Students from St Vincent’s Primary School, Aranda, were invited by the University of Canberra and Brindabella Rotaract clubs to fold origami paper cranes for a ceremony in commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The paper cranes will be hung from the Peace Bell Pavilion at Nara Park in Canberra as part of the memorial.

The idea for the origami paper cranes was inspired by the novel, ‘Sadako Sasaki and her One Thousand Cranes’, written by Canadian-American author, Eleanor Coerr. The novel is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a child who was a victim of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sasaki developed leukaemia as a result of exposure to radiation and before her death, she folded 1000 origami cranes in the hopes that it would grant her wish to live.

After the ceremony in Canberra, the paper cranes will be bundled up and shipped to Japan to be hung from the Children’s Memorial in Hiroshima on the International Day of Peace on 21 September 2021.

“Students from St Vincent’s are great advocates for peace,” said Principal Lina Vigliotta. “They are the proud owners of the very first Peace Pole, of which there are now over 100 across Australia. Our school will hold our very own Peace Ceremony later this Term,” she said.