Proud Holy Cross College, Ellenbrook, student Daniel Docker with his Simpson Prize. Photo: Supplied.
The West Australian winner of the prestigious Simpson Prize has been won by a year 11 Holy Cross College student.
The 15-day trip to the Western Front was Daniel Docker’s reward for winning, which was capped off with him attending dawn service in the northern France commune of Villers-Bretonneux on Anzac Day.
The Simpson Prize is an annual national competition for year nine and 10 students.
Sponsored by the Australian Government, the competition encourages participants to explore the significance of the Anzac experience and what it has meant for Australia.
Students are required to respond to an essay question in either written or audio-visual format.
The question for the 2017 competition was “Some historians have described 1917 as ‘the worst year of the Great War’ for Australia and Australians. To what extent is this an accurate statement?”.
Daniel submitted his entry late last year. State and territory winners were announced in March 2018.
He was supported and encouraged in his endeavours by history teacher Ms Emilie Reynolds.
Over a period of two months, he worked on the essay question as an independent project, meeting with Ms Reynolds regularly to respond to feedback and refine his work.
“He put in a lot of effort to perfect his essay and his tenacity and perseverance paid off,” she said.
Daniel was flown to Canberra where he was awarded the Simpson Prize certificate and medal.
He then travelled to Europe during the Easter school holidays.
Daniel visited places of significance in WWI, including the Cenotaph in London, and military cemeteries and memorials in Belgium and France.
He spent “a day as a digger” at Passchendaele and attended the last post service in Ypres.
The experience was the trip of a lifetime for Daniel and this is captured in his reflections.
“As a history student, I am often confronted with statistics about death. Going to Europe and visiting the cemeteries of the Western Front was an incredible experience, as the death toll figure of WWI was transformed into headstones, a headstone for every life that was lost in the conflict,” he explained.
“The dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux for the centenary was absolutely unforgettable, the service was incredibly moving – sending the strong message that we must never forget this tragedy.
“Through the Simpson Prize tour, I was able to travel through some of the most important places in our nation’s history, standing where brave Australian soldiers once stood. I was able to make lifelong friends from all over Australia and being able to share my experience with them was amazing.”