Sale RSL Staff
THIS year, it has been more than 100 years since the ANZAC landing, but it also a year when we remember battles where Australians and New Zealanders served and died, which happened more than 100 years ago – for example, the battles of Frommelles and Pozieres in France and the Battle of Romani in Egypt.
For the New Zealanders, they fought in the Battle of the Somme where they suffered 7000 casualties at the same time as the Australians were fighting at Frommelles and Pozieres. In the battles involving the Australians, there was more than 28,000 Australians killed or wounded.
Frommelles was designed as a feint to draw attention from British attacks elsewhere and was a disaster, as the Germans soon realised it was not a main attack. Pozieres was a two-week battle for a strong German-held position, which dominated the battlefield. The Australians were able to capture and hold the position despite significant German counterattacks.
The battle of Romani, fought in August 1916, finally put a stop to the Turkish threat to the Suez Canal and marked the beginning of the British forces’ drive out of Egypt and into Palestine. Initially, only the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade was in position to meet the Turkish attack.
Heavily outnumbered, it was forced to fall back, but as the day progressed, both mounted and infantry reinforcements steadily arrived, allowing the position to be stabilised and for a counterattack to be conducted.
Of those who died in those battles, 12 men were from Sale and district.
Their names are on the Cenotaph here at the Memorial Hall in McCalister Street.
They include: Colin Bolitho, Archie Bower, Walter Cox, John Davis, Harry Forster, Clem Phillips (age 20), Arthur and Herbert Ray (three Ray brothers died in World War 1), Laurie Rickets, John Ross, Vic Ruff and Charles Stone. There are still relatives of those men living in Sale today.
This leads the meaning of the ANZAC Spirit – what does that mean?
It is a short word for a number of qualities which all of us, not just the men and women serving in the Navy, Army and Air Force, can usefully use in our everyday lives.
The ANZAC spirit represents a sense of purpose and direction. The original ANZACs and the ANZACs who followed knew what they had to do, they knew of the dangers and the difficulties, but they got down and did their job and did not let those difficulties stop them.
It is true that the whole campaign at Gallipoli, other campaigns in WW1 and the disasters of WW2 and setbacks on other operations, did not achieve what was hoped for. But the men and women on the ground stayed and did their duty.
You can apply the ANZAC spirit to your everyday life.
No matter what difficulties you think are in the way, think of the ANZACs and others who have followed them and push the difficulties to one side and accomplish your task.
Secondly, the ANZAC spirit represents an acceptance of responsibility. This is another quality you should apply in your everyday lives. Take responsibility for everything you do. It is easy to say ‘I did that’ or ‘That’s my work’ when everything goes right. We all know that sometimes things do not go right. Remember the ANZAC spirit and take responsibility for what you are doing.
The ANZAC spirit also includes a sense of compassion. This has been summed up in the Australian experience as mateship. This means to watch out for your mate, help him or her at all times and don’t poke fun at other people because they may have had some misfortune, or come from a different part of the world. We need to be accepting and supportive of people from all cultures and all backgrounds.
So, these three very simple things are what we mean when we talk about the ANZAC spirit. Another word you can apply to this same spirit is unselfishness.
Now, like every other person, hope that Australia will never be involved in another war – and that you will never be called upon to experience such a terrible thing.
But you should use these things – a sense of purpose; acceptance of responsibility and unselfishness, whatever you do in your lives.
If you do this you will be keeping the faith with those who put the word ANZAC into our language and you will be helping to make sure that the ANZAC spirit is always part of life in Australia.