Gallipoli and Anzac Day

from w
Thousands of young people visit this isolated site in Turkey on April 25th as part of the mythology of a terrible war and the loss of many Australian and New Zealander young men. The British blundered in ordering this campaign and some of the soldiers of that time said they respected the opposing Turks more than the British army leaders! The campaign, lasting from April 1915 to January 1916, led to over 52,000 Allied and anywhere between 50,000 and 200,000 Turkish casualties.

The Anzac (Australian, New Zealand Army Corp) story of the Gallipoli failure has become part of Australian national identity and today is a time for remembrance of the war dead, mateship, with a fair bit of jingoism. Often neglected are the stories of the maimed, disorientated, mentally wounded men who returned to their homeland traumatised.

There has been a resurgence over the past ten years of interest in this public holiday and many young people visiting the site. Perhaps it's a need for ritual and connection to family history. It was such a tragedy.

One thing that comes to my mind is the futility of war and anger at the loss of life of young people by incompetent orders. Are army bosses more to be admired than bullies? I know that many people of my generation do not like being dictated to, to be told what to do. They say that in World War 1, one in twenty soldiers refused to obey orders and many went to court martials. Are they heroes too because they stood up against incompetent orders?

Anzac Day today and Ian McDonald

from w
It's a public holiday in Australia today for Anzac Day, remembering particularly an event at Gallipoli during World War 1 when thousands of young Australians and New Zealand soldiers died, mainly due to a blunder of planning by British army leaders. There are sevices at dawn, marches, and gatherings of mainly older men and women remembering fallen comrades from various wars. The pictures here are from a memorial window at Melbourne Teachers College.

I was surprised to see a photo of my friend Lyn James in the Geelong Advertiser with a story about her father Ian McDonald, who was a soldier in Belgium during World War I and he wrote a poem from there, remembering his home town.

Waterlilies and the making of a peace banner

from w
The red poppy is the symbol on our TV programs and in our newspapers today for Anzac Day. This is to recall the disastrous landing on Gallipoli in Turkey by Australian and New Zealand troops who died in their thousands, way back in 1925. It is almost Australia's national day, more important than the January 26th day remembering the landing of ships carrying soldiers and convicts into Sydney when 'white' settlement started in Australia.

However, I have decided that the water lily is a symbol for me to use today in making my little square of a peace banner. It is a project of our Interfaith Women's group. We met yesterday and worked on our 'squares'. I'm not a sewing kind of person these days so it's not easy for me. Shall I glue it all on? Or stitch around each secion? Anyway I just placed the bits I cut out with wonky scissors on the scanner so that I can have a clue where to put the leaves, etc. I am a temporary custodian of a sewing machine to eventually go overseas, but it's being repaired at present so I will have to sew by hand.

To me waterlilies look very calm and beautiful even though the ponds they grow in are often murky and muddy. Well, that's life. Sometimes a beautiful moment arrives out of the darkness and muddled and muddy existence we experience.
(posted later) Well, I just used craft glue and strips of black tape. It's rather a crudely designed square. Perhaps next time it will be more delicate rather than look like some mutated flowers. I scanned it again mixing b and w and perhaps that's how peace is these days. A glimmer, not a sentimental glow.