# data[].attributes.body
by Dr Geoffrey Partington

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The losses on the Western Front in the early months of war in 1914 and 1915 were far higher than each warring nation had anticipated. After early German advances in Flanders, a virtually stationary Western Front ran from the English Channel to the Alps and thousands of lives were required for advances measured in yards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Australian troops who stormed ashore as part of the Allied landing force on the morning of April 25, 1915, bore the newly minted name Anzacs, formed in Egypt only a few months before.

A campaign that was supposed to end in a quick and decisive Allied victory became bogged down in the face of determined and resourceful Turkish resistance. Each side fired artillery shells at the other, sniped and fought at close quarters, yet the Allies were ultimately pinned down, unable to take the Turkish forts that commanded the heights of the peninsula. By December 1915 the campaign was deemed a failure, and the Allied forces withdrew.

About 420,000 Australians enlisted for service in the war - almost 40 per cent of the eligible male population For Australia, it was a shattering moment. Australian fatalities at Gallipoli numbered 8,709. Another 17,924 were wounded. British forces suffered almost four times as many deaths and close to 80,000 wounded. Australian troops had fought alongside Britain before - in Sudan and in the Boer War - but this was the first time that Australians had been exposed to the bloody horrors of 20th-century trench warfare, and the nation recoiled.

Despite this savage introduction, something precious was salvaged from the disaster. Gallipoli showed Australians what they were made of, and it was something to be proud of. Their troops were courageous, intrepid and they looked after one another.

Epic battle: an Australian soldier at Anzac Cove

Folk heroes were made from common men on the stark hillsides of Gallipoli. There was John Simpson, a stretcher bearer who, together with his donkey, ferried wounded soldiers from the front line to the beach, often under fire, until he was killed in action. Lance Corporal Albert Jacka of the 14th Battalion Australian Imperial Force won a Victoria Cross for his extraordinary courage in driving Turkish troops from his trench after all his fellow soldiers had been killed or wounded. Another eight Australians were awarded the VC during the campaign.

Gallipoli showed Australians what they were made of, and it was something to be proud of Every one of these Australian soldiers was a volunteer. Although their country was never threatened, such was the enthusiasm with which Australians leapt to the defence of the British Empire that conscription was unnecessary. About 420,000 Australians enlisted for service in the war, representing almost 40 per cent of the eligible male population. They shared a universal belief that this was a just and noble cause, and it is this sense of confidence followed by disbelief and a caustic realisation of loss that forms the backdrop to the film The Water Diviner.

Today, the word "Anzac" has become a cherished national symbol for Australians and the Anzac legend has become one of the cornerstones of modern Australian culture. Bridges, parks, war memorials and countless monuments in small country towns bear the name "Anzac". Anzac Day is a national holiday, and thousands of Australians will travel to Turkey to attend the commemoration ceremonies that begin at dawn on April 25 this year at Anzac Cove.

Whether it's in times of triumph or tragedy, Qantas, Australia's national airline, has risen in support of Australians. Two of the airline's founders fought at Gallipoli, and Qantas is putting on a special flight for Australians attending the commemoration ceremonies at Gallipoli. The airline has reserved a number of seats on this flight for widows of Australian servicemen who saw action during the conflict, a fitting tribute to the memory of those who will never be forgotten.

* The Water Diviner is released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on April 3, 2015

* To find out more about the film, visit facebook.com/TheWaterDivinerUK

You may also be interested in:

* The Water Diviner: Russell Crowe's directorial debut "

* Enjoy world-class flights to Australia with Qantas "

* Why is the bond between parent and child so strong? "

* Meet the cast of The Water Diviner "

* Timeline of events: the Battle of Gallipoli "

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Australian troops who stormed ashore as part of the Allied landing force on the morning of April 25, 1915, bore the newly minted name Anzacs, formed in Egypt only a few months before. A campaign that was supposed to end in a quick and decisive Allied victory became bogged down in the face of determined and resourceful Turkish resistance.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ion L. Idriess

"We have just had dinner. My new mate was sick and couldn't eat. I tried to and would have but for the flies. I had biscuits and a tin of jam. But immediately I opened the tin the flies rushed the jam. They buzzed like swarming bees. They swarmed that jam, all fighting among themselves. I wrapped my overcoat over the tin and gouged out the flies, then spread the biscuit, held my hand over it, and drew the biscuit out of the coat. But a lot of flies flew into my mouth and beat about inside. Finally I threw the tin over the parapet. I nearly howled with rage. I feel so sulky I could chew everything to pieces. Of all the bastards of places this is the greatest bastard in the world."

Pugsley, Christopher, and John Lockyer. The Anzacs at Gallipoli: a Story for Anzac Day. Auckland: Reed, 1999, p18.
Image: Group of officers eating a meal in their dugout. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/A00715

Sydney Lock

"For supper we had nothing more than those tough square biscuits given to us as rations - they were so hard a man could break his teeth on them. I had three days provisions with me, but was warned that they might have to last for five days. So I took care not to dip too deeply into my provision bag. Someone offered me the bottom of a can of tea, which helped to wash those tough biscuits down."

Loch, Sydney. To Hell and Back: The banned account of Gallipoli, Sydney, NSW: Harper Collins, 2007, p89.
Image: Standard Army Issued wholemeal biscuit. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/REL/00919.002

O. E. Burton

"Army Biscuits! What a volume of blessings and cursings have been uttered on the subject - army biscuits! Biscuits, like the poor are always with us. Crawling from our earthly dens at the dim dawning of the day, we receive no portion of the dainties which once were ours in the long ago times, but instead we devour with eagerness - biscuit porridge. We eat our meat. Not with thankfulness, but with biscuits. We lengthen out the taste of jam - with biscuits. We pound them to powder. We boil them with bully, we stew them in stews, we fry them as fritters. We curse them with many and bitter cursings and we bless them with few blessings."

Bean, C. E. W. The ANZAC Book. Sydney: University of New South Wales, 2010, p76.
Image: Soldiers eating from their dixies in Mule Gully. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02647.039

Sergeant Cyril Lawrence, 2nd Filed Company, Engineers

"We had porridge for breakfast this morning and milk, MILK, mind you. Yes, golly, just fancy, condensed MILK. Jingo, if only some of those at home, who perhaps grumbled at their breakfast because the toast was cold, if only they knew what this little extra means to us, they would blush for shame and rightly so. Here they, like us, would eat anything."

Reid, Richard. Gallipoli 1915. Sydney, NSW: ABC for the Australian Broadcasting, 2002, p87.
Image: Group of officers at their mess table at Battalion Headquarters, Victoria Gully, Anzac Cove. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02321.009

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ion L. Idriess "We have just had dinner. My new mate was sick and couldn't eat. I tried to and would have but for the flies. I had biscuits and a tin of jam. But immediately I opened the tin the flies rushed the jam. They buzzed like swarming bees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Updated April 18, 2015 15:38:03

Eric Rapkins' World War I diary is a harrowing account of the 1915 Gallipoli landing and the five days that followed. His entries are at times candid and at times gut-wrenching. Now his great-grandson John Rapkins shares those recollections.

My grandfather Eric Harold Rapkins enlisted in the Australian Army on October 21, 1914 at the age of 23.

The Tweed River cane cutter found himself among 600 Queensland and Tasmanian volunteer infantry men in the 15th Battalion, eventually becoming part of the 4th Brigade, New Zealand and Australian division, landing at Gallipoli six months later.

Eric left Western Australia for Egypt on New Year's Day 1915 and on that day, began a detailed diary of his experiences and feelings.

The small, fragile notebook is mostly written in pencil and some of the entries are virtually illegible, but it is an invaluable record of an event that shaped Australia's military traditions and forged the indomitable Anzac spirit.

Eric's adventure began after reaching Alexandria in Egypt, on February 1. The month at sea getting there was followed by a six-hour train trip to Heliopolis and an hour-long march in.

One of his first diary entries recorded Egypt's brutal weather:

"Towering sandstorms blowing like hell. The dust is making a lot of men sick. They are dying at the rate of three a day."

After two months in Heliopolis his battalion returned to Alexandria on April 12 and from there they sailed to the island of Lemnos, off the coast of Greece.

On Lemnos he trained and prepared for the landing that was to come - climbing in and out of naval cutters, horse boats and large flat bottomed barges.

But on April 19, five days before the Gallipoli landing, Eric was struck down with rheumatic fever and was bitterly disappointed at the prospect of being hospitalised.

"I am sick unto death ... My legs and thighs are giving me hell ... My knee is swollen up and my back and shoulder were terrible. It's nark after all the months to miss the fun now."

However, on April 23 he was discharged in preparation for the attack at Gallipoli.

This morning the doctor says I can stay and go with the rest.... I am no better though.

Eric's battalion boarded the troopship HMAT Australind on April 24 and, after leaving Lemnos, cruised to within 12 miles of the Dardanelles and "laid to" in darkness.

Just after midnight, together with other Allied cruisers, torpedo boats and transports they steamed at full speed for the southernmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula.

It was at 11.45 a.m. on Sunday April 25 that HMAT Australind took up her position opposite what is now called Anzac Cove.

"This morning a fleet of gunboats is bombarding the coast and we are in the midst of them ... Aeroplanes were called in to help. There are more battleships here than I thought the English had. Bombardment is an awful thing. There are a lot of wounded coming from shore ... We are landing in a few minutes - all ready."

Eric's battalion did not land at Anzac Cover until 10.30pm and were immediately sent up Shrapnel Gully under fire to Quinn's Post.

They scaled the side of the gully to gain the high ground as Turkish snipers and artillery took a heavy toll on the battalion.

"Landed last night. There are plenty wounded. I have carried some dead uns past too. The shrapnel from the Turks is flying over as I write. The Turks bombarded us all day. We lost a few men. One of our sergeants got shot through the brain. Shrapnel has done a lot of damage to us. There are a hell of a lot of killed and wounded ... E Walters and 12 more sergeants" - April 26, 1915

"Late last night we advanced and entrenched. Under fire all night. No sleep for two nights and one day. I'm only just out of hospital. Bob Andrews was shot dead this evening. The Turks shelled all day and at night tried to take the trench. We were fighting all night - another night's sleep lost. I lost nearly all my mates - only one out of my tent is living now." - April 27, 1915

"They shelled us all day again. We made no headway where I was. I got sent to the doctor today. I am a bit seedy." - April 28, 1915

"Rheumatic again, got put off on a hospital ship. There are a lot of chaps gone mad from the shock. If a bomb goes off near you, it is a shock - you can't see or hear. I think that's what sent me deaf. - April 29, 1915

"It is rotten luck to come away from the firing line without being wounded. - April 30, 1915

It is now we need to remember that conditions at Gallipoli defied description as the terrain and close fighting did not allow for the dead to be buried.

Flies and other vermin flourished in the heat which resulted in an epidemic of sickness.

Of the 213,000 British casualties 145,000 or 67 per cent were due to sickness with the primary causes being dysentery, diarrhoea, rheumatic and enteric fever.

"I am as deaf as the proverbial beetle. - May 2, 1915

Three days later, after transferring to a hospital ship, Eric was evacuated to Alexandria.

From there he was put on a hospital train, sent to hospital in Cairo and was eventually declared medically unfit for further service.

On returning to Melbourne on August 6th, 1915, Eric wrote:

"There were thousands on the beach to greet us. It was like running the gauntlet. I was nearly soaked with tears and stuck to the road with used up handkerchiefs. I was patted on the back and called a wounded hero. God help those poor beggars who come after us and need sympathy."

Three weeks later, Eric celebrated a birthday back in Australia, but it was not a good day for him.

"My 24th Birthday. I was discharged for good. No more use to the 'King'. Hell and Damnation!!"

Eric did stay useful to the King. He re-enlisted into the Recruiting Corps and was posted to Boonah, Queensland, at that time a community predominantly of German descent.

It was his job to encourage young men with German backgrounds to fight the Germans!

Needless to say, he was escorted by a member of the local constabulary in case of incident.

Eric's ill health continued to dog him and, after marrying, he and his bride took up a soldier's settlement block at Beerburrum and planned to grow pineapples.

He eventually became a lighthouse keeper, manning lighthouses at Sandy Cape, Low Isles, North Reef, Bustard Head and Cape Capricorn.

Again, ill health plagued him and Eric was forced to retire from lighthouse keeping.

He died aged 55 in 1947.

First posted April 18, 2015 15:35:50

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzac's diary tells of five days of horror at Gallipoli

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Updated April 18, 2015 15:38:03 Eric Rapkins' World War I diary is a harrowing account of the 1915 Gallipoli landing and the five days that followed. His entries are at times candid and at times gut-wrenching. Now his great-grandson John Rapkins shares those recollections.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rare film: ANZAC troops at Gallipoli (silent)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This footage is believed to have been shot by Mr. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, the English journalist who gave Australia its first description of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli. His colourful and stirring accounts of Australian soldiers' bravery, particularly of their landing at ANZAC Cove, helped give rise to the legend of Anzac.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memories of an ANZAC soldier in Gallipoli war 1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jack Hazlitt, who is an Australian, was a runner in ANZAC army in Gallipoli.. He died in 1993, aged 96.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Anzac Day is our day of national commemoration.

On Thursday 25 April 2024, the Australian War Memorial marked the Gallipoli landings in 1915, as well as commemorating all Australians who have served and died in military operations.

The 2024 Anzac Day commemorative program included:

Dawn Service

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans and Services Association Commemorative Ceremony

RSL ACT Branch Veterans' March

Last Post Ceremony

Watch the Dawn Service livestream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Anzac Day is our day of national commemoration. On Thursday 25 April 2024, the Australian War Memorial marked the Gallipoli landings in 1915, as well as commemorating all Australians who have served and died in military operations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Last Post | The Australian War Memorial

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The call is believed to have originally been part of a more elaborate routine, known in the British Army as "tattoo", that began in the 17th century. In the evening, a duty officer had to do the rounds of his unit's position, checking that the sentry posts were manned and rounding up the off-duty soldiers and packing them off to their beds or billets.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Corporal Matthew Creek of the Royal Military College Band plays The Last Post at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. The Last Post is one of a number of bugle calls in military tradition that mark the phases of the day. In military tradition, the Last Post is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day's activities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
australian and new zealand army corps (armed force)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Commonly called 'Short Reveille' the Rouse is a bugle call most familiarly played at military funerals and services as well as at Remembrance ceremonies in the Commonwealth Realms e.g., Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. It was originally played following 'Reveille' for soldiers to 'Stand To'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gallipoli Campaign Gallipoli Historic Area Presidency

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The recitation (including the Ode) | The Australian War Memorial

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One traditional recitation on Anzac Day is the Ode, the fourth stanza of the poem For the fallen by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943). Binyon was the assistant keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum, and the author of several volumes of verse.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzac Day: The Ode of Remembrance (Read by Mick Murdock)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Anzac Day: The Ode of Remembrance read by Mick Murdock, is taken from the Laurence Binyon poem For The Fallen. The four most famous lines were the first written by Binyon in his eight-verse poem: They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

# data[].attributes.body
Trailer-First Anzac Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Film review: Lady Bird Top US player here for the golf - and the wine Hove Above-value purchase of Le Cornu site a "good deal" for public, Haese insists No apology as Xenophon commences defamation action against Marshall

The first Anzac Day procession in 1915. Photo: State Library of SA

New Adelaide documentary The First ANZAC Day tells the story of the 10th Battalion, a South Australian AIF force created in 1914 to fight in the Dardanelles.

They were among the first soldiers to land at Gallipoli, and Arthur Blackburn and Philip Robin were the only two soldiers to make their objective (Scrubby Knoll) on the first day.

They saw the large numbers of Turkish soldiers gathering on the other side of the hill and, as there were no troops nearby to support them, they had to return. No other Australian soldier made it as far as they did for the rest of the campaign.

Created by Adelaide filmmaker Ash Starkey, The First ANZAC Day explains how the Trades Hall union movement decided to devote the celebrated Eight Hour Day holiday in October 1915 to a fundraising venture for wounded soldiers and their families.

There was an opportunity for the public to provide an alternative name for the day and Anzac Day was chosen. South Australia then hosted the first official Anzac Day.

Starkey's documentary features a constant display of original photographs, maps, posters, sketches, paintings and newspaper reports which are very engaging. Descendants of soldiers who served in the 10th Battalion have been filmed speaking of their knowledge and memories of them.

Several historians also share their knowledge of aspects of the Gallipoli campaign, while World War II veterans provide insight into the beliefs, attitudes and experiences of soldiers in Gallipoli (and those who went on to serve on the Western front in France).

The First ANZAC Day also serves to remind us of the lasting impact of war, not only on returned soldiers, but also on loved ones and families.

The Dardanelles Cenotaph Memorial, located in the Lundie gardens on South Terrace, is highlighted as the first memorial erected in Australia to soldiers who fought in Gallipoli. It was created so early in the war that the inscription on the memorial refers to "Australasian" soldiers who fought in the Dardanelles (this was before Anzac and Gallipoli had come into common use). This monument became a location where mothers and widows of the young fallen soldiers could place wreaths and mourn the loss of their sons and husbands.

Starkey has re-created the sense of occasion of that first Anzac Day parade, and the subsequent fairground atmosphere at Adelaide Oval. As it was intended to be a fundraising day, the organisers needed to attract patrons, so various shops were on hand as well as the entertainment provided.
A premiere screening of The First ANZAC Day was held last night at St Peter's Town Hall. Further screenings are likely in other venues in the near future, so keep an eye on the documentary website, where DVD copies can also be ordered.
The film gives a sense of the time, with the major attraction being the crashing of two trams on rails that exploded and burst into flame on impact. The spectacle was widely publicised and billed as "American-style entertainment".

Not surprisingly, given that this is the centennial year of the Gallipoli campaign, we have been inundated in all forms of the media with programs about Gallipoli. What is surprising is that there is still new information to be discovered.

Ash Starkey's The First ANZAC Day is informative and entertaining: the visual juxtaposition of historical graphics with contemporary figures illustrates effectively the significance of commemorating fallen soldiers on this day.
Jump to next article

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SA film revisits the first Anzac Day - InDaily

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Film review: Lady Bird Top US player here for the golf - and the wine Hove Above-value purchase of Le Cornu site a "good deal" for public, Haese insists No apology as Xenophon commences defamation action against Marshall New Adelaide documentary The First ANZAC Day tells the story of the 10th Battalion, a South Australian AIF force created in 1914 to fight in the Dardanelles.

# data[].attributes.body
BTN- Trenches

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
australian and new zealand army corps (military unit)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzac Special: Life In the Trenches - Behind the News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Amien's Gun was one of the weapons Australian soldiers captured from the enemy in WWI. But did you know that weapons weren't the biggest killer at Gallipoli? More Aussie troops there died of disease whilst living in the trenches than whilst fighting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ON THE MORNING of Sunday, 25 April 1915, Australian and New Zealand troops entered their first major engagement of World War I, stepping into battle on a small Turkish beach - in a moment that continues to ripple through Australian society more than 100 years on.

On that date in every year since, Australians have in some way commemorated the actions of those men on the Gallipoli Peninsula, on a beach that would become known as Anzac Cove.

Looking back at the ways Australians have marked Anzac Day in years gone by offers a frank reflection of changing Australian society and cultural identity over the past century, says Dr Carolyn Holbrook, an historian at Deakin University in Victoria.

"These kinds of myths and legends, they're a mirror," she says. "If you want to get a picture of Australian society, you can look at things like this, because they reflect contemporary values."

1915: The dawn landing

Anzac Cove after the 1915 landing. (Image: Imperial War Museum / Wikimedia)

The first Australians to approach Gallipoli were infantrymen from Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. In the darkness before dawn, they left the battleships behind in the Aegean Sea and rowed toward the shores of 'Z beach'. Turkish forces opened fire before the boats reached land, forcing many of the men to launch themselves into the ocean to avoid the onslaught of bullets; the element of surprise lost.

When the survivors from this first wave eventually stepped onto the sand they were sopping wet and disoriented - a state which would propagate throughout the day, and the entire Gallipoli campaign.

By mid-morning around 8000 Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) were ashore and had begun scrambling up the cliffs surrounding the beach to battle for the ridges. The day's actions resulted in minimal gain for the Allies and the Anzacs were forced to consolidate in the cove, with months of fighting ahead.

When the Sun set on 25 April 2015, more than 600 Australians had lost their lives and over 1000 had been injured. The list of the dead would grow to over 11,000 Anzacs by the end of the Gallipoli campaign.

Once news reached Australia that the Anzac troops had entered the war, excitement flowed through communities, and there were murmurings of the birth of the nation onto the global stage at last. The Great War played a definitive role in the formation of Australia's identity, more so than Federation in 1901.

1916: The first Anzac Day

Australian and New Zealand soldiers marching to Westminster Abbey, London, to commemorate the first Anzac Day, 25 April 1916. (Image: National Library of Australia)

On 25 April 1916, small ceremonies were held around the world and throughout Australia to commemorate the Anzacs' entrance into the war, and the lives of their fallen comrades. The details of these first Anzac services are slim but historians suggest that services may have taken place in Albany in Western Australia and Brisbane and Rockhampton in Queensland, as well as on the Western Front.

There are also reports of a small service in Egypt, where the Anzac forces had been training before being summoned to Gallipoli one year earlier. Australia and the British Empire were still at war, so while Anzac events in 1916 commemorated those who fought and died at Gallipoli, there was also emphasis on Australia's pride in entering the war -with continued recruitment in mind.

"It has always been political," says Dr Martin Crotty, an historian at the University of Queensland. Anzac commemorations have "suited political purposes right from 1916 when the first Anzac Day march was held in London and Australia, which were very much around trying to get more people to sign up to the war in 1916-1918," he says.

The first dawn services began in the 1920s, driven by returned soldiers and their families, with few other attendees. In the years after the war, "Anzac Day was about commemoration and remembering the dead and fallen mates, combined with a sense of pride for being soldiers and proving themselves," says Carolyn. "[The day] was very much tethered to the idea of the British Empire."

Early morning services were solemn, giving way to more upbeat afternoon celebrations, reflecting the pride felt by returned soldiers for their contribution on behalf of Australia to the Great War. By 25 April 1927, all states and territories had legislated for Anzac Day to become a public holiday, and it is believed the first continuous dawn service started in Sydney from 1928.

1960: Anzac Day on the oval

ANZAC Day game between Collingwood and Essendon football teams, 25 April 2011. (Image: Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons)

The Anzac Day footy clash between Essendon and Collingwood is a significant event on the Anzac Day calendar, regularly drawing crowds of over 80,000. However, the idea was not always so popular.

All sporting games on Anzac Day were prohibited by the government for 44 years after the first Anzac Day in 1916. The ban was lifted in 1958 on the condition that games would start in the late afternoon, so as not to interfere with Anzac services, and participating sporting clubs would donate to an Anzac Day Proceeds Fund. The first matches were held in 1960.

"There is an analogy between war and sport, people try and resist it, but there is," says Carolyn. "There's something about that intense bonding that happens in sports teams, and I'm sure it relates to mateship that happens in wartime where people bond very deeply."

After the clash each year, one player is recognised for best embodying the Anzac spirit - through 'skill, courage, self-sacrifice, teamwork and fair play' - and is awarded the Anzac Medal.

The first Anzac clash between Essendon and Collingwood was on 25 April 1995, an idea conceived by Essendon Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy who said at the time, "We can never match the courage of people who went to war, but we can actually thank them with the way we play this game, with its spirit."

1960s-1980s: Vietnam protests and social rebellion

On 25 April 1981, Women Against Rape in War march up Anzac Parade towards the Australian War Memorial to lay their wreath at the Stone of Remembrance. (Image courtesy ACT Heritage Library (Canberra Times Collection), by Glen McDonald, 25 April 1981, Ref.008856)

In the late 1960s, during the Vietnam War, anti-war protesters used Anzac Day events as a platform to make their voices heard, fighting against conscription and Australia's military involvement in general.

Over the next 20 years or so, Australians began to overturn society's established values and start questioning the relevance of Australia's war connection with the British Empire.

On 25 April 1981, a group of about 500 protesters, mostly women, marched toward Anzac Parade in Canberra. At the head of the procession, women held a banner which read, 'In memory of all women of all countries raped in all wars'. More than 60 women were arrested by police.

Increased social and sexual rebellion and second-wave feminism led to calls for a new type of comradeship that didn't discriminate based on sex or race. "The entire meaning of Anzac Day had changed," says Carolyn.

As numbers dwindled at events throughout the 1980s, it was widely believed that Anzac Day commemorations were on the decline.

1990s: Political rekindling of the Anzac spirit

Former Prime Minister John Howard (pictured here in Iraq on 25 April 2004) was a strong proponent of Anzac Day commemorations. (Image: Kate Geraghty/AFP/Getty Images)

On 25 April 1990, Bob Hawke became the first Australian politician to visit Gallipoli, in what historians see as a major milestone in the recovery of Anzac Day.

In the hope of drumming up some nationalism in Australia, and a boost in the polls, Hawke decided his government would pay to take Anzac veterans to Gallipoli for the 75 th anniversary of the dawn landing.

After Hawke came Paul Keating - who, according to Carolyn, "was more interested in Kokoda and the Second World War," than Gallipoli - followed by John Howard. Howard was a huge proponent of Anzac Day commemorations, and visited Gallipoli on 25 April in both 2000 and 2005.

"They sensed that acrimony towards Anzac Day since the Vietnam War was shifting, and they were right," says Carolyn. Renewed political interest and investment in Anzac Day had the desired effect, and the day of commemoration became popular once again.

This was supported by a controversial push for more Anzac material in the school curriculum, which was quickly labelled as propaganda by critics. The Anzac legend thrived once more throughout the late 1990s and early 21 st century.

2010s: WWI centenary and 'Brandzac' Day

Woolworths' 'Fresh in our memories' Anzac Day marketing campaign prompted a backlash in 2015, especially on social media. (Image: @9NewsQueensland/Twitter)

The Centenary commemorations of WWI gave rise to a number of questionable Anzac marketing campaigns, the most notorious of which was Woolworths' 'Fresh in Our Memories' campaign in 2015.

The Australian supermarket giant encouraged Australians to contribute photos of people affected by war to a picture generator, which would produce an image with their campaign slogan and the Woolworths logo overlayed. The powerful criticism from the Australian public was immediate and unrelenting. The push back suggested a line had been crossed.

"People don't blink an eye at [the commercialisation of] Christmas and Easter, but still think that Anzac is sacred," says Carolyn, who pointed out that Australia is spending more money on WWI Centenary commemorations than any other country.

Some historians believe Anzac Day events are now on the decline, although it's likely there will continue to be smaller dawn services and official events in the future.

"I think it's a ritual for older, traditional Australians, [who have] old values of mateship, egalitarianism and loyalty," says Martin, adding that while older Australians hold on to Anzac Day as a "reaction against globalisation" younger generations aren't as bothered.

Carolyn disagrees, instead arguing that "it is young people who are responsible for the resurgence, and it's among older people that there is a big group of sceptics - the Baby Boomers who were heavily influenced by Vietnam War protests."

"We reached Peak Anzac in 2015 sure, and there has been some backing off since then, but in terms of the dawn services and Anzac Day commemoration, it will remain huge for a good while yet," says Carolyn. "There is nothing better to take its place in terms of a national mythology."

A more positive modern adaptation of Anzac Day has been to recognise and commemorate the often overlooked role that women, immigrants and indigenous Australians played in the war. One powerful example being the production Black Diggers, which premiered at the Sydney Festival, telling the stories of the Aboriginal men who enlisted, whose sacrifices were ignored, and who were quickly forgotten upon their return.
READ MORE:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The evolution of Anzac Day from 1915 until today

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ON THE MORNING of Sunday, 25 April 1915, Australian and New Zealand troops entered their first major engagement of World War I, stepping into battle on a small Turkish beach - in a moment that continues to ripple through Australian society more than 100 years on.

# data[].attributes.body
The last ANZAC - interview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Alec Campbell shares his First World War experience. From Keepsakes: Australians and the Great War, National Library of Australia, 2014. The audio of this video is subject to copyright and may not be used for broadcast or other media purposes. Alec Campbell (1899 - 2002) was the last Australian survivor of the epic Gallipoli campaign.

# data[].attributes.body
My Grandad Marches...

# data[].attributes.body
ANZAC Ted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Wodonga Library is making Story Time with Mrs Mac available online. A new title will be uploaded each fortnight, with Mrs Mac reading wonderful children's books and singing songs and rhymes with the help of her new assistant Bluey, who is now a regular feature at Story Time.

# data[].attributes.body
The ANZAC Tree

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Anzac Tree Picture Book Trailer [full version]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Anzac Tree: A picture book by award-winning author and illustrator, Christina Booth. Published by Scholastic Australia and created with the support of the Tasmanian Government through Arts Tasmania. The stories of the children left behind when loved ones go to war. A journey through one hundred years of war history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wars never stand in isolation. It is almost as if they have rootsthat grow invisibly underground,before springing up somewhere elseto create a new conflict.nbsp;We must not be blindto the forcesnbsp;that set the machinery of destiny in motionone hundred years ago.To ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Updated April 24, 2017 15:07:58

Letters from Aboriginal men who served Australia during the First World War are extremely rare.

But as the history of Aboriginal military service during the Great War is given greater attention, their firsthand accounts illustrate better than anything the sacrifice and the emotional cost of war.

The letters and postcards, some held privately, tell a moving, if laconic, story tinged with longing, gallows humour, bravado and sadness.

As much as homesickness, the correspondence records the inglorious and mundane aspects of a soldier's life on the Western Front.

The letters and postcards are also characterised by stoicism and understatement.

For decades, historian and blogger Philippa Scarlett has been researching Aboriginal men who served during the Great War.

She says it's not surprising that few records exist, given the negligible education provided to Aboriginal people during the so-called Protection Era.

"Probably they didn't have the tools to write," she says.

In May 1917 a military order revoked the nominal ban on Aboriginal men serving in the Australian Imperial Force, although in fact many had already enlisted.

One of the Aboriginal men who joined up after the military order was Samuel Browning, a fisherman from Fingal (then known as The Caves or Caves Point) on the North Coast of New South Wales.

One of Browning's mates enlisted with him but was rejected on the grounds that he had no European heritage. Browning left Australia in late 1917 aboard the troop ship Euripides, and disembarked at Devonport in the south of England on Boxing Day.

In Browning 's letters to his mother Mary, his heartbroken bride-to-be, and 10-year-old sister, there is no mention of the horrors of the Western Front nor of his gassing in the trenches near Rouen in northern France in August 1918, just a few months before the guns fell silent.

In an undated letter from Bath, where he was convalescing, Sam wrote urgently to Fingal, anxious that his younger brother stay away.

"Dear Mother, tell George to stop where he is instead of enlisting - one is enough from home, so don't forget."

Elsewhere, Browning longed for the beach.

"I am longing for a good feed of oysters and pippies. I'd give ten bob for a feed," he wrote to his mother from the ANZAC training camp at Codford in February 1918.

But Lance Corporal Charles Blackman of the 9th Battalion was much less restrained in his letters to a friend, the manager of a pastoral station at Biggenden north-west of Brisbane.

"Charley" was one of three brothers who served in the AIF during WWI; one, Alfred Blackman, was killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele in late 1917.

Blackman's letters - which may have been dictated- are preserved in the archives of the Australian War Memorial, and are often signed "the lonely soldier". They are also available online.

Of the few letters and postcards which survive from Aboriginal diggers, Blackman's are the most graphic.

"I expect you know it. The last time up the line, I killed five Germans," he wrote.

In another letter, "the lonely soldier" complains about the bleak weather.

"France is beautiful but it rains too much," he wrote.

"One thing is, the clouds here never need to thunder - the guns do all the thundering - and the flashes they make, it's just like lightning."

Francis Walter Bertie Firth served in the Middle East and lost a brother in Egypt, but his letters from "somewhere in France" are consumed by anxiety about missing letters apparently sent by his mother Kate from Pilliga in northern New South Wales but never received.

Bertie wrote to his mother on Easter Sunday in 1917: "Just a few lines to let you know that I am still in the land of the living," he wrote.

"It is about time the winter was over, I would not like to be here for another, the coldest place on earth."

Characteristically, and presumably without irony, Bertie signs his letters that he hopes everyone at home is well as it leaves him, "in the pink of condition".

Another letter suggests that he may he have been jilted.

"I got a letter from Peggy the other day. She is engaged to someone else. Good luck to her."

Perhaps the most extraordinary letter from an Aboriginal serviceman was published in a Sydney newspaper in 1918.

After enlisting in 1916 and being captured by the enemy at Reincourt the following year, Douglas Grant was detained at a prisoner of war camp at Wunsdorf, south of Berlin, and at Wittenberg in Prussia.

Grant writes from Wittenberg that he is doing well, in spite of everything.

"I am well and comfortable as circumstances will permit. I am working every day, which helps to pass the time away. I am weary for home, and hope to be back soon. Do not worry."

In suspiciously formal language, Doug wrote to his father: "I get letters, and they do cheer me up. You really cannot understand what happiness the receipt of letters does afford me."

The letter would never have been sent if it had not passed the German censors, who monitored all correspondence from prisoners of war.

An enclosed photograph was also published in the Sydney Mail, in which Grant appears to be in good health.

Although today he is perhaps the best known Indigenous soldier of the Great War, Grant was atypical in almost every sense.

Born in North Queensland's Bellenden Ker Ranges, Grant is supposed to have been taken from a massacre in which his mother was killed.

Although he was unmistakably Aboriginal, Grant was brought up completely isolated from his heritage, even acquiring a thick Scottish accent.

Grant's wartime experiences were extraordinary - at one point he was responsible for the distribution of Red Cross parcels to Indian military personnel also detained at Wunsdorf, and was studied by curious anthropologists who were given access to prisoners of war.

As firsthand accounts, the letters are an important part of the unfolding story of Aboriginal war service - a story that's emerging 100 years after the fact.

But Philippa Scarlett says more could be done to honour Aboriginal diggers.

"Digging out more stories is one way of doing it. There are so many different avenues. We've made an extremely good start. Let's keep on doing it."

Topics: community-and-society, history, world-war-1, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, aboriginal, aboriginal-language, australia, france

First posted April 24, 2017 13:24:48

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Letters home from Aboriginal diggers reveal humour, sadness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Updated April 24, 2017 15:07:58 Letters from Aboriginal men who served Australia during the First World War are extremely rare. But as the history of Aboriginal military service during the Great War is given greater attention, their firsthand accounts illustrate better than anything the sacrifice and the emotional cost of war.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Bookshelf - The Anzac Puppy read by Linda Millar

# data[].attributes.headline
ANZAC Ted - read aloud, starts at  52sec

# data[].attributes.subject
ANZAC Ted - read aloud, starts at  52sec

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Wodonga Library is making Story Time with Mrs Mac available online. A new title will be uploaded each fortnight, with Mrs Mac reading wonderful children's books and singing songs and rhymes with the help of her new assistant Bluey, who is now a regular feature at Story Time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
LAST Saturday night I stood watching a panorama of Anzac images projected on a Melbourne public building. There were the faces of men who were about to die, men who were wounded, the terrain they were to traverse, and the red poppies like splashes of blood on the names scrolling down the wall.

I did not see one indigenous face. Yet 1300 indigenous soldiers went to fight in World War I.

Ironically, currently playing in Melbourne is the Queensland Theatre Company play, Black Diggers: The Untold Story of Australia's Indigenous Soldiers.
READ MORE ANZAC STORIES HERE
In a speech last week in Sydney, at a debate, Australia and the Legend of Anzac, presented by the British Council and BBC World Service, Wesley Enoch, artistic director of Queensland Theatre Company and the director of Black Diggers, outlined the invisibility of the indigenous soldiers from the official records.

"Indigenous Australian men went to fight and yet were not recognised by the constitution," he said.

This meant that indigenous soldiers fought and died for a country they were not defined by as citizens.

But, as Enoch made clear, the parameters of indignity and humiliation the indigenous men were set by being non-citizens did not stop them from trying to enlist. Even so, obstacles were clear.

"The AIF could only recruit men who were 'substantially European', as outlined in the Defence Act of 1903," he said.

Still, indigenous men did enlist and Enoch suggested this was made possible by "sympathetic medical officers" who would sign them through.

The costs for indigenous soldiers to wear the fabled and distinctive slouch hat, could be immense. Not only the likelihood of violent death or maiming war injuries for life, but then the crushing reality that, under state laws, indigenous returned servicemen could not be granted assistance for housing under the Soldier Settlement Scheme. Moreover, "their names would be omitted from war memorials", so Enoch said last week.

The few memorials specifically for indigenous Australians have been in large part erected by citizens. Take the memorial at Burleigh Heads National Park for example. It was erected by the Komburri Aboriginal Corporation for Culture with support and assistance from the Gold Coast City Council on April 21, 1991.

Meanwhile returned indigenous soldiers were often prevented from joining the RSL and not permitted to march on Anzac Day. Or more horrific still, so Enoch says: "There are stories of men who returned to find their children had been taken away because the protector had not passed on money sent home for their families."

On this 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings it is important we think of the indigenous men who offered themselves for service. That they fought and died but carried no status of citizenship, could not vote nor, shamefully, were their names recorded in stone.
Christopher Bantick is a Melbourne writer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
komburri aboriginal corporation for culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
LAST Saturday night I stood watching a panorama of Anzac images projected on a Melbourne public building. There were the faces of men who were about to die, men who were wounded, the terrain they were to traverse, and the red poppies like splashes of blood on the names scrolling down the wall.

# data[].attributes.body
Song

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzac Biscuits (Inspired by the Book "Anzac Biscuits" By Phil Cummings, Scholastic)

# data[].attributes.body
Book

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzac Special: How to make Anzac Biscuits - Behind the News

# data[].attributes.body
Paper Poppies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Last year, I shared this craft over at the Pumpkin Patch Blog. I'm sharing it again this year because it's a simple and easy craft to make for ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day is one of Australia and New Zealand's most important national days encompassing nationhood, love and loss, and the gratitude and honor given to our servicemen and women. The poppy has increasingly become a symbol for ANZAC Day, and one that children can easily relate to (read more about the significance of the poppy here).

I believe in the importance of teaching my children about the history of our country and its people, so my husband and I made a point of visiting the War Memorial Museum in Canberra (Australia) on one of our road trips. I didn't expect the flood of emotions that ran through me when I saw The Roll of Honour with my own eyes. Thousands of poppies lined the walls filled with too many names to count, and I felt overwhelmed by the immense loss. I hate war and long for peace for all.

It's good to remember, and we take the time to do this particularly on ANZAC Day. A simple paper poppy is one way to mark and learn about this important historical occasion with kids.

Make a Paper Poppy

Materials

2 x Red cupcake cases (or use white ones and colour them in red)

Green bamboo craft rods or paddle pop stick/green straw (available from craft and discount stores)

Permanent marker (or black texter)

Craft Glue

Instructions

1. Turn the two cupcake cases inside out.

2. Cut a wavy edge - in about 1 cm from the edge - around the first cupcake case.

3. Cut a wavy edge - in about 0.5 cm from the edge - around the second cupcake cases.

4. Draw a black centre inside the smaller cupcake case and small lines coming out from the centre to give that Poppy-Centre look (refer to the image of a wild poppy below).

5. Glue the smaller cupcake case inside the larger one.

6. Glue the flower on to the bamboo rod (or paddle pop stick/straw). If your rod or paddle pop stick is not already green (you can buy them coloured), simply colour in with texta or paint.

7. Make a few and display in a vase or cup, carry on a march or hold at a dawn service.

A wild poppy

Tip: To display flowers in a vase, use shredded paper or pebbles in the base of the cup or vase and arrange the paper flowers.

Lest We Forget.

More
Paper Plate Poppy from Laughing Kids Learn
Kelly loves life at both ends of the spectrum: wearing high heel shoes one day and hiking boots the next; sipping tea out of a pretty cup and slurping hot coffee from a camping mug; challenging herself physically and stopping for quiet unhurried moments to feel the wind on her face. Kelly and her husband Matthew seek to live a fun and adventurous life with their four children and pet bird.

You Might Also Like...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Last year, I shared this craft over at the Pumpkin Patch Blog. I'm sharing it again this year because it's a simple and easy craft to make for ANZAC Day. ANZAC Day is one of Australia and New Zealand's most important national days encompassing nationhood, love and loss, and the gratitude and honor given to our servicemen and women.

# data[].attributes.body
Includes egg carton poppies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row...
I still remember the first time I heard someone recite In Flanders Fields.

I was sitting on a crowded gymnasium floor in a small Ontario elementary school. I don't recall the name of the special guest who spoke at the assembly that day, but I do remember this - within seconds of him opening his mouth, the gym grew silent as all in attendance fixed their eyes on the stranger delivering some of the most powerful words ever written.

After we returned to our classrooms, our teacher wrote In Flanders Fields on the chalkboard and had us surround the words with dozens of handmade paper poppies we crafted out of construction paper and paste. Poppies - we would later discover - have been a visual symbol of Remembrance in Canada since 1921, mostly due to Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae's now-famous poem.
What you need: What you do:

1. First, cut a cup from the egg carton.

2. Then, cut it so it is rounded.

3. Next, cut little points to make four distinct "petals".

4. Round the petals off.

5. Paint the poppies red.

6. Embellish with black and yellow buttons (or construction paper) centers.

It is so important that children learn about the importance and relevance of remembrance and creating poppies is one way to make that happen. So, here for you now are three ways kids can craft poppies which can be used to make window decorations, necklaces or wreaths.
What you need:

muffin liners

scissors

red paint

paintbrushes

buttons (or construction paper)

glue

What you do:

1. To ensure you have one large and one small liner per poppy, make some of the liners smaller by cutting the top edge off with scissors.

2. Paint the muffin liners and let them dry.

3. Place the smaller muffin liner inside the larger and crinkle into shape.

4. Glue buttons or construction paper into the center.

EGG CARTON POPPIES
What you need:

construction paper (red, black and yellow)

scissors

glue

black and yellow buttons (optional)

What you do:

1. Fold a piece of red construction paper in half, three times.

2. Cut a half heart shape out of the folded paper, making sure to cut at the folded edge.

3. Open up the hearts and arrange them into a poppy shape.

4. Glue together with a black and yellow center.

MUFFIN LINER POPPIES

PAPER POPPIES

Poppy made with construction paper:

Poppy made with Valentine's Day heart cut-out shapes from the craft store:

If you are looking for resources to help you talk to kids about Remembrance Day, here are some great places to start:

Veteran's Affairs Canada has some wonderful teaching materials for kids of all ages. Take Time to Remember is created for students from kindergarten to grade 2. TheTales of Animals in War newspaper is for ages 5 to 11 and The Canada Remembers Times newspaper is for ages 12 to 18.

The Royal Canadian legion has created a teaching guide to assist primary and secondary schools in imparting valuable information to their students.

YMC's Annabel Fitzsimmons shares a story of when she talked to her six year old about Remembrance Day.

More Remembrance Day stories and resources from the Yummy Mummy Club (including a cute preschool poppy craft) can be found here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Beautiful Handcrafted Poppies for Remembrance Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row... I still remember the first time I heard someone recite In Flanders Fields . I was sitting on a crowded gymnasium floor in a small Ontario elementary school.

# data[].attributes.body
From kidspot

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ANZAC Day is a day for rememberance and celebration. Let's teach our kids all about the first World War and help them to understand why our elderly diggers should be embraced at this time. Print a poem out for a WW1 veteran this ANZAC Day and thank them for thier service.

What you need

Activity

ANZAC Day holds a special significance in the heart of all Australians. April 25th is the day that Australians remember the sacrifice of those soldiers who lost their lives in the first World War as well as the diggers who are still with us.

Print off one of these poems, colour them in and pass it on to "thank a digger" for their hard work and sacrifices for our country.

Print this poem. Print this poem.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ANZAC Day is a day for rememberance and celebration. Let's teach our kids all about the first World War and help them to understand why our elderly diggers should be embraced at this time. Print a poem out for a WW1 veteran this ANZAC Day and thank them for thier service.

# data[].attributes.body
English

# data[].attributes.body
English

# data[].attributes.body
Slide the bars to watch the photos change

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For more than 180 years, The West Australian has captured the people and events that have shaped WA.