22 POGO, ‘Federal contractor misconduct database’,
23 T. Allard, ‘$400m lost in botched jet contract’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 2006.
24 J. Pearlman, ‘Defence officials kept faults from minister’, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2009.
25 L. Besser, ‘Defence tracking system loses sight of $30m’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April 2010.
26 R. Baker, ‘Defence bidders had inside help’, The Age, 2 September 2010.
27 G. Perret, A Country Made by War: From the Revolution to Vietnam ~ The Story of America’s Rise to Power, Random House, New York, 1989.
28 M. Small & J.D. Singer, Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816–1980, Sage, Beverly Hills, 1982, pp. 167 & 176.
29 See B.M. Blechman & S.S. Kaplan, Force without War: US Armed Forces as a Political Instrument, Brookings Institution, Washington D.C., 1978.
30 M. Small, Was War Necessary: National Security and U.S. Entry into War, Sage, Beverly Hills, 1980, esp p. 304.
31 M.J. Glennon, Constitutional Diplomacy, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1991; L. Henkin, Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs, Columbia University Press, New York, 1991. See also the review article of these works: T. Draper, ‘Presidential Wars’, New York Review, 26 September 1991, pp. 64–73.
32 S.S. Malawer, ‘Reagan’s law and foreign policy 1981–1987: The Reagan corollary of international law’, Harvard International Law Journal, 29, 1988, p. 85. I am most grateful to John Parker, one of my Graduate Programme in International Law students at the Australian National University, for bringing this article to my attention.
33 Among many sources detailing these categories of international legal criminality, see C. Boggs, The Crimes of Empire: Rogue Superpower and World Domination, Pluto, London, 2010.
34 A recent example of this is provided by the May 2011 attempt to kill Anwar Awlaki, an American-born militant suspected of involvement in terrorist plots, utilising a drone attack in Yemen: see D.S. Cloud, ‘Extrajudicial executions: US tries to assassinate own citizen in Yemen; US-born cleric was target of Yemen drone attack’, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2011.
35 Among the works consulted in this section are J. Chace & C. Carr, America Invulnerable: The Quest for Absolute Security from 1812 to Star Wars, Summit, New York, 1988; R. Drinnon, Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian Hating and Empire Building, Schocken Books, New York, 1990; G.P. Hastedt, American Foreign Policy, Past, Present, Future, 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1991; R. Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and the Men who Made It, Random House, New York, 1989; M.H. Hunt, Ideology and US Foreign Policy, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1987; and D.M. Snow, National Security: Enduring Problems in a Changing Defence Environment, 2nd edn, St Martin’s, New York, 1991.
12 Monumental mistake: Is war the most important thing in Australian history?
Peter Stanley
1 This account of the Henderson Smith family’s troubles is taken from my Digger Smith and Australia’s Great War, Murdoch Books/Pier 9, Sydney, 2011.
2 P. Knightly, Australia: A Biography of a Nation, 2000. Note Knightly is here merely reflecting a widespread belief.
3 ‘Houston to head Gallipoli centenary’, Channel Nine News, 6 July 2011,
4 M. McKenna, ‘Anzac Day: How did it become Australia’s national day?’, in M. Lake & H. Reynolds, What’s Wrong with Anzac Day?, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2010, p. 111.
5 M. Lake, ‘How children learn about Anzac’, in Lake & Reynolds, What’s Wrong with Anzac Day?, p. 155.
6 Charles Bean, Anzac to Amiens, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1946, p. 264.
7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Road fatalities and fatality rates’, Year Book Australia 2001,
8 Department of Transport and Infrastructure, ‘Annual road crash casualties and rates from 1925 to 2005’,
05_casulaties.aspx>, (assessed 22 July 2011); G. Long, The Final Campaigns, Canberra, Australian War Memorial, 1963, p. 633.
9 W. Vamplew (ed.), Australians: A Historical Library ~ Historical Statistics, Fairfax, Syme &Weldon, Sydney, 1987, p. 57.
10 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Mortality and morbidity: Suicide, 4102.0 Australian Social Trends, 2000’,
11 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Drug-induced deaths, Australia 1991–2001’,
12 These rounded figures are taken from the Wikipedia entry ‘List of disasters in Australia by death toll’,
13 The exceptions are the periods when men were conscripted to serve overseas in wartime, in the Militia 1942–1945 and to a limited degree, given the choice of National Servicemen to serve in Australia or deploying to Vietnam, in south-east Asia 1963–1972. All other active service in wartime has been nominally voluntary, although regular Defence Force personnel have no choice over commitment to any given deployment, and as John Connor argues in Chapter 2, volunteers in the Great War also faced various social pressures to do so.
14 McKenna, ‘Anzac Day: How did it become Australia’s national day?’, p. 128
15 B. Webb, ‘The legend of the Anzac’, History Essays from the Keyboard of Bradley Kenneth Webb,
16 This idea, proposed for the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour, was abandoned in the 1950s when it became apparent that it was impossible to simply allocate war dead to communities. Many had either no or multiple associations with particular places. In that the same records exist, it remains impossible to associate war dead with particular communities with any reliability.
17 Memorial(s) Development Committee, ‘National WWI and WW2 memorial design brochure’,
18 Lake War Memorials Forum, ‘Report of 21 October stakeholder workshop’,
19 C. Badelow to P. Stanley, 11 February 2011, in the possession of the author.
20 Lake War Memorials Forum, ‘Opinions we have already received’,
21 Canberra Times, 1 and 26 March 2011.
22 S. Gower, ‘Reflections’, Wartime, 53, 2011.
23 How Australia May Commemorate the Anzac Centenary: Report of the Centenary of Anzac Commission , Canberra, 2011, p. 69,
centenary_report.pdf>, (assessed 22 July 2011).
24 P. Kelly, ‘The next Anzac century’, The Australian, 23 April 2011.
Epilogue
1 C.E.W. Bean, The A.I.F. in France: May 1918–The Armistice, vol. 7, University of Queensland Press/Australian War Memorial, Brisbane, 1983, p. 1096.
INDEX
1st Australia Corps 61, 145, 147, 150, 153
1 Corps Tactical Zone 187
1st (Anzac) Wireless Signal Squadron 61
1st Australian Division 46–47, 56
1st Australian Field Regiment 67
1st Australian Psychological Operations Unit 194
1st Australian Task Force 186
1st Battalion Royal Canadian 22e Regiment 228–229
1st South African Infantry Brigade 37–40
2nd Australia Corps 147
2/2nd Australian Battalion 131
2/11th Australian Batta
lion 131
2nd Australian Battalion 57–58
2nd Australian Imperial Force 75–76, 79–80, 82
2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 67–68
2nd New Zealand Division 61
3 Corps Tactical Zone 187
3rd Australian Battalion 126–128
3rd Australian Division 147
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 65–66
4th (Anzac) Battalion 60
5th Australian Battalion 134
5th Australian Division 147, 149
5th Light Horse Brigade 60
6th Australian Division 146–147, 155
6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 67, 189
6th Division, 2nd AIF 79–80, 82
7th Australian Brigade 47–48
7th Australian Division 62, 158–161
8th Australian Brigade 147
8th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment 207–208
‘9/11’ attacks, failure to foresee 243–244
9th Australian Division 62, 159–160
10th British (Irish) Division 39–40
10th US Mounted Division 229
11th US Signals Brigade 217
16th British (Irish) Division 40
16th New Zealand Field Artillery Regiment 65
22nd Australian Battalion 121
26th Australian Brigade 160
27th Australian Battalion 125
27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade 65
36th British (Ulster) Division 40
42nd Australian Battalion 129–130
46th British (North Midland) Division 48
82nd US Airborne Division 229
161st New Zealand Field Battery 67–68
275th Viet Cong Regiment 189–190
A Military History of Australia 38
Abbott, Tony 114
ABDA Command 62
Aboriginal Australians 13–18, 31
Abrams, General Creighton 199–200
Adam-Smith, Patsy 37, 106
Afghanistan War 7, 136
atrocities charges 113–114
Australian involvement 96
casualties in 226
illegality of 256–257
troops committed to 226–231
US military achievements 248
Age, The 135–136
air combat, atrocities committed in 131–132
Aitape, New Guinea 147–148, 157
AK47 rifle 187, 202–205, 208
Alamein campaign 131, 138
al-Anbar province, Iraq 219–220
al-Asad air base 221
alliances, results of 48–99, 237–239 see also New Zealand; United Kingdom; United States
Allied Intelligence Centre, Brisbane 108
al-Muthanna province, Iraq 224–225
Al-Qaeda 248
ambushes, in Vietnam 196–197, 199–200
‘Anzac Airlines’ 69
‘ANZAC area’ 62
‘Anzac bridge’ 70
Anzac Centenary Advisory Board 261
Anzac Centenary Commission 276–277, 284
Anzac Day
Anglo-Celtic dominance of 100–101
as national day 286
broadening scope of 273
commodification of 275–276
marches during 291
national character and 9
symbolic value of 264
women and 5
Anzac Force 62
Anzac Frigate project 69
‘Anzac’ legends 287, 290
Anzac Pact 63
‘Anzacs’, original see Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; Gallipoli landing
Anzacs, The 37
ANZUS alliance 63, 235–259 see also New Zealand; United States
Arming America: How the US Buys Weapons 251
armoured personnel carriers 189–190
Army of the Republic of Vietnam 196
artillery use
by North Korean troops 182–183
in Vietnam War 189–191
learning in World War I 47–48
New Zealand specialises in 65, 67
women refused permission 108
Ashmead-Bartlett, Ellis 56–57
Asian Alternatives 93
atrocities
by Australian troops 112–137
‘by proxy’ 257
Audit Office report (US) 242
Australia see also Anzac Day; Australian military personnel; exceptionalist claims
centrality of war in history of 260–286
declares war on Italy 85
early military activity 11–34
economic crises in 45–46
‘fair play’ in war 112–137
gender stereotypes in 109
industrial relations policies 108
military alliances 73–99, 238–239
military commitment by 7
military relations with New Zealand 48–72
myth of disproportionate strength 210–234
‘national pride’ 265
war in history of 8–9
wartime economy 109–110
wartime manpower 143–145
Australia, HMAS 151
Australia Day 138, 264–265
‘Australia Remembers’ year 264
Australia Station, Royal Navy 28
Australian Administrative Headquarters (UK) 121–123
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps 56, 60
Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division 60
Australian Bureau of Statistics 267, 269
Australian Feminism: A Companion 102
Australian High Commissioner in London 54
Australian Imperial Force
all-volunteer status not unique 3–4, 35–50
casualties 265–266
expanded to five divisions 59
formation of 29
in coalition with allies 231
misbehaviour in Cairo 54–55
Australian Labor Party, defence policies 78
Australian Light Horse Brigade 54
Australian Military Board 78
Australian military personnel see also names of units
as ‘special force’ 78–79
assigned to ‘mopping-up’ campaigns 138–164
Australian Army Training Team 224
Australian Flying Corps casualties 61
brought to war by alliances 238–239
capabilities of 7–8, 213–214
casualties 225–226, 272
colonial troops 11–34
early army reforms 26–28
early navy 28–29
exceptionalist claims 46
in Vietnam War 196
killed while POWs 125
numbers by gender 105–106
numbers by service arm 170
Nursing Service 103–105
withdrawn from New Guinea 142–143
Australian National Audit Office 254
Australian newspaper 87
Australian Special Operations Task Group 227
Australian Strategic Policy Institute 212–213
Australian Victories in France 36–37
Australian War Memorial
appropriateness of focus 262
colonial galleries 14
disregarded by MDA 281
genealogical information 277
Henderson Smith letters 260
naval records 174
non-military casualties recorded by 272
on colonial military actions 12
records of atrocities 121–123
Australian Women’s Army Service 107
Automedon 239
Auxiliary Territorial Service (UK) 108
awards see decorations and awards
BAE systems 254
Balaclava, Battle of 22
Balikpapan, Borneo 158, 160–163
Ball, Desmond 245
Ballard, John R. 218
Baria, Battle of 188, 190–191
Barr, Chris 261
Barrett, John 27
Barter, Margaret 131
Bartolomeo Colleoni 167
Bassett, Jan 105
‘Battle of the Wasser’ 55
Bayonet Trench attack 126–128
Bean, Charles
Naval coverage by 169
on Anzacs 212, 292
on atrocities 115–118, 123–126
on Australia-NZ cooperation 57–58
on Cairo brawls 55
on Gallipoli landing 264–265
on volunteer armies 37–38
Belleau Wood, USN 217
Benson, Sergeant S.E. 140
Berlin Airlift 63
Berryman, Lieutenant General Frank 149–151
Binh Bah, Battle of 134, 189, 191, 195
Birdwood, William 59
Bismarck Sea, Battle of 132–133
Black Week 24
Blainey, Geoffrey 87
Blair, Admiral Dennis 216
Blair, Dale viii, 5
Blamey, General Sir Thomas
in Pacific campaign 140–148, 161–162
in World War I 47
in World War II 61–62
on Japanese enemy 128
on New Zealand 62–64
relations with Chifley 156–158
relations with Curtin 153, 155–156
relations with Menzies 146–147
Boeing 254
Boer War
Australian involvement 14, 23–27, 86
Breaker Morant incident 14, 25–26, 114–115
memorial to proposed 12
motives for participation 87
Bongiorno, Frank 87
Borneo campaigns
in Confrontation with Indonesia 92
in World War II 139
motives for participation 162
Operation OBOE One 154–155
Operation OBOE Two 158–160
Bougainville campaign 129–130, 145–149, 156–157, 161–162
Bourke, Joanna 120
Braund, Lieutenant Colonel G.F. 57–58
Bridges, Major General William 54
Bridging Train, RAN 169–170
British Commonwealth Light Division 65
British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan 90
British Empire see imperial defence policy; United Kingdom
British Expeditionary Force 119–120
British High Commissioner in Malaya 91
British West Indies Regiment 35
British XXII Corps, New Zealanders transferred to 60
Brooke-Popham, Rupert 240
brown paper, as clothing insulation 182
Bruce, Stanley 78, 82
Brunei Bay, Borneo 154, 160
brutality see atrocities
Anzac's Dirty Dozen Page 34