In his senior year as Vice Captain, Lieutenant Philip Groves '17 became a familiar presence on the Centenary Hall stage. Nearly a decade later, in April, Lt Groves returned to the same lectern for the School's Anzac Day Assembly, this time to address students about the importance of service and sacrifice.
He serves in the Royal Australian Navy as a Weapons and Electronics Engineering Officer onboard HMAS Stirling in Perth, having joined in 2020 through the Defence Undergraduate Scheme partway through an engineering degree at The University of Queensland. He has completed regional presence deployments in the South China Sea and exercises with allied militaries including the US, Japan, Canada, Britain and Singapore.
"The world today may look very different from 1915 or 1939, but the underlying challenges remain the same: competition for power, conflict between nations, and the struggle to balance national interests with global responsibility," he said. "When I put on this uniform, I am reminded that I serve something greater than myself."
He told the assembly: "You may never be asked to serve in uniform. But you will be asked to serve in other ways: as leaders, as voters, as professionals and as citizens."
Source: Grammar News, Winter 2026.
Source: Grammar News Winter 2026. Read the original edition