Annie McDonald, who attends Newcastle University, was part of a group of 32 primary and secondary pre-service teachers who traveled through Belgium and France following the Western Front Remembrance trail focusing on the involvement of Australians during the First World War.

The two-week study tour involved the students visiting significant battle sites such as Villers-Bretonneux, Fromelles and Passchendaele.

On September 19, the group attended the wreath laying ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ypres.

The Menin Gate was the only gateway into Ypres across the moat.

Ypres was a strategic position during the First World War as it stood in the path of Germany’s planned sweep across Belgium, also known as the Schlieffen Plan.

Hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers marched through the Menin Gate on their way to the Western Front and many did not return.

In 1920 construction began on the memorial which has more than 54,000 names commemorating Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave who perished in the Ypres salient.    

Annie, the daughter of  Kathy and Peter McDonald from Salisbury, was one of the four students to lay a wreath that was full of hand crafted poppies, gum leaves and wattle, from families around Australia.

The group tour and wreath laying ceremony coincided with the centenary years of the First World War along with the centenary of the third battle of Ypres, more commonly referred to as Passchendaele.

Education student Mikahlia Holmes said the wreath was wrapped with red and purple poppies, gum leaves and wattle that were all hand made with cotton and wool.

“A call was put out asking for donations, and families from around Australia responded,” she said.

“Notably Thornton Public School who donated some lovely red poppies.

“The Garnet/Crossing family also donated some wattle in remembrance of their fallen family member.”

The wreath was laid by Annie McDonald, Jordan Kolarik, Mikahlia Holmes and Vivienne Hockridge all from the University of Newcastle.