If you walk along the cloisters outside the Memorial Hall, look up at the names inscribed on stone. There are the names in gold letters of those 120 Old Ignatians who died in the wars of the 20th century. Hundreds of others whose names are inscribed in blue are the names of those who survived. Each one of the men listed on our war memorial was sustained by the beliefs and values and education that he received here at Riverview and each one of them offered himself in the service of our country. 

On the 25th April, we commemorated the 110th anniversary of the first Australian troops to land at what is now known as Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. There's something too deep for words whenever we commemorate Anzac Day. We remind ourselves of this most significant day in Australian history, not to glorify war but to remember those who served their country and we remember by telling stories: 

Tragic stories. 

Of young lives cut short. 

Of great hope and promised unfulfilled. 

Of dreams unrealised. 

Of families crushed. 

Of brave young men. 

Of lives lived under the ever-present shadow of death. 

The stories run the risk of being largely forgotten unless we keep telling them. Because the stories bring to life again those names on stone. Each is linked to all the others by one common element: Riverview-this school. And in 2025, we remember the stories of four exceptionally brave old boys. 

CHARLES WILLIAMS 

Firstly, there was one who did not even survive his first morning 110 years ago at Gallipoli. Private Charlie Williams from Kempsey had left Riverview in 1909. He was quiet, unassuming, much liked. He was working in the orchard fields of NSW just before he enlisted and he sailed from Sydney in October 1914, aged just 21. He eventually landed at Gallipoli in the early hours of that first morning, a soldier in 1st Battalion. Amidst all the confusion and uncertainty and the noise of battle, Charlie was firstly shot in the upper arm but he refused to leave the firing line until, about two hours later, he fell, cut down by machine gun fire, near what came to be known as Lone Pine trying to take cover in the scrub. He was killed instantly. He has no known grave. He was the first old boy killed in action in Australian colours in any war. 

IGNATIUS BERTRAM NORRIS. 

Then there is Colonel Bertie Norris from Hunters Hill, born on the feast of Ignatius, 31 July 1880, hence his first name, but always called Bertie. He was a barrister, an eloquent advocate in court, Honorary Secretary of the Old Boys' Union in 1904, Commanding Officer of 53rd Battalion in 1916 in the catastrophic battle of Fromelles in northern France. On that one night alone, 19 July 1916, a staggering 2000 Australians were killed. Nearly 1300 of them have no known grave. On the morning before the battle, Colonel Norris knelt down in front of his men and received Holy Communion from the chaplain. He was one of the first to climb over the trenches and to valiantly lead his men across the open fields. 50 metres beyond the front line, he was mown down by machine gun fire. Then, for nearly 90 years, Bertie Norris' body and remains were never found until DNA from one of his grandsons, Tony and Simon Norris, who also went to Riverview, helped in identifying his remains. In 2010, he was buried with full military honours, 94 years to the day that he was killed. Ten years ago, our History students visited his grave and one of them draped his Riverview tie over the headstone. In our chapel, on the tabernacle side, there is a memorial window erected by Bertie's son, John Norris, who also went to Riverview.

KEVIN FAGAN. Then there are two other Riverview old boys who survived and whose stories continue to inspire us. Major Kevin Fagan, Dux of Riverview in both 1925 and 1926, was a surgeon who was a prisoner of war on the infamous Thai/Burma railway. He was a pillar of virtue, a light in the darkest world. He was faithful, generous and humble. He used all his skill so that others could simply live. His is a story of sacrifice and leadership and that spirit which dispels doubt. He shared his meagre rations with his sick and starving men. He walked up and down the line as the skeletal Australians were forced to march. He looked after each of his men and gave them a decent funeral and burial when their time came. Years later, Gordon Nelson, one of the survivors of the depravities of the railway recalled: "When Major Fagan had to amputate the leg of a severely wounded soldier, I held the soldier's leg and I noticed drops of water falling onto the wound. I looked up. The drops were the tears of Major Fagan, so moved was he as he desperately tried to save this man's life." EWALD UECHTRITZ. And the last of these stories is the strangest of all. Ewald Uechtritz from Rabaul in New Guinea was College Captain in 1938, champion athlete of the school. He returned to New Guinea but while on a visit to Germany in 1939, as a German national he was caught up in the draft and conscripted. He became a Lieutenant in the German Navy. The capricious nature of war was that it put classmates on opposite sides. Ewald somehow survived the war but never returned to Australia simply because he was in business overseas but he did stay in contact with many of his Riverview colleagues and lived to a grand age, dying in Hamburg in 2010, aged 93. Tomorrow is Anzac Day. Let us remember and commemorate all those whose stories we honour, especially those who went to this great school and who served their country with enduring courage and honour. LEST WE FORGET. James Rodgers.