The ANZACS and the Turks dug many miles of trenches
along the beaches. With the Turks in front of them and the seas behind
them, the Australians dug in and defended their trenches ruthlessly,
giving rise to the term Digger, an Australia who never quits under
hardship. It was a desperate time requiring endurance and courage on
both sides and was not helped by poor leadership from the British High
Command in London.
If sniper fire didn’t get you, then gangrene,
typhus, and no fresh food or water probably would. This dragged on for
the next eight months and cost 8,000 Australian lives alone before the
decision was made at the end of 1915 to abandon the beach heads. The
Allied forces withdrew the remaining troops leaving their fallen
comrades behind.
At that time Australia had been a Federated Nation
for only 15 years. So while the landing of Gallipoli was not a success,
it did bring the nation together as a whole for the first time.
Australia has a tradition of cutting down Tall
Poppies, people who succeed, yet defending the underdog and making heroes
of those who fail in noble causes despite great effort. Some examples of
these are Ned Kelly, our most famous Bush Ranger, the Eureka Stockade,
the closest Australia has ever come to civil war, and of course the
famous Swagman popularised in the song Waltzing Matilda.
Thus has become the ANZAC spirit; bold and ferocious in battle
but … unwilling to bow to military discipline. To be an ANZAC is to
hold headfast in battle, to die with a smile, and yet never to succumb
to authority.
To be an Australian is to do your best for your family and country
against all odds with not a small amount of disdain and irreverence for
the authorities.
