St Joseph's Nudgee College

April 19, 2011

The NC DrumLine prepared to play to an audience of thousands when they performed at St Joseph’s Nudgee College’s ANZAC Day service this morning.

Today’s performance was timed perfectly for the NC DrumLine who will be seen and heard throughout the state when they march in Brisbane’s ANZAC Day parade on April 25.

The NC DrumLine is one of a small number of school-based bands from around the state to be invited to participate in the march which will be telecast on ABC TV and radio.

This will be the group’s second, major, public performance this year after playing at Suncorp Stadium before the Reds Round 1 Super Rugby game. The NC DrumLine are the reigning champions in the Open section of the Australian Percussion Competition and will travel to Sydney later in the year to defend their title.

With ANZAC Day falling on Easter Monday, Nudgee College held its annual commemoration ceremony this morning to allow for Easter services later in the week.

The ceremony was attended by members of the wider Nudgee College community including Old Boys, students, staff and parents. Nudgee College Old Boys and current Australian Defence Force officers Captain Tom Green (NC 1997-2001) and Sub-Lieutenant BJ Glover (2000-2004) also attended.

Captain Green is a member of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) in the Australian Army while Sub-Lieutenant Glover serves in the Navy.

“Ten years ago I looked just like you. I never thought that I’d be dropped in a war zone on my 23rd birthday,” Captain Green told the students.

Tom was a Barrett House Prefect in his Senior year and after graduation went on to study Landscape Architecture at QUT. He took a gap year in his second year of study and went overseas before completing additional study in 2004. In 2005 Tom joined the Army. He graduated from the Royal Military College at Duntroon in December 2006 and was posted to 6 RAR in January 2007.

Tom has deployed to Iraq in November 2007 and served there until June 2008. In January 2009 he was posted to the School of Infantry before being posted back to 6 RAR in October 2009 where he was promoted to Captain to deploy to Afghanistan from February to November 2010.

“ANZAC Day at Nudgee College always gave me the chance to reflect on things I didn’t normally think about on a daily basis. Even when I was in Afghanistan, no matter where we were we always stopped for ANZAC Day,” he said.

Captain Green said this year’s ANZAC Day will be “extra special” as he remembers members of the 6 RAR who lost their lives during the past year and encouraged students to continue to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“You are the custodians of the ANZAC spirit. You will determine the legacy of ANZAC Day in the years to come.”

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