Section 3: Essay 2 Flashcards
Key issues, events or people from the past that have shaped modern Australia (Australia’s identity)
ANZAC legend and myth
Multiculturalism
Independence from Britain
List some ANZAC values
Mateship
Courage
Integrity
Egalitarianism
What is associated with Australia’s current national identity?
Crocodile Dundee Outback Our natural enemy was the environment not people (why there was no war) Kangaroos Larrikinism
Who said “What these men did nothing can alter now. The good and the bad, the greatness and smallness of their story will stand. Whatever of glory it contains nothing now can lessen. It rises, as it will always rise, above the mists of ages, a monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession for ever.”
Charles Bean
What did Charles Bean say about the ANZACS
“A monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession for ever.”
Describe the Myth of the ANZAC
In the myth of Anzac, military achievements are exalted above civilian ones; events overseas are given priority over Australian developments; slow and patient nation-building is eclipsed by the bloody drama of battle; action is exalted above contemplation. The key premise of the Anzac legend is that nations and men are made in war. It is an idea that had currency a hundred years ago. Is it not now time for Australia to cast it aside?
[Henry Reynolds and Marilyn Lake, What’s Wrong with Anzac?, 2010, p173]
What does data from the 2011 AuSSA suggest about ANZACs?
“Data from the 2011 AuSSA suggest that Anzacs are by far the most influential historical figures in relation to Australian identity (Figure 1). Anzacs were chosen by 47 per cent of respondents as their first choice, with a further 17 per cent selecting them second.”
Data from where suggests “that Anzacs are by far the most influential historical figures in relation to Australian identity (Figure 1). Anzacs were chosen by 47 per cent of respondents as their first choice, with a further 17 per cent selecting them second.”
2011 Australian Survery of Social Attitudes
What is the egalitarian social doctrine?
A belief in equality of opportunity and a conviction that in Australia, men had a right to a good life.
How has increasing independence from Britain changed Australia’s identity?
- For so long British history was their history
- Federation in 1901- became its’ own country with its own army rather than fighting under the British Army
How do the ANZACs influence current Australian life?
- In 1984, 50 thousand people attended ANZAC marches, 2014 that many people attended the Darwin Service in Melbourne alone.
- Graeme Davison suggests that ANZAC Day fills a vacuum of social ritual in contemporary Australia life.
Describe the ANZAC spirit
Not just about commemorating the war dead but acknowledging virtues of our nation past and present.
What led to the shifting ideas of what it meant to be Australian in the 1920s and 1930s?
The shifting ideas of what it meant to be Australian—as opposed to British—in the 1920s and 1930s; leading us to an understanding, finally, of
- The significance of Australia’s shifting international alliances in World War Two.
Who said “it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war”
Robert Menzies
What was the importance of Australia’s WWII alliances?
Reliance on America after Britain would not help Australia
Controversial:
- Turned away from Britain
- America knew nothing about Australia at the time
- Had an isolationist policy
- Why they didn’t come into the war until they were attacked themselves
