ANZAC Day

The Women’s Political Association vigorously opposed WW1 but kept ANZAC day with respect, seemingly as a matter of course. Vida Goldstein spoke of it in her letters from shipboard when on her way to the Zurich conference in 1919.

The Woman Voter 7 August 1919:
H.M.T. Orsova, Nearing Suez, 28 April 1919
Vida Goldstein

'The Anzac sermon was preached by an army chaplain; it was a glorification of the Australians, with some humorous sidelights. It had none of the dignity and impressiveness that one would have thought the occasion demanded, and offered no comfort to those present who had lost relatives at Gallipoli and on other battlefields.

He denied absolutely the oft-repeated statement that the Australian soldiers were undisciplined. They were splendidly disciplined, he said, but their disciplined conduct had no trace of servility. He spoke feelingly of the social conditions that had killed soldiers before they entered the trenches; the evidence in the trenches of the terrible results of those social conditions had roused many men to the sense of their duty to their fellows, and made them resolve that when they returned to civil life they would do all in their power to right the wrongs under which their comrades had lived.

At last night's service Miss John sang very beautifully, "Oh, rest in the Lord." The passengers, as many of the crew as could get to where the service was held, and some Indian officers who are commanded by the King to visit England, and their "boys" hung on every note.'

Also, Janet Butler explains in her biography of a WW1 war nurse - Kitty’s War the remarkable wartime experiences of Kit McNaughton - some reasons the protagonist 'Kit' called herself an ANZAC as early as 1915:

‘(S)he selects and privileges material that validates the (Anzac) legend, and simultaneously draws upon the constellation of qualities embodied in it - and lionised by it - to create her own images.’

UQ Press p.17

But after WW1 women were amongst those who were progressively banned from participating; whether as nurses, mothers, or wives.

Joy Damousi describes this in The Labour of Loss Mourning, Memory and Wartime Bereavements in Australia:

'... By the 1930's mothers had lost their distinctive contribution to these public commemorations. On Anzac Day women's rituals became universalised as one, thus negating the specificity of mothers ... the categories of 'mother' and 'widow' were conflated into 'women' and they became marginal to the memory of war because they were no longer defined by their 'sacrifice' ...

This became a particular issue in Melbourne in 1938, when mothers and wives were reported to have 'intruded' into the dawn service.

Towards 'the end of the procession', 'nearly one hundred women joined the double file of returned soldiers, and walked past the Rock...

The Age reported the dawn service in 1938 in terms of a sacred site, which was a male preserve where women had no place to be ...

The Victorian secretary of the Returned & Services League (RSL) agreed that 'this intrusion tended to break down the spirit of the occasion'.

1954... 'Public Mourning became a contentious issue in relation to Anzac Day. In the 1953-54 annual report of the War Widows Guild, (Mrs Jessie) Vasey noted that 'a matter of concern' to the guild 'was that the Melbourne ceremony for Anzac Day 1953 'from the war widows point of view' met with 'almost universal disapproval'...

The widows' resentment of their neglect reached a crisis in the furore which arose over the Anzac day ceremony in 1954. (The War Widows Guild decided it would no longer 'take part officially in the Anzac Day Service under the present arrangements.’) They organised a Remembrance Day (November 11th) ceremony in 1954 in its place for war widows, mothers and other relatives to mourn and grieve.’

Cambridge University Press p.155-6. From Women Working Together suffrage and onwards womenworkingtogether.com.au

After that I found nothing except protests against Anzac day.

Women's Liberation leaflet 1979:

'Women walk against war...Wednesday, 24th April 6pm at the Anzac Shrine. On this evening we are walking away from the shrine in opposition to the things that are celebrated on the day that is called Anzac Day...’

Women Against Rape
Press Release April 25 1979:

'Australian women are angry because today, as on past Anzac days, the celebrations have concentrated on glorification of the role men play in wartime and have totally ignored the fact that in war, as in peace, women have always borne the brunt of male violence...

During this year's Anzac day ceremonies, representatives of Melbourne Women Against Rape collective will be remembering the women raped in wars and intend to lay a wreath in their memory.

Postscript: Women Against Rape Collective (WAR) - Women attended the Anzac Day March wearing black robes with - 'REMEMBER WOMEN RAPED IN WAR' painted in bright red letters.

On arriving at the shrine we were spotted by a rather anxious looking policeman who hurriedly went for assistance, bringing back with him another policeman and an Army Brigadier. The Brigadier, after some gentle persuasion, 'agreed' to let two women lay our wreath at the shrine steps.’ womenworkingtogether.com.au

Women’s Liberation badge from womenworkingtogether.com.au

At that time the singer/songwriter Judy Small sang of women raped in war in her haunting song Lest We Forget:

‘It’s not only men in uniform who pay the price of war - lest we forget.’

The twentieth century should have taught us the dangers of idealizing our past and teaching children a part-truth only. Will we learn?