Public Participation in ANZAC Day

As I participated in ANZAC Day events this year, I was once again struck by the very high degree of public participation which this important national day attracts.

You see it in the remarkable numbers of people who attend Dawn Services all around Australia.  You see it in the big crowds which turn up to watch the parade.  And you see it in many intensely local events: such as one I attended at dusk on Kokoda Avenue in Wahroonga, in my electorate of Bradfield.

This dusk service is a powerful example of the way that ANZAC Day today is about genuine ‘bottom up’ community participation.   For one thing, it is typically attended by more than one hundred people who live nearby.  Even more remarkable: it was local residents, living in a street which happened to be named after the site of a critical Australian battle in WW2, who conceived of the idea of building a memorial in the street.  

In speaking at the dusk service in Kokoda Avenue this ANZAC Day, I reflected on the broad community involvement in ANZAC Day.   It turns on the way that Australia engaged in the conflicts we commemorate on ANZAC Day – from the original Gallipoli landing through to other battles in both world wars, later conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam, and present day engagements including Iraq and Afghanistan.

First, we are commemorating the sacrifice and contribution of very large numbers of people – both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the national population at the time.  The sheer numbers of men and women who joined up and served, both in combat roles and support roles, are quite extraordinary.  In the First World War, for example, when Australia had a population of fewer than five million people, some 416,809 men enlisted, of whom over 60,000 died and 156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.

That means that ANZAC Day, even today, touches millions of Australians directly – as a consequence of the very large number of people who served, a very large number of their descendants and relatives feel a direct connection with their service.  In addition to that, of course, there still remain substantial, although now rapidly reducing, numbers of veterans. 

A second consequence is that ANZAC Day is about commemorating the achievements of ordinary Australians.  It is not about recognising generals and politicians; what defines the ANZAC spirit is the way that ordinary Australians faced and very often overcame extraordinary challenges.  This also helps explain its lasting appeal including to younger people.  All of us can imagine being put into such challenging situations – be it fighting on the Kokoda Track, landing on the Gallipoli peninsula, or battling through the jungles of Vietnam – and wonder how we would react.

Thirdly, one of the lasting appeals of ANZAC Day I believe is that it commemorates events which were critical in the history of our young, democratic  nation.  Our participation in the First World War was a critical test of a young democracy.  And in both world wars our success – and that of the other democratic nations alongside which we fought – was critically dependent on our democratic and meritocratic values.   Our armed forces ultimately were more effective because they were less authoritarian, more flexible, and more open to good ideas – from men and women of any rank – than were the armed forces of the dictatorships. 

Ultimately, ANZAC Day is about ordinary Australians, in large numbers, commemorating and paying tribute to the sacrifice and contribution of very large numbers of other ordinary Australians.   That is one important reason why it is so special.