Alister Henskens SC MP, Member for Ku-ring-gai, has congratulated local student Andy Scott of Barker College as a winner of the 2018 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship.

Andy is one of 20 outstanding Year 10 and 11 students from across NSW that will embark on a once in a lifetime tour of the battlefields and memorial sites of the Western Front in Europe in June and July 2018.

The successful students will travel to Flanders in Belgium to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Hamel on 4 July. The 13-day tour will also take in other significant Australian battlefields including the Ypres Salient, Passchendaele and the Somme.

Mr Henskens stated that the local community was extremely proud of Andy.

“The 2018 scholarship ballot was very competitive and close to 100 schools across NSW applied,” said Mr Henskens.

“All of the applicants should be commended for their strong leadership qualities and interest in Australian history.”

Andy has written a historical narrative, in part based on First World War nurse Grace Wilson’s extraordinary work with the Anzacs and also by using a fictitious character to represent the thousands of women who dedicated themselves to serving on the home front in a variety of capacities.

Mr Henskens observed that “by electing to craft a story rather than rely on historical fact, Andy has recognized and honoured in a unique and highly personal way the different types of services through which women contributed to the war effort and reflects the overall profound effect on women of the First World War.

“It is extraordinarily important for history to live on through subsequent generations. The tour provides an unrivalled opportunity for Andy to represent our community and to gain a better understanding of the Anzac legacy,” Mr Henskens said.

Minister for Veterans Affairs, David Elliott, said the journey would be something the students would draw upon for the rest of their lives.

“The Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship is a fantastic program, which enables high school students to further their education by visiting key historic battlefields in France and Belgium where Australians forged the Anzac spirit,” Mr Elliott said.

The students will be joined by an official party, including three supervising teachers and a tour historian.