Peter FitzSimons may have been the keynote speaker for an annual event in Wollongong that traditionally launches Legacy Appeal Week. But like everyone else in the room he was impressed with another speaker. Among those who took to the stage at the 2016 Legacy Luncheon at City Diggers was South Coast Legacy junior legatee Sophie Barnes, 17, who recently returned from being given an opportunity to lay a wreath beneath the Arc de Triomphe as part of Centenary of Pozieres.
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Mr FitzSimons was at City Diggers on Friday to share the story of Fromelles and Pozieres which he researched extensively for a best-selling book. But prior to the event starting he was introduced to Ms Barnes and enjoyed learning about her experience and how she become a legatee. She was one of 75 young Legacy ambassadors who went to France just after Bastille Day. Ms Barnes lost her father David Barnes on Valentine’s Day 2015 and the first she heard about Legacy was from someone attending his funeral.
“From then on they were helping me with school and financially and then they mentioned the winter camp...which is where I met other junior legatees,” she said.
Mr Barnes was in the navy and worked on submarines before he became sick.
His daughter first heard about the opportunity in France last September and was then encouraged to consider making the trip.
“It was so busy. They were 12 to 16 hour days really packed with activities. In Belgium we followed the western front and visited every place we could to follow where the Australian soldiers went,” she said.
Ms Barnes said she learned a lot and was something other young Australians could consider doing in their own time.
“I didn’t realise it would be as hard as it was until I saw the graves,” she said.
“And seeing the battlefields is really confronting. I am from a generation that has not had to experience war. But it is really good to experience something that shocks you a bit. It helped me to really appreciate what we have because it can be taken away so easily.”
Opportunities to donate to Legacy continue all this week.
Illawarra Credit Union chief financial officer Anthony Perkiss said the business threw its sponsorship behind the event because Legacy was a community organisation doing so much to support children and spouses of defence force personnel who have lost their lives.
“We are a community based organisation and we want to support our members and also the people within our community,” Mr Perkiss.
Legacy Business and Community Support Committee chair David Swan said $223,000 had been raised in the eight years leading up to Friday’s lunch.
Wollongong and South Coast Legacy Club president Peter Florance said the annual event at City Diggers was very important.
“It raises a lot of money to support our 1700 widows, 12 children and eight or nine people with disabilities between Wollongong and Bega,” Mr Florance said.
“Wollongong has been the powerhouse of the club for many years. And this event is a great way to lead into and launch Legacy Week every year in Wollongong. So it is very important. And the business committee here does a fantastic job.”