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When, in July, 2003, then R.I. Zone Director John Thorne, put to the incoming group of governors for 2004-2005, an idea to raise the profile of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) through the attendance of a team at the Dawn Service at Gallipoli, the concept was seemingly an impossibility.

But this group, now the District governors, took the idea back to their Districts and set up a working party to examine the logistics of such a project. A discussion paper was drafted by the working party to identify the goals and outcomes, and this was circulated and refined.
When the idea was put to the New Zealand governors, they embraced it totally and enthusiastically. Meetings were subsequently arranged with governors from New Zealand and Turkey at the International Assembly at Anaheim, California, U.S.A. to seek the permission and CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

Send a team of outstanding young people, 20 Australians and six New Zealanders, to the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, and what have you got?

A uniquely Anzac team, at Anzac Cove, on Anzac Day building new friendships and immense goodwill with its Turkish counterparts.

And, according to Rotarian team leaders Rick Landers, of the Rotary Club of Glenhaven, N.S.W., and John Prendergast, of the Rotary Club of Invercargill South, N.Z., it was an unforgettable experience. Team members were selected from District Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) courses, ensuring that the team comprised the crème de la crème of Australian and New Zealand youth.

Team camaraderie was evident from the time they first met at Dubai, and strengthened as the tour developed.