Anzac Day 2008
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
27 Apr 2008
A priest friend of mine told me how his father came to Sydney from the country before World War Two to work, and lodged with a family who had one son. That son was killed at the end of the war.
The families became fast friends and the priest recalls going as a child each Anzac Day to his father’s host family to watch the march on television, while the parents wept for their only departed son.
In the old days people generally had never heard of post-traumatic stress and there was a stigma about admitting psychological troubles.
Men in particular were supposed to bite their lip, shut up, and get on with life, even when the nightmares of war came back night after night. Families wondered why their ex-service loved one was strangely silent, or turned to the bottle or was touchy and bad tempered.
We realise better now that not only the physical wounds, but the psychological wounds sometimes lasted a life time and scarred the family too.
Celebrating Anzac Day has been part of my life for nearly as long as I remember. At my school we had an annual religious service, as did the Australian community during my seminarian years in Rome. So too as a priest and bishop I have regularly commemorated the sacrifices Australians made in all those armed conflicts. After many years, hearing “The Last Post”, the pause and “Reveille” always triggers deep emotions for me.
Australian identity or community self-awareness is like an iceberg, because most of it is hidden beneath the surface. The Americans and even the British are more open in displaying their patriotism than we are. But the mythology of the Anzacs is one of the most powerful elements in the Australian identity.
Australian pride in nationhood is stronger now than it has been for decades, and this is good because ours is a history of achievement; not perfect, but a good story. The last Prime Minister, John Howard, did well on this score and the memorial in London to the Australian war dead is a wonderful testament to Australian sacrifice and to the links between us and what used to be called home. I am sure Prime Minister Rudd will continue to foster national pride, even as he shifts the focus.
The discovery of the wreck of HMAS Sydney, 66 years after it was sunk in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia by the German raider Kormoran on November 19, 1941, was a blessing, long delayed for the relatives of the 645 Aussie sailors who went down with the ship.
So too placing a statue of a New Zealand soldier at the entrance to our elegant Anzac Bridge cements the links we forged in that distant conflict.
Australia lost 60,000 dead in World War I, but pro-rata New Zealand’s losses were even higher.
