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April 25th: Anzac Day


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#1 dbw

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Posted 25 April 2003 - 20:01

my father, an aussie immigrant, always had a special toast to "his mates" on this day....i never realized the importance of this until i visited waverley cemetary outside sydney [to visit the family plots]and saw the momuments and graves of the war dead...as this is the second anzac day without my dad, i will raise an extra glass for him as well...god bless him and his mates .

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#2 Vicuna

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Posted 26 April 2003 - 08:15

Good call dbw.

Only Aussies and Kiwis really know the significance of the day.

#3 Doug Nye

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Posted 27 April 2003 - 13:55

And many Brits too....believe me.... (with thanks). :up:

DCN

#4 canon1753

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Posted 27 April 2003 - 16:06

And even a few Yanks know the significance of Anzac Day. (Even if a few days late)

May they rest in peace.

#5 Ray Bell

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Posted 29 April 2003 - 08:34

Originally posted by dbw
.....I visited waverley cemetary outside sydney [to visit the family plots]and saw the momuments and graves of the war dead.....


Isn't that the cemetery with the very graphic tribute to Maroubra whiz Phil Garlick?

#6 eldougo

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Posted 29 April 2003 - 09:15

:up: THAT,S right Mr Bell.i remember going there years ago.

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Question without notice RAY the 1st Warwick Farm meeting was it wet or dry????????
Thanks Eldougo.

#7 Ray Bell

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Posted 29 April 2003 - 09:39

Neither...

It was very wet!

#8 Catalina Park

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 07:30

Very very wet.

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#9 Catalina Park

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 07:33

And the opening ceremony with Alec Mildren about to do the first lap!

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#10 eldougo

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 07:48

:wave:
Thanks Catalina. ------I don,t suppose the 2nd photo would you have a closeup shot
or maybe know who the drivers & cars are .;) I know it.s asking a bit much???????

THANKS ELDOUGO

#11 Catalina Park

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 12:52

Those pics came from the National Archives of Australia webpage http://www.naa.gov.a...hotosearch.html , they have some pictures from the opening meeting and a few other meetings.

Here is another couple.

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#12 Paul Newby

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 13:09

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Catalina Park
[B]Those pics came from the National Archives of Australia webpage http://www.naa.gov.a...hotosearch.html , they have some pictures from the opening meeting and a few other meetings.

I actually spent some time in the National Archives when I was down in Canberra for a course a couple of months ago. They had a bit of a display of old car photos and I went into their Reference Centre and asked to see some files with old car photos, purely out of interest.

It took a while, but I was eventually given about three files of photos, some interesting stuff, but hardly any racing. The guy at the information desk initially tried to guide me to their website, but I told him that I could look at the website anytime. :| Still, I did flick through their site while I was there but I didn't see any Warwick Farm photos .... :)

#13 Catalina Park

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 13:22

I have done the same thing, gone to the Archives and looked through a couple of folders and found more on their website!

#14 Dennis David

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 13:46

I was lucky enough to attend the Anzac Day ceremony in Canberra a while back. The Australian War Memorial was one of the best that I've seen.

#15 Doug Nye

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 14:29

Spike Milligan had a particular soft spot for the great war memorial in Canberra. I remember him saying it showed the measure and mettle of the nation with a flair, style and above all commitment which few other countries of comparable population would ever have the imagination to match.

The adjacent war museum is also one of the most brilliant I have ever had the poignant pleasure to visit, with so many superb exhibits matched by brilliant state-of-the-art son-et-lumiere features -or whatever they're called in these days of lasers and computer graphic projections.

The thing which really rolled me up was the sight of the POW-built christian chapel from Changi Jail, Singapore, which stands re-erected in a quiet triangle of green, beneath the trees in the military academy grounds in Canberra. One of my uncles died as a POW at Changi in 1943, - before I was even thought of. I suddenly felt unexpectedly close to him...a tingling experience...

DCN

#16 dbw

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 17:19

wow! thanks for the link to the war memorial site!i found my grandmother who served as a nurse with the "A.A.T.S." from 1916 thru 1919...she would have been about 18 then...
as an aside, my first experience with waverley cemetary was when i found the gravesite of my great grandmother [mother of the above] who had died in the great flu pandemic of 1917...but couldn't find her husband...[her name was on the headstone but the other space was blank..the cemetary had no record on their official "roll" but the director,with the date of death, found an entry in the financial records!! it seems when his wife died he had the money to bury her with a proper headstone...when he died much later his surviving brother only had enough to bury him with her but not enough to put his name on the stone..as i was named after him i thought it only fitting to add his name to the stone to set things straight...not so easy mate!!!it seems the place is now a national historic site and not only did i have to petition to the local board but i had to contract with a stonecutter approved by the gov't to add to the gravestone in the proper manner of the era....after a windy afternoon meeting with a rather odd but quite talented gentleman [a longer story]a contract was signed and all was set straight...

for you technical types,as the cemetary is located right on the coast and headstones exposed to a harsh environment..the then popular approach was to carve the desired information about 1/16" deep into the stone and then to inlay thin lead letters and numerals and gently peen them into the stone flush with the surface! with a bit of patina over time the inscription turns a very dark color and appears to be painted on the surface and lasts a very long time.. only a handfull of artisans can still undertake [sorry] this type of work.

#17 Ray Bell

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Posted 30 April 2003 - 22:35

I hold no brief with war, nor can I come to reconcile the attitude of the Film and Sound Archive people, who will ultimately be the ones to whom photographs, movies and audio recordings will be entrusted.

Several months ago, in my pursuit of a recording of the commentary of the 1965 AGP, I took a roll of audio tape to them to discuss its resurrection. BASF tape from the fifties and sixties was prone to being hygroscopic and swelling within its reel, and without due care could be lost forever. The owner of this particular tape had many motor racing commentary tapes and I suspect he has the AGP of my pursuit.

They were prepared to consider taking care of the tape I had with me, of Bob Menzies and other luminaries at some function in Melbourne clowning around during the speeches, but when I asked about the motor racing stuff they said they weren't interested in the slightest!

The poignancy, however, of the War Memorial museum is tremendous. With a real Lancaster bomber from the 'Dam Busters' raid stashed inside along with the various displays, the examples of paper clothing the Germans were forced to wear as times got tougher during the conflict, the many weapons and the make-do weapons all give an idea of what Doug has mentioned - a willingness to put one's life on the line and use whatever resources are available.

What a shame it had to happen!

From the site cited comes this note, one which is prone to lead us to deep thought. At least it has some people...

On 11 November 1993, the remains of an unidentified Australian soldier who died in the First World War were re-interred in the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Memory. The soldier’s remains were exhumed from the Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, France.


My brother was moved to put this into words...

AUSTRALIA'S UNKNOWN SOLDIER

"Over here! There's one more, Charlie.
Dead meat tickets blown away".
"Right on top of that pile there, then.
Pray that he's the last today!"
Two minutes silence late in Springtime
lets us think and feel and see,
gives us just a glimpse of how
a soldier spends eternity.

No-one solved your jigsaw puzzle -
one less soldier, one less voice.
Fame was saved for resurrection,
once more just a random choice.
Unknown soldier, how could you
foresee in final wounded breath
that so many decades later
part of you would transcend death?

Here's your extra tour of duty,
Bretonneux to Menin Gate,
then let diggers carry you to
Canberra, there to lie in state.
See the crowds that cheered departing
soldiers' dreams, adventure-high.
Now your final, solemn journey,
made to let us say goodbye.

As we never had the chance to
say goodbye through long, cold years.
Mourners now can come to let you
give some meaning to their tears.
Feelings, when they see old photos,
fill your loved-ones with regret.
You're a symbol of survival
to the diggers we've all met.

You're the way to grieve life's promise,
seed that never bore its fruit -
all your future generations
wiped out in some Turkey-shoot.
Unknown soldier, where's the justice?
Why don't generals fight and die?
Noble motives, high adventure,
is it all a vicious lie?

Did you join the march to glory
knowing what the fight was for?
Did you see enlistment as
your one-way ticket to the war?
Was it hard to choose between
adventure and the work to do?
Just one chance to cross those oceans -
death can't happen - not to you!

Did the priest give kindly blessings?
Did his voice sound so sincere?
Were you dazzled by his promise,
soon removing thoughts of fear?
Then to be one more statistic,
no more time to live and learn.
Did you fight for just five minutes?
Did you know it was your turn?

All these questions make me wonder
just which soldier you might be,
of the names read out by children
(children that you helped keep free).
Public servant thwarting boredom,
grocer's son escaped by night,
simple farm-lad, Father's favourite -
did you fake your age to fight?

Adolescent filled with duty,
boy with little wish to work.
Did you join the march to town
from out beyond the back of Bourke?
Were you promised to some precious
daughter of a family friend,
love that never really started
reaching this disastrous end?

Did you spend your final seconds
thinking of her golden glow?
Did your wounds hurt more than
thoughts of love your heart could never know?
Did this girl you would have married
find that she could not forgive,
grieving for her unknown soldier,
life you two were meant to live?

Crying, waiting, hoping, wondering
why her lover had to go -
could her life have been much better?
How you helped to make it so!
(Or your niece could be my Mother.
You'd have known how much she cared.
Half a century separated
all that love we might have shared.)

Did you see your Mother's teardrops
when she learned you'd disappeared?
She just lived for your returning,
still your fate was as she feared.
Did you feel your Father's anger
grimly cursing useless waste,
telegram that left out details
of the blood fate had you taste?

Australia's sons without a funeral,
death that no-one could believe -
brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles
left without a chance to grieve.
As you lie beneath cold marble
waiting out the years to be,
share the love from all our visits
with your mates across the sea.

Graveyards filled with unknown soldiers -
death can never be disgrace -
well and truly done their duty,
made the world a safer place.
Play The Last Post late in Springtime.
Those left to enjoy the wealth
take their part in solemn ritual.
Drinks then flow to diggers' health.

Ceremonies each November
sound our Anthem nation-wide.
Listen to the trumpet sound,
lest we forget those men who died!

Brian Bell

#18 eldougo

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Posted 01 May 2003 - 06:51

THAT is a great piece of poetry BRIAN BELL.Love these lines

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Graveyards filled with unknown soldiers death can never be disgrace
well and truly done their duty made the world a safer place. :(

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A must see place the AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL .in Canberra.

#19 dbw

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Posted 25 April 2007 - 03:52

just a reminder.....

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#20 eldougo

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Posted 25 April 2007 - 07:06

i sure did not need reminding it a day i find more Australian than ever before.

#21 275 GTB-4

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Posted 25 April 2007 - 08:11

Originally posted by Ray Bell
The poignancy, however, of the War Memorial museum is tremendous. With a real Lancaster bomber from the 'Dam Busters' raid stashed inside along with the various displays


I have never heard that one....must check....

Lest we forget.

#22 Ray Bell

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Posted 25 April 2007 - 08:31

Actually, I think I found out later it was mocked up to look like the Dam Busters plane... but it was a real Lancaster. It went away for a while for some work.

#23 Gary Davies

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Posted 25 April 2007 - 09:20

Originally posted by Ray Bell With a real Lancaster bomber from the 'Dam Busters' raid stashed inside along with the various displays... [/B]


Not really. You are thinking of "G for George", a Mk1 Lancaster assigned to 460 Sqn RAAF, which completed 90 operations over Europe before returning to Australia where it has spent many years on display at the AWM. It was extensively refurbished between 1999 and 2003 and is currently the centrepiece of a magnificent display in the ANZAC hall. It was never anything to do with 617 Sqn RAF.

#24 dbw

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Posted 25 April 2009 - 17:15

yet another reminder..how time goes by..... :(

#25 D-Type

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Posted 25 April 2009 - 22:14

They went to Gallipoli, Villers-Bretonneux and elsewhere as British colonials and returned as Australians (and New Zealanders).