ANZAC Day dawn service, 2022

After years of pandemic lockdowns, crowds were again free to attend Anzac Day dawn services & ex-servicemen marches on 25th April 2022. And thousands did!!
But ANZAC/Australian & New Zealand Army Corps Day may have changed over the decades; critical debate and political controversies are being raised now. The divisiveness is about the compulsion to be patriotic and stand by the historical massacres at any cost. Many think we should commemorate Armistice Day instead, when world peace was declared at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. Note however that Remembrance Day never had the nation-building dimension in Australia that Anzac Day has.
Shrine of Remembrance in Anzac Square, Brisbane
ANZAC Day Service, Boonah Memorial, 1924.
State Library Qld.
The memorials erected in or after WW1 became Australia’s first monuments, recording the devastating impact of WW1 on a young nation. Australia lost 60,000 from only 4 million people. Even before the war ended, memorials became a visible expression of national grief. To those who created them, they were as sacred as grave sites i.e graves for the Australians whose bodies still lay in European and Middle Eastern battlefields. British policy decreed its bodies were to be buried where they fell and never taken home.
The Melbourne Shrine was very big and impressive, taking years to complete, and it wasn't officially dedicated until 11th Nov 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester. 300,000 people met to watch that 1934 event, and there was a commitment that the shrine would always have an unimpeded and uninterrupted view from the city.
The Melbourne Shrine was very big and impressive, taking years to complete, and it wasn't officially dedicated until 11th Nov 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester. 300,000 people met to watch that 1934 event, and there was a commitment that the shrine would always have an unimpeded and uninterrupted view from the city.
What about Queensland? The most prominent building is the circular Shrine of Remembrance and the Eternal Flame which stands proudly and solemnly at the top of the Gardens. It is 10 metres in diameter and consists of a Grecian Doric circular colonnade of 18 columns representing the year of peace, 1918. Written around the top of the structure are the names of the major battles in which Australian units figured prominently such as ANZAC, Cocos Isupoli and Villers-Bretonneux.
Boonah War Memorial (pop 2000) was in a town in South Qld where the foundation stone was laid in May 1920; it was unveiled in July 1920 as part of the visit to Boonah by the Prince of Wales-later King Edward VIII. The marble and granite memorial was designed/made by Ipswich masonry firm Williams & Co, honouring local men who served in WW1.
The £600 cost was raised by public subscriptions, organised by a memorial committee. Memorial Park in Boonah was enclosed by a brick and wrought iron fence, with wrought iron gates at the front and rear corners, flanked by pillars with ball finials. A central concrete path led to the memorial which was surrounded by tiered garden beds. A flagstaff was located on the south western side. The specifically designed memorial park and fence were opened on Anzac Day 1922 by war hero-politician Capt Arnold Wienholt.
The £600 cost was raised by public subscriptions, organised by a memorial committee. Memorial Park in Boonah was enclosed by a brick and wrought iron fence, with wrought iron gates at the front and rear corners, flanked by pillars with ball finials. A central concrete path led to the memorial which was surrounded by tiered garden beds. A flagstaff was located on the south western side. The specifically designed memorial park and fence were opened on Anzac Day 1922 by war hero-politician Capt Arnold Wienholt.
State Library Qld.
Australian war memorials were distinctive in that they commemorated the dead lads AND also the survivors. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other battling armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour. Many memorials honoured those who served from a local area, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. [In my generation, conscription for the Vietnam War was hated].
WW1 soldier statue,
Boonah Qld
Australian war memorials also displayed imperial loyalty; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects. In Queensland, the soldier statue (above) was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk (below) prevailed in the southern states, ? because of Queensland's larger working-class populace. The soldier embodied the ANZAC Spirit and the qualities of the ideal Australian man: loyalty, courage, youth, informality.
Immediately following the 1918 Armistice, a grateful Commonwealth Government brought captured machine guns to Australia, and distributed them to towns and cities. A local display of captured weapons was especially important for this young country, far removed from the European battle fields. It was also a nation that had suffered the highest per capita casualty rate of any combatant nation in WW1! After a long public debate, the State War Trophy Committee decided that trophies would be allocated on the basis of population, rather than on enlistments. For Queensland, this meant that only larger towns could apply for larger, more valuable guns. Note the Committee believed Boonah’s population to be too small to apply.
Trophy gun from WW1,
Boonah Memorial park
Great War guns traded on the open market would have been a controversial process back then, when emotions were still raw and when the distribution of war trophies was strictly controlled by State and Commonwealth agencies. Thus Boonah became the only Australian town ever to buy a privately-owned trophy gun on behalf of community.
The Boona memorial was made of coarse marble, a pedestal surmounted by an obelisk and a digger statue, and sitting on a marble base. The columns were surmounted by four marble corner urns, and in the centre of the columns see the marble plates with the names of the 374 local men who served in WW1. The 69 locals who died were named on the front and the rear recorded the names of nurses and chaplains. Projecting from the centre of the pedestal was the tapered marble obelisk, 6 m high. Surmounting the obelisk was the digger statue, the Australian soldier standing at ease with his head bowed and his hands resting on his reversed rifle. Queensland War Memorials provided evidence of an era widesp read Australian patriotism & nationalism in WW1.
The Boona memorial was made of coarse marble, a pedestal surmounted by an obelisk and a digger statue, and sitting on a marble base. The columns were surmounted by four marble corner urns, and in the centre of the columns see the marble plates with the names of the 374 local men who served in WW1. The 69 locals who died were named on the front and the rear recorded the names of nurses and chaplains. Projecting from the centre of the pedestal was the tapered marble obelisk, 6 m high. Surmounting the obelisk was the digger statue, the Australian soldier standing at ease with his head bowed and his hands resting on his reversed rifle. Queensland War Memorials provided evidence of an era widesp read Australian patriotism & nationalism in WW1.
14 comments:
The Melbourne Shrine was certainly huge. Even though I wasn't born when it was dedicated in 1934 before 300,000 people, its location, size and uninterrupted view from the city have been protected ever since. StKilda Rd is still the most important boulevard leading into the City.
Did Queenslanders look at Melbourne's shrine?
Joe
Anzac Square wrote:
1930 The Queensland branch of the Australian Imperial Forces instigated an application to use part of the vacant space under the Shrine of Remembrance for the installation of memorial plaques. Australia's first eternal flame was lit in Brisbane on Armistice Day 11 Nov in 1930, similar in appearance to the eternal flame in Antwerp, Belgium.
Even if the Queenslanders hadn't yet visited the Melbourne Shrine, the Queensland Memorial Galleries timeline started well before the Melbourne shrine was dedicated.
Hello Hels, War is such a terrible and all-consuming event that it is important to memorialize the dead, and those who went to battle. (And even those who were left at home, who often played a bigger part than is acknowledged.) It is important to celebrate the peace also, but the idea that a soldier died in a battle only to be forgotten is untenable.
--Jim
it's a powerful reminder of how deeply embedded ANZAC remembrance is in Australia's national identity, especially through the personal, local stories behind memorials like Boonah's
Helen, Australia was an ally of Russia in WWI. But I thought you just supported Russia, Britain and France, but didn't fight. You write that 60,000 people died. Blessed memory!
They are sacred sites in my mind. Even the smallest town had some kind of memorial. I do think services and commemorations need to be adapted to modern times and attitudes. They are to remember the fallen, to me, and not associated with historical actions in war. Aside, it is foolish to not recognise wrongs committed in wars. It sickens me to think of so many people dying in the name of war.
Parnassus
It is important to memorialise the dead for ever, even long after the children and grandchildren are no longer alive to remember the heroes personally. There was no conscription in WW1 in Australia, so the brave men who sailed to Europe were brave volunteers who deserve to be honoured via services at shrines, prayers alongside individually named plaques, a public holiday for all school students and workers etc.
In WW2 this nation had conscription so that men who didn't turn up were tried and sometimes gaoled. Conscientious objectors, fathers of young babies, university students who hadn't finished their degrees, men where their sickness was not readily seen, religious groups that opposed violence etc. The national government should have been sacked in dishonour, not forgiven for honouring the dead and wounded young men.
roentare
I too think _local_ ceremonies with stories about families that we might known and churches the servicemen might have attended are really important.
What had the most impact on my mind and heart were the ANZAC Day ceremonies in our primary school in the 1950s - speech by the headmaster in front of EVERY pupil, flags, Returned Soldiers in uniform and often a brochure for each child.
Irina
When Britain declared war on Germany early Aug 1914, Australia's citizens were all British. So we were automatically at war, alongside Britain. Australians fought in France & Belgium, Egypt & Palestine, and in the Pacific preventing danger from German New Guinea .
Australian airmen served in British squadrons in Egypt, the Middle East and Europe.
416,900 young Australian men joined up in WW1, not counting thousands of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, such as dentists, stretcher bearers, veterinarians and Red Cross personnel tried to save those who had been wounded in war.
https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/1918/medical
Andrew
It is still essential to remember and honour the fallen, AND to realistically associate those brave servicemen alongside their historical actions in war. I am sure Allied soldiers raped or killed women and children in civilian cities, starved or shot Axis prisoners, or deserted. 3,000 men from the British Empire’s forces were sentenced to death in WWI, of whom 361 were executed by firing squad.
The Conversation, Australian Edition.
The WWI Memorial Crypt is a place for reflection, its reverent design and ambient soundscape making the visitor feel at quiet ease in this sanctuary. Its walls contain ornate memorial plaques which commemorate the fallen and honour the service and sacrifice of Queensland-associated battalions, regiments and other units. Plus 100+ images feature recruitment, enlistment and training of 57,705 Queenslanders who sailed to Europe. Tragically c10,000 never returned home.
Wonderful to read this post, Hels. Way back then young men couldn't get to join up in the forces quick enough, that wouldn't be the case today, I'm sure.
The Memorials are just wonderful to have, to remember the men and women who fought for our country those who gave their lives being selfless. Nearly every town we've been in within Australia has a beautiful War Memorial.
Anzac Square Memorial Galleries
many many thanks. I had not heard of the Memorial Crypt and will be delighted to visit the very next time I go to Brisbane. I have seen memorial plaques and pillars all around Victoria, but I don't remember seeing many photos or paintings of recruitment, enlistment and training.
Margaret
I am so proud that nearly every town you have been to in Australia has a beautiful War Memorial. Country towns are particularly heartfelt.
Those who gave their lives in WW1 were not being selfless... but they were brave enough to volunteer. My grandfather lost a kidney in WW1 and although thank goodness he survived, he was in and out of hospital till death in 1971.
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