This ANZAC art reminds me of the metaphor, ‘Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants’, the 12th century expression made popular by Isaac Newton a few centuries later.
I don’t know what this is called officially but, On The Shoulders Of Soldiers would suffice because that’s what we see.
That is what the nation is built upon.
It captures the essence of not just Gallipoli, but the sacrifice of all wars down through the ages and the subsequent bequest by way of the inter-generational inheritance and opportunity depicted by the young couple dreaming their dreams of their future together, juxtaposed against the mud, the blood, the grind, the graft and the drudgery of war and the propinquity of men in the trenches that allows for those dreams to be entertained and realised generations later.
Lest we forget. Anzac Day 1915-2020
Dear Jim,
It is a good and wholesome thought that we annually commemorate the soldiers who fought against the tyrannical leaders potentially taking over Australia. Otherwise if we are not eternally vigilant we may be bound to forget history and succumb to tyrants.
We are all touched by war. My mother’s aunt and uncle are of Phoenician heritage who migrated to Australia via Craddock South Africa in the early part of the 20th Century. Their son, “Ted” fought for Australia during WWII and was a POW for three years. “Ted” arrived from the war in skin and bones and required frequent hospitalisation at Concord RGH until he passed away in 1965 aged 58. His tombstone has the Rising Sun Badge (1904 third pattern) “Australian Commonwealth Military Forces”, reference page 5, https://www.army.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/usingrsbotherarmyemblemssept20152.pdf and DVA number.
“Ted”‘s relatives have been participating in the very fabric of Australian society including raising money for charity and running a successful retail business in rural NSW. The “Trove” website includes an archival newspaper story about a public celebration of “Ted”‘s arrival into Australia in 1945.
It’s the soldier we commemorate for maintaining our way of life, not the activist. Let no-one try to suppress or play down this annual commemoration.
In addition, let us not forget the evil genocide against the Jews, Armenians and Rwandans. Let no evil rhetoric incite and/or mobilise people into evil acts or suppress and deny the actualities of these events. For the former group, some of these events include the Spanish Inquisition, what happened in Russia as depicted in the marching of the villagers scene in the movie “Fiddler On Roof”, anti-semitic activities in between WWI and WWII and the Holocaust.
Commemoration is a good and wholesome thing to do. Otherwise by forgetting history, evil may rebound.
Thank you,
Anthony of Belfield