President, The Old Melburnians
Every year at this time, several hundred Old Melburnians come together for their year group reunions. These are always occasions of great joy.
However, this year has been particularly poignant against the backdrop of a recent tragic death in our community which has deeply affected many. That adversity has reinforced the sense of a common bond I have spoken about before and this has been evident in the warmth of the reunions which have had a real sense of the moment recently.
The ANZAC Service of Commemoration in The Old Melburnians War Memorial Hall each April is also a poignant annual event in the life of the living School. This year I have the privilege of giving the Address. I intend to pose a question: how do we properly remember those we never knew?
For those who built the Hall of course, it had everything to do with personal memory, loss and grief. But that does not explain everything about the Hall, for them or for us.
To take one example, the names of the fallen are recorded without reference to rank or decoration and there was plenty of both among the living and the dead of that generation. I am certain that the names of the fallen are recorded in that way because those who built the Hall publicly remembered them as Old Melburnians, nothing more, nothing less.
No doubt their private grief was another matter altogether. We all remember the loss of the three Steele brothers, commemorated in the naming of the Steele Memorial Ground. Five other Old Melburnian families also lost multiple sons. I find that difficult to imagine.
At the Annual Dinner on 30 May, we will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Old Melburnians as a formal organisation. The first Old Melburnians President spoke about the esprit de corps that had characterised the School since its foundation in 1858. As Old Melburnians, we take pride in the achievement of others. But what actually matters between us is personal integrity and loyalty. I have no doubt that this is the common thread that runs through The Old Melburnians War Memorial Hall and into our lives today. That bond exists here and now. It is evident in times of both great joy and sadness.
I see that esprit de corps at reunions, the ANZAC Service, across our Clubs and Societies and in the large number of mostly younger Old Melburnians who coach and tutor at the School.
I expect that same esprit de corps will be very evident at the dinner, particularly this year.
It will be good to see you there.
Martin Scott KC (OM 1980)
President, The Old Melburnians
