Hard News: Anzac Day II
56 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 Newer→ Last
-
Tinakori, in reply to
Jerry Mateparae and Peter Cosgrove, NZ and Australia respectively, both former Generals, and after the service they both went to Canberra for service over there.
-
Sacha, in reply to
that's impressive.
-
william blake, in reply to
Yes something along those lines, it's a concrete artefact exposing past, public thinking about the role of the military in New Zealand. It kind of fucks up some of the current reframing.
(Or it could just be linking things that go BANG!, exposing past public stupidity and insensitivity)
-
Yamis, in reply to
Cheers William, I was a bit worried I might be reading it wrong as it’s quite obscured but think I’m right. Agree with what you said.
Unveiled 28 April 1922.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/mercer-first-world-war-memorial
-
And there's an initial word (above the porthole) too, suggesting the full graffito was a very literal comment: "Used to murder Maori people"
-
Gisborne cenotaph just before the dawn parade. My grandma took great care to explain that though she hates war, she always took my dad and his siblings to the Anzac services to teach them what it's all about - it's a terrible waste of good lives, and that's why we should remember.
-
Mike O'Connell, in reply to
I must watch the Sam Neill doco, Damn, I had to go out when it was on.
Anyway, it would indeed be interesting to see what was cut re: Armenia. Robert Fisk has written at length over the last week including these must read pieces in the Independent on the Armenian genocide: Armenian genocide: Turkey's day of denial amid remembrance for a genocide in all but name and On an Istanbul street, have I just witnessed a positive step in history?
Russia has now called the 1915 mass murders a genocide with Putin personally travelling to Armenia at the weekend to say so. Meanwhile the US and Obama refuse to use the 'g' word.
-
Ben Austin, in reply to
Going to a pub and playing two-up does seem to be an Australian thing. I've done it a couple of times in London and it isn't so bad once you get used to it.
-
Rob S, in reply to
I was at the Pt Chev ceremony and couldn’t figure out why most of the junior cadets were fainting and needing to be assisted to seating.
My daughter as the oldest guide in her troop laid a wreath at the Pt Chev ceremony.
She said that standing near the front in the sun it got quite stifling. Mind you she did manage to bear up.My Wife and I have been twice now to the parade as parents of both a guide and a scout who are expected to go probably as a holdover from the military aspects of their organisations founding.
I am very conflicted in regard of this as I’d like to respect the soldiers who were in the NZ defence force yet I loathe the way that Anzac day has been resurrected as part of a poorly understood narrative of NZs role in the first world war and how it is turning it into a collective act of group think.
Gallipoli was a fuck up of epic proportions in a war of epic fuck ups.
No one should lose their job or be ostracised for criticising how it has been turned into a patriotic pissing contest.
If anything it is the best day for reviewing our political and military history to learn and apply lessons to our current position.
This needs to occur without shutting down other views that challenge the orthodox narrative.For a while Anzac day was quietly fading away with lower and lower attendances.
This might be for the best and without the 100 year tag for next year can we just tie it into an act of appreciation for our past soldiers. None of them knew what they were getting involved in and the price they paid seems to be too low for the end result, which applies for all who fought on both sides in one of mans maddest moments. -
Gabor Toth, in reply to
The Wellington dawn service was very big and the only two speakers aside from the padre running the show were the two Governors General. Aside from the size the service was exactly the same as all those I have attended...
That and the fact that it was held at the new National War Memorial Park for the first time did make it quite special and I thought quite different from the dawn services normally held at the Wellington Cenotaph. We parked up at the southern end of the Terrace at about 5.10am. Walking down Abel Smith Street there were a few others strolling in our direction - and then we hit Willis Street to see literally hundreds of people walking down from Aro Valley. We were then joined by another couple of hundred students coming up from the hostels in lower Willis Street. With little traffic, many streets closed off to cars and most people walking near silently it was quite surreal experience. By the time we got to Pukeahu it was the largest crowd (c. 40k) I have seen on Wellington's streets since the LOTR premiers. The large screens made everything easy to see and though the NZ GG said a couple of things that made me wince, I'm still glad I went.
Even better though was the service at the Ataturk memorial on Wellington's south coast in the afternoon; small, intimate, very moving and equal consideration given to the Turkish side of the story. -
I was there for the Pukeahu dawn service as well, and you've described it very well; it was the same approaching from the Newtown end. The atmosphere was quite magical. The dawn chorus of tui was very lovely.
-
Well, I was one of the lucky ones at ANZAC Cove this year. Here are some of my reflections:
Reflections on ANZAC Day at Gallipoli
Slow time through Gallipoli, 26th April -
I like ceremony and ritual, so I marched in the dawn parade and when asked carried a flag (one I had previously stolen from my parent unit), I did so. To me these are rituals for the living to remember the dead, and the only good to come from a funeral is meeting old friends.
I did feel odd being addressed as a veteran. Correct enough, but not entirely accurate. My service was here, not over there. My closest brush with death was seeing a mate sob and howl into the breast of his girlfriend thinking about one who didn't come back from Peace Keeping.
I intend to wear a red and a white poppy next year.
I do see ANZAC day in terms of our Peace day as envisioned for 19 July 1919, albeit through an RSA filter. -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
so I marched in the dawn parade and when asked carried a flag (one I had previously stolen from my parent unit)
That sounds good, because I doubt that a bought flag would work properly. Back when there was a speakers corner in the Sydney Domain the star of Sunday afternoons was the formidable Webster. When Webster appeared with his distinctive yellow ladder the bible lady and the conspiracy theorists could only look on impotently as their audiences deserted them for some real entertainment.
One afternoon an amiable Aussie bloke carrying a toy flag of the type sold at knick-knack stalls called out “Mind if I bring this into your meeting?”
“No!” bellowed Wenster. “Because you probably paid for that, and the Australian flag is not for sale!”If Webster’s style in the archival footage in the linked clip appears familiar it’s because the Wizard of Christchurch once served as his understudy during his pre-Chch Australian sojourn.
-
nzlemming, in reply to
Well, I was one of the lucky ones at ANZAC Cove this year. Here are some of my reflections:
So sorry you had to spend any of that time with Slater, John.
-
Marcus Turner, in reply to
The gates of the old school formed the war memorial in Karitane. I remember being fascinated that the mortar between the rocks on one side formed a "K" and always wondered if that was intentional. I remember someone crashing a PA Vauxhall into that Waikouaiti memorial.
-
Joe Wylie, in reply to
I remember someone crashing a PA Vauxhall into that Waikouaiti memorial.
The PA Vauxhall had an unusual linear speedometer that changed colour the faster you drove. I suspect that simple curiosity about what colour you'd get if you really put the foot down led to a few accidents.
-
This kind of Vauxhall:
"we passed like ships in the night or cars in a contraflow system"
-
I was brought on on a narrative of WW1 as a war of sickening slaughter, terribly lead and fought for no good reason. The almost inevitable result of jingoism out of control.
*Personally* I don't think this defines NZ. My own views about that include:
The indigenous Māori population - very influential despite the abuses.
Treaty of Waitangi
Votes for Women
40 hour working week
The horror of WW1
The All Blacks
UK joining the European Union
Being a Pacific Island
The Weather/wind
Rogernomics
Immigrants from across the globe
Historic links to the UKI hope the above is not contentious or offensive. I just think it more to define a nation than participation in war.
-
Sol K, in reply to
<removed after I read it back and realised it came across as aussie bashing>
-
I don't think ANZAC day defines NZ, but it is a part of the story. Much of my family always wanted to go home and never did. We were very much involved in Empire during WWI. Our national anthem is still God Save the Queen and our Queen is the same as England.
-
nzlemming, in reply to
our Queen is the same as England
The same person at this time, but our monarch is the Queen of New Zealand, not the Queen of England. And if you think that's a technical and trivial difference, let me introduce you to my friend the 100 Years war
-
Graham Dunster, in reply to
One of the things that ties Maori TV to the other broadcasters is its often incessant and intrusive advertising. It was wonderful to realise at the end of the Sam Neill doco that there had been no commercial breaks whatsoever. The programme encompassing both Oz & NZ made it so much more than its constituent parts. Big thanks to the ABC (who majority funded it) and the producers for facilitating such a worthwhile programme. Hopefully it will be widely available and rebroadcast often.
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Hopefully it will be widely available and rebroadcast often
The kind of Nation Building programmes that could be shown on the often 'dead air' Parliament channel 0ne might think...
But hey the reality is it'll probably end up behind the pay wall on Heartland. -
Chris Waugh, in reply to
probably end up behind the pay wall on Heartland.
That seems like a pretty sad state of affairs when even our heartland is only available to those who can pay.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.