{"id":17729,"date":"2025-08-06T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/?post_type=article&p=17729"},"modified":"2025-08-06T15:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:04:38","slug":"building-community-partnerships-through-heritage","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/article\/building-community-partnerships-through-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Building community partnerships through heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Sunday 3 August, the History Club Ambassadors\u00a0had the honour of representing Santa Sabina College at the touching 32nd Burwood Council Sandakan Remembrance Service, which commemorated 80 years since the Sandakan death marches. Since 1993, the Burwood Council and Sandakan Community Educational Committee have hosted this service to honour and commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners of war who tragically lost their lives in Borneo walking from Sandakan to Ranau at the end of World War II. Twenty-three of them had come from the local Burwood community. The ceremony was held at Burwood Park which houses the only Sandakan memorial in Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the rain that Sunday morning offered, a sense of grace imbued the service. It was beautiful to see the community gathered and united to pay respects to the lives that have shaped our national identity of courage, empathy and resilience, and to acknowledge our country\u2019s history. However, the memorial didn\u2019t just teach us about Australia\u2019s history; it taught us about the strength found in community, the power of love and empathy, and the beauty of our shared humanity. In the words of Paul Keating, ‘Australians should know the truth about their history. A nation is stronger for knowledge of its shared experience, and the experience of these men should be engraved in the national memory’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a part of the memorial, Calliope Stewart on behalf of Santa Sabina College read a passage from a Sandakan prisoner of war survivor, Mr Richard Braithwaite. The entry served as a powerful reminder of these soldiers\u2019 unbreakable spirit amidst hardship, and invited reflection on their legacy of courage, determination and resilience. To conclude the service, Emily Wong and Monterey Tam laid a wreath as a sign of remembrance. Monterey laid a wreath at the foot of the Sandakan cenotaph on behalf of the school, as a symbolic act of respect and remembrance, honouring those who sacrificed their lives and ensuring their legacy is acknowledged by the community. Emily laid a wreath in the memory of the recently passed Galdys Barnes \u2013 a cherished member of the Burwood community, and passionate, dedicated advocate for remembrance \u2013 as her father Ralph had tragically died at Sandakan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Sabina students had the opportunity to connect with ex-student and prefect Aditi Kamath (Class of 2024), who read a passage during the service. Aditi is the 2025 Burwood Council\u2019s Young Citizen of the Year and she is working on social justice community initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sandakan Remembrance Service was a profound experience that united members, schools and leaders of the local community to commemorate the lives lost to the atrocities of Sandakan with sensitivity and emotional depth. We feel very privileged to have taken part in this service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calliope Stewart, Emily Wong and Monterey Tam<\/strong>
Year 11 History Ambassadors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday 3 August, the History Club Ambassadors\u00a0had the honour of representing Santa Sabina College at the touching 32nd Burwood Council Sandakan Remembrance Service, which commemorated 80 years since the Sandakan death marches. Since 1993, the Burwood Council and Sandakan Community Educational Committee have hosted this service to honour and commemorate the 2,428 Australian and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[4],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-17729","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_category-secondary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/17729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=17729"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/ssc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=17729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}