Welcome to ANZAC Day
Honouring Australia’s past—but which one?
The Sydney streets were slick and gleaming from yet another night of heavy autumnal rain as we arrived at the memorial service in Martin Place. The wide square was already crowded with people, so we slotted ourselves into a gap through which we could just glimpse the heads and shoulders of a sliver of the row of servicemen in their navy blue uniforms and blue-and-white caps and behind them a camera-wielding press corps in polythene cagoules against the rain. I pinned a sprig of rosemary to my dress. The place was still submerged in that greyish pre-dawn city-dark but it was warm enough for my short sleeves and flip flops (which I still can't get used to calling thongs).
I had just watched Peter Weir’s masterpiece Gallipoli for the first time and I bit back sentimental tears throughout the readings and Bible prayers, imagining the dashing young characters played by Mel Gibson and Mark Lee whenever the speakers referred to those who fought that day. I tried not to let emotion choke up my throat and spoil my enjoyment of the singing. My friend who had accompanied me was silent through most of the event, though when we sang God Save the King, I could hear his melodious bass coming from my right. The service passed without incident, including the Welcome to Country given by an Aboriginal representative. I’ve heard similar words so often that I confess I simply zoned out and took a brief, daydreaming break during that part.
I really don’t know much about the history of ANZAC Day nor about the history of Welcome to Country, so what follows is going to involve thinking aloud and will come, as always, from my outsider perspective. I’m such a foreigner here still that I had to sneak a look at the service sheet to remind me of the lyrics to Advance Australia Fair. These are necessary disclaimers because I am about to wade into some very murky waters and address a topic that is extremely fraught, since it involves sanctities. This is fundamentally about civic religion—and many people on both sides of the debate get very angry when their pieties are questioned. As I often do with my most personal and/or provocative posts, I’ll put a paywall in here for the sake of discretion.