Freshwater sits close to NBSC Manly Campus in North Curl Curl, where Year 11 student Charlie Martin has been selected for a military history study tour of Greece and Crete.
Martin is one of 18 NSW students awarded the 2026 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship after more than 200 students from 148 government and non-government secondary schools applied.
The scholarship gives Year 10 History and Year 11 Modern History students an opportunity to extend their classroom studies through visits to battlefields, war cemeteries, museums, memorials and other historical sites.
Martin’s school recognised the selection as a result of his interest in history, commitment to learning and academic efforts.
Charlie Martin Takes Learning Beyond the Classroom
The scholars will travel from 26 September to 8 October during the Term 3 school holidays.
A military historian and three NSW history teachers will accompany the group throughout the program, helping students examine the places, records and personal stories connected with Australians at war.
The itinerary includes the Acropolis, Phaleron War Cemetery, the battlefields of Thermopylae and Thebes, the 6th Australian Division Memorial at Stavromenos, the battlefields of Rethymno and Souda Bay War Cemetery.
Students will take part in guided visits and site-specific learning activities before discussing and reflecting on what they have studied each day.
Travel, accommodation, meals, uniforms and scheduled activities are included in the scholarship.
Studying the Greece and Crete Campaigns
The tour falls during the 85th anniversary year of the Greek and Crete campaigns of 1941.
More than 58,000 Allied troops were sent to Greece to support Greek forces against the Axis invasion, including substantial numbers of Australians from the 6th Division.
After troops withdrew from mainland Greece, more than 26,000 Allied personnel were evacuated to Crete. Thousands of Australians later took part in the defence of the island.
The campaigns resulted in 274 Australians being killed, 507 wounded and more than 3,000 taken prisoner.
By visiting the battlefields, memorials and cemeteries associated with the campaigns, Martin will study that history in the locations where the events occurred.
Research Begins Before Departure
Martin joined the other scholarship recipients at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park as part of the group’s preparations.
The scholars met their accompanying teachers and tour historian, received research assignments and attended a commemorative service in the Hall of Memory.
They also heard a live reading of wartime letters written by Beryl Crowdy and examined Second World War artefacts at close range.
Those preparatory activities will support the research and historical learning Martin will undertake when the tour begins in September.
Published 17-July-2026
