Gallipoli and the Effect on Australia
...themselves as “Britons overseas” and were uncertain about what it meant to be Australian. The end of the war signified a change of heart in the way Australians felt about themselves and the British. Through the war, we were given an identity and a character - one which was represented by the ideals of the Anzac Legend and the struggling Aussie battler. The Anzac Legend originated in the trenches of Gallipoli and was based on the characteristics found in most Australian soldiers. Kerr (1997: 39) states that the Australians were seen to be overpaid - they received six shillings a day compared with the British who received one shilling - oversexed, rowdy and inclined to be impolite to British officers, yet their redeeming qualities far outweighed the negatives. The Australian soldiers launched into all activities with great gusto and had a heightened sense of group morale. The Anzac Legend of the 6-foot tall, young and handsome soldier still remains today and this fact is an example of how strongly the Gallipoli campaign affected the Australian people. World War 1 was the first war that Australians had fought under the name and flag of their own country and because so many Australian men were eager to join, it affected a majority of the Australian population, if not all. Our first collective experience of war was a frightful one, due to navigational errors, inadequate leadership and miscommunication yet the Australian soldiers performed brilliantly, fearlessly and selflessly. Even when they knew they were going to die they obediently climbed over the trenches and tried as desperately as they could to dodge the bullets which would hit them straight away. (Kerr, 1997: 67) Back home, things were progressing rapidly. Certainly, the women who took up jobs when the men left gained valuable knowledge and skills but this experience also influenced if not directly helped to bring about the Women’s Liberation Movement. Feelings back home were changing too - people realized that although nothing had actually physically changed the country they felt more “Australian” because of what Australia now represented. In a letter to his wife, one soldier pined, “I hardly realized what a great country Australia is until I left it.” On the 25th of April every year we celebrate Anzac Day - to remember and commiserate for the fallen. This tradition was brought about as a direct result of the way Australians felt about the way their country performed in World War 1. Several thousand spectators attend ceremonies right around Australia which proves wrong the theory expressed in the 1970’s that Anzac Day would fade away. In fact, people have become more interested in our history and particularly about Gallipoli which confirm the fact that Australians even today, have been affected by what occurred 85 years ago. Every nation must, sooner or later, come for the first time to a supreme test of quality; and the result of that test will hearten or dishearten those who come afterwards. For the fledgling nation of Australia that first supreme test was at Gallipoli and it did much to make us who we are today. We can see ...