26. A Tribute to the ANZAC's

A Tribute to the ANZACs

Saluting their Service - Grahame Old

The Great War

WW 1 was a defining event in world history the nations of Europe tumbled into a war that would ravage their continent for four years. When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, Australia and New Zealand automatically followed the home country. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand forces formed part of the expeditionary force that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

The Men

The first recruits were to set the stamp of all future Australian and New Zealand Soldiers. No man was excepted unless he had chest measurement of at least 87 centimetres (34 inches) and a minimum height of 1.68 metres (5 feet 6 inches). Recruits had to be aged between 19 and 38 years (although some older than 38 and younger than 19 bluffed their way in). Men and boys came from the shearing sheds and cattle stations, from banks and warehouses. One volunteer walked 800km from Bourke to Sydney to enlist only to be rejected for flat feet. Another rode his horse 800 km to catch a train to Adelaide to enlist but failed the physical, undeterred he sailed to Hobart where he again was rejected as unfit. He later enlisted from Sydney where he was accepted. Whatever their motives to enlist – pride in the Empire, desire for adventure, or simply to be with their mates – they were the fittest and finest troops ever to leave Australia’s shores. 70 years later, when asked why he joined up a veteran would say; ‘All me mates were going, so I went too.’

John Masefield, an English Poet, wrote of the ANZACs; ‘The finest body of young men ever brought together in modern times. For physical beauty and nobility of bearing they surpassed any men I have ever seen; they walked and looked like kings in old poems… There was no thought of surrender in these marvelous young men; they were the flower of the world’s manhood, and they died as they had lived, owning no master on this earth.’

James Morris, author of ‘Farewell the Trumpets’ wrote of the ANZACs; ‘nobody had seen such soldiers before. They were truly like men from another world, or survivors from an older one. Tall, lean, powerful, cocky, their beauty was not merely physical, but sprang from their air of easy freedom…they brought to Hamilton’s army a loose limbed authority all of their own, as they were not the subjects of events, but their sardonic masters.’

Gallipoli

That fine body of Australian and New Zealand men went into battle on the 25th of April 1915, they were young, straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow, they were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders they fell with their faces to the foe. Known as the ANZAC’s, the pride they took in that name endures to this day. What was planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces withdrew from the Peninsula. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed in the campaign, (including 21 ‘Collie Boys’). Gallipoli had a profound impact on Australians at home, and the 25 April soon became the day on which Australians gathered to remember the sacrifice of those who died in the war.

Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the actions of the Australian and New Zealand forces during the campaign left a powerful legacy. What became known as the ‘ANZAC Legend’ became an important part of the identity of both nations.

The Home Front

For Australians and New Zealanders the blooding of their nations on the Gallipoli Peninsula was keenly felt at home, 1915 became a traumatic year as casualty figures mounted and new recruits were sent overseas. Almost every Australian family had a connection with casualties of war, for every one of those young men who struggled, suffered and died, there was waiting at home, a weeping mother, father, perhaps a wife and children, or a sweetheart, brother or sister. The father of the Australian War Memorial, Charles Bean, later wrote; ‘every man, woman and child was tied to those few acres of Turkish hillside.’

The Chaplain of WA’s own 11th Infantry Battalion, Father John FAHEY, acknowledged the huge contribution made by women at home during the war years when he wrote; ‘They bear the great anguish of the war. Their sons, their husbands, and their sweethearts have left them to go to the field of battle - perhaps forever. It is the women who bear the great burden of sorrow. They have shown wonderful heroism. The women’s anguish is a mental suffering, and knows no relaxation. Go among the sorrow - stricken women folk and you can see the sadness in their glances - sometimes it is impossible to bear.’

On the home front a mixture of pride in the ANZACs fighting reputation and anxiety at the mounting human cost of war served to bolster determination to support the troops abroad. However it had now become evident to most people that the war would be longer and more difficult than initially expected. And it was - the horror of the Western Front in France was still to come.

The Western Front

The ANZACs underwent their baptism of fire at Gallipoli but worse was to come. Mankind had known wars of destruction before – but none approached the scale and barbarity of WW1. The weapons of industrial warfare, particularly artillery and machine gun fire, tore through whole battalions of young men. Millions of fit, healthy men were marched into the killing fields of the Western Front. The human cost of World War I was staggering, it is estimated that at least 12 million soldiers were killed on the battlefields, and a further 13 million civilians lost their lives. Up to 20 Million soldiers were wounded - disfigured, limbless, crippled or seriously injured. Many more bore the psychological scars of war for the remainder of their life. These figures do not include deaths after the war, there is no definitive figure on how many military personnel died as a result of war wounds, or how many ended their misery by suicide during the post war years.

Early ANZAC Day Commemorations

ANZAC Day, 25 April, is one of Australia’s most important occasions. In 1916 the first ANZAC Day commemorations were held. The day was marked by services and ceremonies across Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian military camp in Egypt. In London more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets; a newspaper headline dubbed them the ‘’the knights of Gallipoli”.

ANZAC Day became established as a National Day of Commemoration for the Australians who had died during war, all over Australia communities meet to honour their dead.  In Collie, Soldiers Park became the focus of ANZAC Day services from 1921 to the present day. The picturesque park and formal war monument became the spiritual home of ‘Collie Boys’ who gave their lives for this country. Later, ANZAC Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

On this ANZAC Day in Soldiers Park Collie, whisper a little prayer for those Collie Boys whose names appear on our monument for they have given their lives for us and now lay in distant graves all over the world.

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A prayer for the lads whom I know

Who came from afar

From the land where soft breezes blow

And wattle trees are.

May Collie forever and aye

Thy memory enshrine

And remember the graves far away

Old comrades o’ mine.                            

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                                                                        ‘Lest we Forget'

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