The OZY Youth Choir Honouring Defence Service was born from a visionary moment in the lead up to the Centenary of ANZAC. As the Education and Music Director for the Kangaroo March Centenary Reenactment, our founder, OJ Rushton, and Co-Founder and Vice-President of the March, Rhondda Vanzella OAM, sought to unite young people and families along a 500km journey from Wagga Wagga to Campbelltown, connecting the 176 schools on the march route.

What began as the world’s first online youth choir has grown into a national organisation that empowers young leaders, honours Defence and veteran families, and more recently has been working with Making Peasce walking alongside First Nations communities singing for peace, reconciliation and hope.

"From the very beginning, we used music and technology to connect—across distance, across difference, and across generations. A decade on, and The OZY Youth Choir HDS is a choir family that stays connected, even when our Defence families are posted far and wide and our members are in remote and regional communities. We are a voice for remembrance and a safe , inclusive space for children and youth,. We are a community that sings our shared history while dreaming of a better future." - OJ Rushton