ANZAC Day 25th April

For my ANZAC Day post this year I decided to gather together a few
bits and pieces that when viewed collectively give a picture of
Australia and Australians.

BTW there is another poem at Poetry Galore which has lots of links
to Aussie terms etc.

April 25^th is the day we commemorate ANZAC day here in Australia and New Zealand, this is one of the most reverent days on our calendar.

ANZAC stands for; “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps” and was first used during World War 1 to describe the troops from our two countries, it was worn proudly by the survivors of that “war to end all wars”, and to describe the 60,000 who died so bravely.

The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers “the ANZACs” on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, its Turkish defenders still held Gallipoli.

The ANZAC Ode.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For any of you who don’t read Robyn’s blog she has a very interesting post about “two-up”, go have a look.

http://ozkatt.blogspot.com/

On Tuesday 24^th April in Washington USA there is a function to honor the “Australian War Brides”, the ladies who married American servicemen and went to live in America, I do not have accurate figures for the number of people this involves but I believe there were “thousands” of war brides and I have heard estimates of 65,000 descendants of these unions now exist (children and grand-children).

This is one of the many ties that bind our two countries together as friends and allies.

The link below will give further information.

http://www.southern-cross-group.org/brides/overview.html

Bloody has been termed the great Australian adjective. It is pretty bloody well used every-bloody-where by just about bloody well everyone. Bloody oath it is.

I refer to this word "bloody" that has been mentioned. I am an Australian. "Bloody" is a colloquial Australian term. It may well have been a swear word prior to World War I. It may well have been a swear word in 1910. However, it is not today.

Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland, 24 August 1999.

Australia was only an infant nation when WW1 broke out in 1914,
the "Commonwealth of Australia" having been created in 1901.

From a population of only 4 million we committed 325,000 troops
60,000 of whom were killed in action.

On June 24th 2005 the last surviving digger died aged 107.

SPIRIT OF ANZAC.

Australia came of age, it's said, by many learned scholars
who frequent halls of learning in starched and stiffened collars
on one bleak day in World War I when on a foreign stage
our finest and most gallant wrote another history page.

Dinkum Aussie Diggers, many of them teens,
had donned the Aussie slouch-hat to discover what it means
to men throughout the ages, from every place on Earth,
called on to fight for loved ones and the country of their birth.

The twenty-fifth of April (we know as Anzac Day)
is a crucial part of national life and our Australian way.
While the campaign was a blunder, the Diggers showed such valour
they surely have an honoured spot with Gods in Valhalla.

Remember Simpson and his donkey who helped the wounded back,
ignoring bursts of enemy shells, and sniper's rifle crack ?
Simpson was but one brave man at the Turkish Dardenelles
just doing what he had to do without fanfare or bells!

Back home in all the papers, the death lists showed a need
for frontline reinforcements to be sent with urgent speed
and those who led Australia, like Mr. Billy Hughes,
knew the impact on the country of such devastating news.

People were dismayed at what the war reports were saying
about the carnage and the horror. Mothers all were praying
for a speedy end to killing and all the senseless shooting,
and strong resistance reared its head to campaigns for recruiting.

Enlistment was declining. The Army needed men.
Whatever could the Pollies do? Nothing worked! And then
one tiny, rustic, wheatbelt place out on the Darling Downs
brought the Private Simpson spirit to all Queensland country towns.

The township known as Warwick saw a score of its brave men
head off en route to Brisbane, each one with fierce yen
to answer to the nation's call, and protect their land of birth
as good men have been wont to do since first put on this earth.

They headed for Toowoomba. Recruiting was their aim,
new troops to join the cause with them, not glory, gold nor fame.
It was Aussie calling Aussie, one mate calling mate,
across the Range to Laidley, to Ipswich and their fate.

"Coo-ee!" they called in every town: "Coo-ee! Coo-ee! Coo-ee!"
That word is dinki-di, for sure, just like "Corroboree",
"Gum Tree", "Black Stump", "Digger", "Dungaree" , "Didgeridoo".
No wonder men came running. What else would Aussies do ?

And on that March to Brisbane, the Anzac spirit grew
and spread across the outback and in the cities, too,
It was mateship, call of country, sense of duty, obligation:
it was spirit of the Anzacs everywhere across the nation.

Those Dungarees from Warwick - just a score of them in all,
all nondescript Australians, some short, some fat, some tall -
stirred the conscience of the nation. They knew just what to do
without fanfare or flashy fuss, as befits good men and true.

It's hardly ever mentioned in Australian history books
but the story's worth a few more words than many of the crooks
who consume the time of schoolkids each boring bloody day.
Let's tell 'em how those Warwick men showed all of us the way.

Written by Dan O'Donnell

Following footsteps of brave Dungarees.

This is the story behind the “Dungarees” referred to in the
poem above "Spirit of ANZAC."

.

Twenty-eight volunteers will re-enact the March of the Dungarees in April. To begin in Warwick on April 13, the march will trace the route of the original march which took place in 1915.

The Dungarees were answering a call for troops from Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes following the shocking loss of life and casualty count from Gallipoli. Patriotic marches were probably one of the most spectacular and successful ways of attracting young men into the services. Potential recruits were canvassed from towns and rural communities.

Ten such marches were conducted, the first - and most famous - being the Cooee March which began in Gilgandra, NSW, in October 1915. The south-east Queensland march followed the Cooee example. Leaving Warwick on November 16, the Dungaree march made its way through Allora, Clifton, Greenmount, Cambooya, Toowoomba, Helidon, Gatton, Laidley, Rosewood, Ipswich and Oxley.

The 270k march ended in Brisbane, with 125 young men arriving to a tumultuous civic reception .They had been similarly feted along the way, local communities turning out in force to applaud the young volunteers. The names of the original 28 Dungaree recruits who began the march and the other 97 who enlisted at centres along the way, were faithfully reported in local newspapers at the time

Only one of these volunteers, Eric Abraham, of Brisbane is still alive, having survived the horrors of the trenches of the Western Front. Mr Abraham, who in November 1915 was a telegraphist with the Post Master General's Department at Boonah, attended the Dungaree meeting out of curiosity. He had two brothers already serving and at the age of 17 1/2 he was under the minimum age. But when he heard the local band strike up a stirring rendition of the French National Anthem, the Marseillaise, his blood was stirred and he could not resist the urge to sign up. With his mother's consent, Eric became the third of her five sons to enlist.

Editors note, Eric Abrahams died in 2003 just one month short of his 105^th birthday.

All would ultimately volunteer, with two paying the supreme sacrifice and two being severely injured.

The re-enactment is timed to arrive in Brisbane in time to participate in the city's Anzac Day march, and also to mark Eric's 101st birthday. A history of all original recruits is being compiled by the re-enactment association which will use this information, together with an excellent collection of photographs, to record the history of the Dungarees in
book form.

In Flanders Fields.

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them