by Marilyn Lake
There is no doubt that many Australians found the public discussion of frontier violence deeply disturbing and adopted the pejorative term ‘Black armband history’ as a way of discrediting the new critical history. Former prime minister John Howard was among those who regretted the discovery that white Australia had a black history and it was central to his frequently voiced complaint that history was being used to make young people feel ashamed of their country.
It was time then to open up a new front in the History Wars. The vigorous official promotion of the history of Australian engagement in overseas wars was at one level a response to those histories that had complicated a once simple story of heroic explorers and noble, albeit tough, frontiersmen. The bushman overseas, glorified by Bean in the creation of the Anzac legend, outshone his stay-at-home cousins whose ancestors had dispossessed the Aborigines. Thus we show pride in our engagement in overseas wars as willing assistants to our great and powerful friends, while feeling embarrassment over the one war which was ours and ours alone, the long and sporadic conflict over the control of the continent and the exploitation of its resources.
The Anzac legend has also worked to normalise the deployment of Australian forces overseas and to deflect the critical observation that very few of the world’s other small to middle sized powers have been so constantly engaged in conflict as Australia has been so far from its own borders. Engagement in foreign wars has been one of the most distinctive features of Australia’s twentieth century history. Many of them have been what are now commonly called wars of choice rather than wars of necessity. The departure and return of expeditionary forces has been a recurring occasion for inflated political rhetoric with references to Anzac liberally and ritually employed to sanctify the operations in question. If latter day servicemen displayed the spirit of the Anzacs who could fault them or question the politicians who sent them away? As former Labor leader Kim Beazley noted at the launch of Craig Stockings’s book Bardia: Myth, Reality and the Heirs of Anzac, politicians need the Anzac myth, or they would never be able to convince soldiers to go to war.
The cult of the warrior stands in the way of critical appraisal of Australian engagement in overseas wars. Many people feel constrained in criticising Australian involvement when our personnel are in the field and when they return, a clear-eyed assessment of the engagement is discouraged. Anti-Vietnam War protesters are, as we have seen, routinely disparaged. Admiration, not analysis, is what is now expected from historians. The recent return of the last troops to serve in Iraq was particularly instructive. Twenty thousand Australians had served in the country or its territorial waters. The engagement had lasted for six years. Reporting the return of the last contingent the local papers observed that it was a: ‘Quiet end to a six year invasion.’3
There was indeed very little of the intense debate, once the troops were on the ground, about the wisdom or the morality of the war, of the sort that occurred in the United States, with a constant stream of critical, well informed books and articles. In Britain, concern about the war forced Prime Minister Gordon Brown to set up a high level committee to examine the reasons for the commitment and senior jurists seriously speculated as to whether Tony Blair should be charged with war crimes. But in Australia there was just a quiet end to the six-year war.
There has been almost no serious discussion about how or why our country became involved in Iraq and there is very little serious analysis of the reason we currently have troops in Afghanistan and how long they will stay there. Indeed the present government has discouraged any serious assessment of what, if anything, Australia is likely to gain from either venture. There may be some retrospective evaluation of the Iraq War within the bureaucracy, but the public will presumably never hear about it. Nor do we know how much this military expedition cost the taxpayer. As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a radio journalist, while Labor hadn’t agreed with the invasion of Iraq, he was not going to discuss it now because, ‘serving troops should never be put in the middle of a political bunfight’.4
Why write a critical book about celebration of the Anzac spirit when so many people, from the governor-general down, treat it with reverence, and wonder if, as a nation, they can ‘do it justice?’ It is a fair question and a sensitive subject. The debate which followed the public lecture on the ‘Myth of Anzac’ in Melbourne, discussed in the introduction, showed what depth of feeling was invested in the Anzac story and the extent of some people’s personal identification with it. We are aware of the upsurge of interest in the subject, we note the proliferation of war books and the popularity of pilgrimages to Gallipoli, the battlefields of France and the Kokoda track. But we also know that many Australians are deeply disturbed by and recoil from the militarisation of our history. And they feel that their concerns are overwhelmed by well funded, much publicised, official rhetoric. They are disturbed that criticism of the myth of Anzac is often seen as tantamount to disloyalty. With Australians positioned as either for or against the Anzacs, the digger has once again become a divisive figure as much as a unifying one.
Like the many Australians who are concerned with the homage paid to the Anzac spirit and associated militarisation of our history, we are concerned about the ways in which history is used to define our national heritage and national values. We suggest that Australians might look to alternative national traditions that gave pride of place to equality of opportunity and the pursuit of social justice: the idea of a living wage and sexual and racial equality. In the myth of Anzac, military achievements are exalted above civilian ones; events overseas are given priority over Australian developments; slow and patient nation-building is eclipsed by the bloody drama of battle; action is exalted above contemplation. The key premise of the Anzac legend is that nations and men are made in war. It is an idea that had currency a hundred years ago. Is it not now time for Australia to cast it aside?
Notes
All websites in these endnotes were accessed on 27 October 2009.
Introduction: What have you done for your country?
1 The Age blog, ‘Myth of Anzac’, 23 April 2009. All following ‘blog’ quotes taken from this online discussion. See http://blogs.theage.com.au/yoursay/archives/ 2009/04/creation_of_a_n.html.
2 Quoted in KS Inglis, ‘The Anzac tradition’, Meanjin, 100th issue, vol 1, 1965, p 26.
3 RA Gollan, ‘Nationalism, the labour movement and the Commonwealth’ in G Greenwood (ed) Australia: A Social and Political History, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1967, p 146.
4 Anzac Day Commemoration Committee, ‘The spirit of ANZAC’, 2009, available at http://www.anzacday.org.au.
5 Prime Minister Howard’s Australia Day speech, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 January 2006.
6 E Ashmead-Bartlett, ‘Australians at the Dardanelles: Thrilling deeds of heroism’, Argus, 8 May 1915. Quoted in D Gare and D Ritter (eds) Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788, Thomson, Melbourne, 2008, p 289.
7 E Foner, The Story of American Freedom, WW Norton and Co, New York, 1998, p xiii.
8 Editorial, Age, 27 April 2005.
9 JW Ward, ‘Historiography’ in AL McLeod (ed) The Pattern of Australian Culture, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1963.
10 Inglis, ‘The Anzac tradition’, p 34.
11 G Serle, ‘The digger tradition and Australian nationalism’, Meanjin, vol 2, 1965, p 149.
12 E Scott, A Short History of Australia, 5th ed, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1928.
13 Scott, A Short History of Australia, p 348.
14 WK Hancock, Australia, Ernest Benn, London, 1930, p 63.
15 A Burke, ‘The spirit of Anzac’, available at http://www.anzacday.org.au.
16 Quoted in C Rasmussen, Lesser Evil? Opposition to War and Fascism in Australia 1920-1941, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1992, p 7.
17 Greenwood (ed) Australia, p v.
18 FK Crowley (ed) A New History of Australia, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1974, p 485.
19 Crowley (
ed) A New History of Australia, pp 319–20.
20 Crowley (ed) A New History of Australia, p 320.
21 Crowley (ed) A New History of Australia, quoting GL Kristianson, The Politics of Patriotism: The Pressure Group Activities of the Returned Services League, ANU Press, Canberra, 1966, p 361.
22 S Macintyre, Oxford History of Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1986, vol 4, p 177.
23 Macintyre, Oxford History of Australia, p 147.
24 M Dixson, The Real Matilda: Women and Identity in Australia 1788 to the Present, Penguin, Ringwood, 1976, p 12.
25 Hancock, Australia, p 66.
26 P Adam-Smith, The Anzacs, Nelson, Melbourne, 1978, p viii.
27 CMH Clark, A History of Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1981, pp 102–04.
28 Advertisement, Mufti, September/October 1980, p 7.
Chapter 1 Are nations really made in war?
1 Quoted in D Gare and D Ritter, Making Australian History, Thomson, Melbourne, 2008, p 311. My thanks to Marilyn Lake for this reference.
2 J Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing, Granta Books, London, 1999, p 1.
3 Quoted in LL Robson, Australia and the Great War, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1969, pp 46–7.
4 Quoted in JF Williams, ANZACS, The Media and the Great War, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1999, p 101.
5 Quoted in Williams, ANZACS, p 229.
6 Quoted in Williams, ANZACS, p 228.
7 Quoted in G Souter, Lion and Kangaroo: Australia 1901-1919, The Rise of a Nation, Collins, Sydney, 1976, p 229.
8 Quoted in Souter, Lion and Kangaroo, p 229.
9 Quoted in A Burke, In Fear of Security, Pluto, Sydney, 2004, p 35.
10 Quoted in G Seal, Inventing Anzac: The Digger and National Mythology, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2004, p 35.
11 Quoted in M McKernan, The Australian People and the Great War, Nelson, Melbourne, 1980, p 18.
12 Quoted in Souter, Lion and Kangaroo, p 228.
13 TJ Lawrence, The Principles of International Law, 7th ed, Macmillan, London, 1929, p 219.
14 JA Cramb, Germany and England, John Murray, London, 1914, p 60.
15 JA Cramb, The Origin and Destiny of Imperial Britain, John Murray, London, 1915, pp 121, 125.
16 FN Maude, War and the World’s Life, Smith Elder, London, 1907, p 5.
17 Quoted in P Crook, Darwinism, War and History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, p 80.
18 Quoted in T Tanner, Compulsory Citizen Soldiers, Alternative Publishing Co-operative, Sydney, 1960, p 90.
19 Quoted in JM Robertson, Essays Towards Peace, Watts, London, 1913, pp 26–7.
20 AL Gowan (ed) H von Treitschke, Selections From His Lectures on Politics, Gowan & Gray, London, 1914, pp 24, 39, 103–04.
21 RN Stromberg, Redemption by War: The Intellectuals and 1914, Regent’s Press, Kansas, 1982, p 89.
22 J Keegan, The First World War, Hutchinson, London, 1998, p 456.
23 G Murray, Thoughts on War, Oxford University Press, London, 1914, p 4.
24 Quoted in C Playne, The Neurosis of Nations, Allen & Unwin, London, 1925, p 96.
25 Lawrence, The Principles of International Law, p 563.
26 P Laity, The British Peace Movement, Clarendon, Oxford, 2001, pp 180–82.
27 DS Jordan, War and the Breed, Beacon Press, Boston, 1915, preface.
28 JA Hobson, The German Panic, Cobden Club, London, 1913, p 22.
29 Hobson, The German Panic, p 37.
30 GP Gooch, Imperialism in the Heart of Empire, Fisher & Unwin, London, 1901, p 318.
31 HM Chittenden, War and Peace, McLurg, Chicago, 1911, pp 41–2.
32 LC Jane, The Nations at War, Dent, London, 1914, p 5.
33 N Angell, The Great Illusion?, Heinemann, London, 1914, p 280.
34 Jordan, War and the Breed, preface.
35 GB Shaw, preface to A Fenner Brockway, Is Britain Blameless?, National Labour Press, London, 1915.
36 Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 1917.
37 Quoted in R Gerster, Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1987, p 36.
38 Gerster, Big-Noting, p 79.
39 Gerster, Big-Noting, p 118.
40 T Judt, ‘What have we learned if anything?’, New York Review of Books, 1 May 2008, p 18.
Chapter 2 Colonial Cassandras: Why weren’t the warnings heeded?
1 WH Holborow: New South Wales, Votes & Proceedings (NSW V&P), 1885, p 179; J Robertson: NSW V&P, 1885, pp 107, 105.
2 EA Baker: NSW V&P, 1885, p 39.
3 J Fletcher: NSW V&P, 1885, pp 110–11.
4 AJ Gould: NSW V&P, 1885, p 25.
5 D Buchanan: NSW V&P, 1885, pp 99–100.
6 Fletcher: NSW V&P, 1885, p 197.
7 MJ Hammond: NSW V&P, 1885, p 193; A Cameron: NSW V&P, 1885, p 24.
8 J Buchanan: NSW V&P, 1885, pp 99–100.
9 C Connolly, ‘Manufacturing “spontaneity”: The Australian offers of troops for the Boer War’, Historical Studies, vol 18, no 70, April 1978.
10 JRA Connolly: West Australia, Parliamentary Debates (WA PD), 1899, p 1560.
11 FCB Vosper and J Forrest: WA PD, 1899, p 1559.
12 E Barton: NSW V&P, 1899, pp 1459–56.
13 A Dawson: Queensland, Parliamentary Debates (Qld PD), 1899, p 344; H Turley: Qld PD, 1899, p 389.
14 JC Stewart: Qld PD, 1899, p 452.
15 W Kidston: Qld PD, 1899, p 416.
16 WA Robinson: South Australia, Parliamentary Debates (SA PD), 1899, p 148; EL Batchelor: SA PD, 1899, p 624.
17 T Price: SA PD, 1899, p 627.
18 HB Higgins: Victoria, Parliamentary Debates (Vic PD), 1899, p 1777.
19 Quoted in C Wilcox, Australia’s Boer War, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2002, p 334.
20 Quoted in T Tanner, Compulsory Citizen Soldiers, Alternative Publishing Co-operative, Sydney, 1980, p 31.
21 Quoted in Tanner, Compulsory Citizen Soldiers, p 148.
22 Quoted in Tanner, Compulsory Citizen Soldiers, p 109.
23 DS Jordan, The Days of a Man, Harrap, London, 1922, vol 2, pp 213–14.
24 Committee of Imperial Defence Minutes, 83–119, p 34, National Archives (UK); Cabinet Papers, 2/2.
25 Japan Times, 26 August 1911.
26 Committee of Imperial Defence Minutes, 108, p 3; 110, p 3.
27 Hamilton papers, letter to Asquith, 14 August 1914, 5/1/87, King’s College, London.
28 C Lucas, Greater Britain and Greater Rome, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1912, pp 174–75.
29 ED Millen: Australia, Parliamentary Debates (Cth PD), 1914, p 99.
30 J Stewart: Cth PD, 1914, pp 97–8; Millen: Cth PD, 1914, p 129.
31 HB Higgins: Vic PD, 1899–1900, p 1798.
32 JA Hobson, The Psychology of Jingoism, Grant Richards, London, 1901, p 42.
33 R Pryor, Gallipoli, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009, p xvi.
34 N Ferguson, The Pity of War, Basic Books, London, 1998, p 462.
35 J Keegan, The First World War, Hutchinson, London, 1998, p 3.
Chapter 3 Whatever happened to the anti-war movement?
1 Quoted in C Rasmussen, The Lesser Evil? Opposition to War and Fascism in Australia 1920-1941, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1992, p 10.
2 Quoted in Rasmussen, The Lesser Evil?, p 13.
3 D Rose, ‘A History of Anti-War Organisations in Victoria, 1933–1939: A Study of the Movement Against War and Fascism, the Labor Anti-War Committee and the International Peace Campaign’, MA thesis in History, La Trobe University, 1976, pp 3, 2. KS Inglis, ‘Reluctant retreat from all-solemn observance’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 1964.
4 Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 19.
5 Quoted in Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 20.
6 M Lake, The Limits of Hope: Soldier Settlement in Victoria, 1915-38, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1987, pp 170, 197.
7 Lord Robert Cecil, ‘The “Future of Civilization”: Nobel Lecture’ qu
oted in Rose, ‘A History of Anti-War Organisations in Victoria, 1933–1939’, p 17.
8 Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 10.
9 Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 10.
10 Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 75.
11 Rasmussen, Lesser Evil?, p 88.
12 GL Kristianson, The Politics of Patriotism: The Pressure Group Activities of the Returned Servicemen’s League, ANU Press, Canberra, 1966, p 103.
13 Quoted in P Sekuless and J Rees, Lest We Forget: The History of the Returned Services League 1916-86, Rigby, Sydney, 1986, p 1.
14 G Havers, ‘Lest we forget?’, Honi Soit, 24 April 1958.
15 Havers, ‘Lest we forget’.
16 Havers, ‘Lest we forget’.
17 Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 1958; Age, 2 May 1960.
18 Honi Soit, 15 May 1958.
19 CW Joyce, ‘Press too one-sided about Anzac Day’, Mufti, 4 July 1959.
20 ‘The Anzac story’, Mufti, 3 April 1961.
21 D Ferrero, ‘The spirit of Anzac’, Honi Soit, 21 April 1960.
22 D Ferrero, ‘The spirit of Anzac’ reprinted in Farrago, 29 April 1960; letter to editor, Farrago, 13 May 1960.
23 Farrago, 6, 13 May 1960; 3 May 1960.
24 Quoted in D Petersen, ‘It’s a dig at the old digger’, Sun, 8 April 1961.
25 A Seymour, The One Day of the Year in Three Australian Plays, Penguin, Ringwood, 1963, p 27.
26 Seymour, The One Day of the Year, pp 80, 75.
27 A Seymour, ‘An old warhorse returns to the fray’, Newswrite: Newsletter of the New South Wales Writers’ Centre, April 2003.
28 A Seymour, ‘Letter to the editor’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 1961.
29 Sydney Morning Herald, 24 June 1961.
30 Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 1965.
31 ‘Australian play is applauded’, source and date unknown, press clippings Alan Seymour papers, MS 9198, National Library of Australia.
32 ‘Tokyo’s One Day’, Bulletin, 26 February 1966.
33 ‘If you are addressing a school’, Mufti, 3 April 1961.