Greenacre Public School’s connection with the spirit of the Anzac stretches as far back as 1915 and the Australian landing at Gallipoli.

Many an old scholar of Greenacre Public School sent letters back from the frontlines of World War 1 outlining their experiences, and many of these letters were published in the school magazines of the time.

Sergeant J E Pearce, B Company, 10th Infantry Battalion, AIF, was one such old scholar whose experience of storming the beaches at Gallipoli on the morning of Sunday, April 25, 1915 was published in the Midwinter edition of the school magazine (p. 9) in 1915. He wrote: ” I am proud to have been amongst the first Australians to do something on this side of the world, but I realize how easily I might have been amongst the slain. When the 10th Battalion roll was called two days after our landing on Gallipoli, only one officer and twenty-four men responded out of over 1,000.”

Sergeant Pearce, himself wounded in the battle, graphically described the events of the day and, through his words and those of many other servicemen from Adelaide High School who answered Britain’s call, the school community came to understand the price of freedom.