Anzac Legend

Before World War 1, Australia did not have its own identity. It had a flag and had the title of Australia but did not have a very good identity if one at all. They were known to only exist because of Ð''the grace of England'. Australians were known to be inferior to the British, and lower in class (information found from source 2.44). But, world war one and the whole Gallipoli campaign changed everything.

The Anzac legend describes the qualities the men displayed though their tough eight month battle of the Gallipoli campaign. Two individuals in particular had a great influence on the development of the Anzac legend. They created the basis of the legend. There names was Charles Bean, an Australian official war correspondent, and E. Ashmead Bartlett, a British reporter. They were both present on the 25th of April, 1915, when the boats landed at Gallipoli. Source 2.40 describes what they did. It says that bean went ashore while Bartlett watched the whole thing from a battleship. Bean was the greater contributor to the legend.

Through this eight month struggle, the Australian Imperial Force (know as the AIF) went through a lot. They experienced extremely high weather condition, an unbearable quantity of flies, bad stench of dead bodies and a lot of hardship. But regardless of this they continued to give it all they have got.

Some of the qualities that the Anzac legend identifies as Australian include heroic, tough, laconic, can face death bravely, a mate, dislikes authority, courageous, a real man and can survive against all odds (shown in source 2.41). More then anything, the men that fought in the war were the real creator of this legend. They displayed all these qualities. If they had not gone and fought, there would not have been any Anzac legend.

The Anzac legend is of great significance to Australia. "The price of nationhood must be paid with blood and tears" (from source 2.44 Ð'- freeman's journal) meaning that it cost Australia the death of 1000's of Australians to make Australia a notion. One of the biggest successes of the Anzac legend was that it turned Australia into a nation and gave the word Ð''Australian' a meaning and identity. Also, the legend converts a military defeat into a moral victory, as stated in 2.38. The AIF was defeated in Gallipoli, but in Australia, it was a great victory for the Australians as Australia was finally a nation.