Twenty-two students were awarded the Hindmarsh medal, a medal that represents community spirit and courage, at the Centaur Day service at the Point Danger Memorial on Friday, May 13.
Ian Hindmarsh, son of Dr Hindmarsh who served on the AHS Centaur, and Mrs Jan Thomas, of the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association, awarded the students with this honour.
Centaur primary is a school that is deeply steeped in history.
Each year the school remembers the 268 navy merchants who lost their lives when the AHS Centaur hospital ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
On December 20, 2009 the hospital ship was finally found east of Moreton Island after years of extensive search.
2011 marks the 68th anniversary of the sinking of the AHS Centaur.
Councillor Robbins thanked the school for their ongoing commitment to holding the Centaur’s memory alive as she symbolically unveiled a replica of the plaque that was laid on the ship in January 2010.
The plaque fixed to the memorial now stands complete, facing the ocean.
The Centaur school choir reverently sang ‘Lest we forget’ and school captain Geordie Wilson played the Last Post on his bugle.
Many special guests including sole survivor Martin Pash and Frances and Mary Moran, laid wreaths in remembrance alongside Centaur’s house captains who each also laid wreaths to honour the school’s house representatives – Lawson, Moss, Colefax and Savage.
Navy merchant veteran Jack Hubbard quietly worded his thoughts of the day, “I think it is fitting to see this tragic event still commemorated in such a wonderful fashion with all the Centaur students and staff, the veterans and all the other people here.”
