On Monday last week, Hayley Phelps spoke about what Anzac Day meant to her in front of more than 1000 people gathered on the main street of Queanbeyan for the Anzac Day service.
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The year 11 Queanbeyan High School student is not new to large crowds, once delivering a speech to a crowd of 20 000 in Sydney at a Rotary Club event.
After a modern history trip to the Western Front in France with her high school, Miss Phelps said she realised what sacrifice young people like her had made for Australia in wars.
For the trip each student was assigned a Queanbeyan soldier buried in France and Belgium, and visited their graves throughout the trip.
“When I found mine at Villers-Bretonneux it was a feeling of pride, sadness and gratitude towards that man.”
“These were people that had probably never been visited by family before, so that was a really powerful moment for me in the trip.”