Awardee reflection - Amee Mann

The 2025 Premiers Anzac Spirit School Prize study tour to Vietnam was an amazing and eye-opening experience which will stay with me forever. I am extremely grateful, proud, and honoured to have this experience, to be able to walk the footsteps of Anzac and Vietnamese soldiers.

This study tour did not only give me lifelong memories and friendships but gave me the chance to grow independently as a person. Being away from home for two weeks overseas was a frightening thought, but I was able to grow as a person and experience things I wouldn’t have been able to if I was on a family holiday. Going on an overseas study tour allowed me to become independent and responsible for myself, therefore making me more courageous, more people-smart, and widened my comfort zone. This tour has impacted me in many ways, but this experience has impacted and changed my perspective on the Vietnam War the most. Growing up I always learnt about the Anzac’s perspective of the war, and coming to Vietnam and hearing locals talk about the war and read about the North Vietnamese perspective changed my thoughts about the war.  

During our 14-day study tour we learnt so much about the Anzac’s involvement in the war. This tour showed us things history books and documentaries could only explain. We visited historic places such as Nui Dat, Long Tan, and the Cu Chi tunnels, being g able to see where the Anzacs fought and fell. Getting the chance to see these historic sights was an emotional and memorable experience, I’ll never forget what it was like standing where the Anzacs stood.

Although we went to Vietnam to learn about the Anzac’s involvement in the Vietnam war, we also got to see what life was like in Vietnam. Visiting places like the Ben Than Markets in Ho Chi Min city, the Hue Imperial Citadel, as well as trying local, authentic cuisine every day. This study tour allowed us to see the difference in the quality and style of life in Vietnam compared to Australia. Even though the places we visited were largely populated and high density, all the locals we interacted with were some of the nicest people I have met. They were kind, funny, and willing to help us and make our trip as enjoyable and memorable as possible.

The 2025 PASSP study tour group embodied the Anzac spirit during our time in Vietnam. We encouraged and supported each other, showing mateship from the beginning until the end of our trip. The courage shown by the awardees and adults on the trip was remarkable, with comfort zones being stretched and fears being faced. Many of us fell ill throughout the tour, but we all showed resilience, pushing ourselves when we were tired or sick, just as the Anzacs had to.

Those two weeks in Vietnam went by so fast, and yet they changed us all so much. I made life lasting memories and friendships with people I would never have met, seeing places I would never have seen. This was truly an amazing an honourable experience, one I will not soon forget.