Tiny television screens were tuned in to the grainy footage, and sometimes hundreds of students were gathered around each one.

It was a moment unlike any other. Jo Padgham and Bruce McCourt, who both now work in the school system in the ACT, were 12 years old at the time. They said there hadn't been a single event since that has brought a nation such hope and optimism.

At Canberra High on July 21, 1969 Mrs Padgham (nee Badham) was in first form, or what's now known as year 7.

It was 12.56pm in Canberra, and Mrs Padgham said the boys in her class were desperate to be allowed out to lunch.

"There were 160 or 170 first formers and we were all put in one room. But nobody knew exactly the time they would get out of the rover," Mrs Padgham said.

"Lunch was delayed because we just had to keep sitting. The little television was on one of those small stands. So 170 kids and however many teachers were associated with first form, we all watched on this tiny television."

Mrs Padgham remembered waiting patiently, but waiting and waiting.

"Finally they came out and it was very exciting. Hearing Neil Armstrong saying those words was a really big deal. Then, when it all finished, we were allowed to go to a late lunch."

Mrs Padgham said the day didn't end there. After lunch, in the class that followed, she sat in a circle and talked about how the moon landing made them feel.

"I can remember clearly thinking that if what we'd just seen was possible, anything is possible and it just gave such a feeling of optimism that we could do anything, because hey, they just walked on the moon."

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Bruce McCourt recalled the same feeling. He was at a school in Sydney formerly called Grantham High.

"It was a really exciting time, the whole school was abuzz," he said.

His class was lucky enough to have their science teacher bring in his home television, "a white thing with chrome rabbit ears", as unlike Canberra High his school didn't have any TV sets.

"The whole class gathered around and watched it all happening in black and white. It was very scratchy.

"I still clearly remember the teacher saying, 'You need to pay attention, this is history in the making, this is a big, big moment'. I remember it so clearly."

Mr McCourt retired this week from his job as principal of Calwell High School.

He said in his time as a teacher and principal, there hadn't been a single event that resulted in the feeling of man's first steps on the moon.

"I think the last thing that was probably a really positive or strong event was the apology Kevin Rudd gave," he said.

"I was at Campbell High at the time, and we stopped everything and brought everyone into the hall."

Mrs Pagdham said now, many of the shared events in the world were negative.

"It was a very optimistic time, then. I also think because we didn't have all the social media, we had a very limited news lens on the world. The disaster and difficulties, all that just didn't come our way."

She said the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America stopped the world in a similar but negative way, and it was a particularly difficult time to manage students.

"I think the big messages about the Apollo [missions] was there might have been three people who are the people we look at and who we know their names, but there were hundreds of people who made it happen. You realised it was people collaborating for the greater good."

"That message that I remember as a 12-year-old that, 'Hey, anything is possible, we need more opportunities for children and the whole community to think anything is possible'."