs, organisations and local church events can be found here - Community Notices.