Gallipoli & Australian Nationalism

An Australian national consciousness was not born at the Battle of Gallipoli because it is an ideological construction that political leaders of the Australian State use to promote nationalism. In this essay I use select commemorative postage stamps, of the Australian State, to discuss the ideas and message their images represent. Along with coins, one might argue, that the images on postage stamps envision the national identity, consciousness and nationhood that the State wishes to promote. Also this essay defines three Australian nations, and for two of them, the importance of the Battle of Gallipoli. Furthermore, present attitudes are discussed to show how the variability of stories, legends and myths are used to persuade nations to justify, sanction and accept the actions, legitimacy and authority of the State.

There have been three nations of Australia, two of which have almost vanished, while the third and presently dominant nation uses the legends of the first and second nation, to legitimise the rule of the Australian State. The first nation of Australia, the indigenous inhabitants, have been recognised through High Court decisions such as the Mabo Case. However, history provides stronger recognition of this nation through the first international cricket test between Australia and England which was composed entirely of indigenous players. That the current national summer game was used and then ignored to identify a nation is an example of how appeals to the past and the lack of them are the usual methods of interpreting the present (Said, 1994:1).

The second Australian nation, labelled in this essay as the Wild Colonial Boy is the collective patriarchal child of convict settlers and colonialists who battled the Australian environment for a "better life" than their European "homeland." The "Wild Colonial Boy" in 1901, unified the six Australian colonies into a federated State. Its nationhood was developed by the belief that people belong to distinct groups or nations, created and promoted by the State to legitimise and authorise its statehood. The word nation and nationality comes from the Latin “natus” meaning birth and at the time of the Battle of Gallipoli, Australia was a newborn State of existing nations (Ball, 1991: 18).

Misunderstanding between national and state definitions can be illustrated by the public reaction to the first Australian postage stamp issued thirteen years after federation. Outrage at the use of a kangaroo in preference to the head of the King of England can be argued as a conflict between State and national identities which the "Wild Colonial Boy" had difficulty accepting (Roseblum, 1966: 205).

Now an independent State, the second nation of Australia had a bizarre identity as an Australian Nation dutiful to a British Monarchy but imprisoned by this monarchies culture, heritage and a convict status, excluding them from return and residence in the "homeland" of Britian (Said, 1994: 74).

Hobsbawn (1990: 6) argues that a nation does not build a State but that the policies of a State create nationalism and nationhood. The study of a national consciousness in the context of the Battle of Gallipoli would include both State and national attitudes, which make the definition of the nation problematic. Problematic because there are many different human collectives that are labelled as a nation but exceptions to the definition can always be found especially with emerging political units such as the federating six Australian colonies. The individual desire for identification is a primary and fundamental need of social and cultural existence and the classification of people into groups creates this concept of the nation and nations (Hobsbawn, 1990: 7). Stalin's (1947: 8) definition of a nation attempted to establish criteria for nationhood based on single attributes of language, cultural traits and common histories:

a nation is a historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life and psychological make up manifested in a community of culture

However emerging political groups do not fit into a permanent framework or a united whole and it is nationalism that develops the principle of national consciousness. A nation is not a divine imposition of how people and political destiny are classified because it is nationalism that embodies the stories, legends and myths that create a national consciousness (Tarling, 1998: 75).

The former status of Australia as a penal colony gave the leaders of the British Empire a belief that they were superior in morals and riches. Redemption for the "Wild Colonial Boy" came from providing the Empire with resources to maintain its superiority. When the First World War began the "Wild Colonial Boy” was sent to Gallipoli in the hope that by proving his prowess on the battlefield he would erase the convict label and be accepted as an equal nation. The founding insight of anti-imperial nationalism is the awareness of ones-self belonging to a subject people and a culture, which imagines its own past in a way to gain independence from empire (Said, 1994: 198, 214).

For the twentieth anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli, the returned soldier's organisation asked to have a commemorative postage stamp issued and dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in WW1. The consensus was for a non-military theme and an agreement was reached on the image of the cenotaph in Whitehall, London, with the word ANZAC superimposed and surrounded by a laurel wreath (Roseblum, 1966: 217-218). The "Wild Colonial Boy" believed his participation in WW1 had raised the national morals of Australia to a level equal to the British and was expressed in speeches such as General Burwood's message to the Australian soldiers in France three days after the armistice:

never has the name of Australia stood higher than it does now throughout the world thanks to the bravery of her soldiers and it is up to everyone of us to see that this is maintained and no reproach can be cast on the Australian flag owing to any behaviour of ours (Adam-Smith, 1978: 333).

One might argue the "Wild Colonial Boy" did not redeem his convict heritage in the battles of WW1 and most especially at Gallipoli because the twentieth anniversary stamp illustrates the image of the cenotaph in London, not Sydney, Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia. It reinforces the idea that only in death could the "Wild Colonial Boy" return to the homeland of Britain and the Empire still ruled the Australian nation if not the Australian State. The "Wild Colonial Boy" was now stranded between the national traditions and culture of the British and the aspirations of Australian Statehood, creating a confusing national consciousness.

The University and public school men who were to be the future leaders of the second nation and federation of Australia, enlisted in the ranks to serve with friends and brothers. Unlike the British there were no special Corps of "upper class" citizens. This meant that units like the 10th Light Horse of Western Australia, were raised from the sons of almost every "well-known" pastoral family and eighteen months later were wiped out in a charge on enemy lines. The slaughter and incapacitation of the "Wild Colonial Boy" in the First and then Second World War would result in the demise of the second nation of Australia (Alomes, 1991: 172-173).

The third nation of Australia emerged from the refugees and émigrés escaping a Europe ravaged by the two world wars and came to Australia with new cultures, ideas and identities. The State had great difficulty in defining its identity and promoting a national consciousness when designing a commemorative migration postage stamp. In 1955, the cultural myths of the "Wild Colonial Boy" and Gallipoli were inadequate for an image of Australia and an attempt to produce a national consciousness through the celebration of immigration failed. The original commemorative stamp design of two men rotating a wheel of industry and framed by the title of "Greater Strength Through Migration" was unpopular with the government because of its communist representations (Cochrane, 1999: 19).

A public competition was organised and entries from all parts of the Australian State were exhibited in Department stores and other public spaces. Themes included industry, pastoralism, international cooperation, tractors, ships steelworks and maps of the world, which appeared to express one idea, that Australia was a place of hope. Moreover it excluded the mythical moral values of the Battle of Gallipoli; mateship, bravery and self-sacrifice. Unfortunately government officials were unable to decide on an acceptable image of Australia and the whole enterprise was abandoned (Cochrane, 1999: 20-21).

The Battle of Gallipoli is an event that has been honoured in Australia to a greater and lessor degree as a first step in its nationhood. This idea was very important in the 50th anniversary celebrations of the battle and unlike previous commemorative postage stamps a design was now required symbolising mateship, bravery and self-sacrifice as characteristic of Gallipoli veterans. A heroic image was found in the reproduction of Simpson and his donkey, drawn in the colours of khaki, navy blue and maroon to represent the army, navy and the ribbon of the Victoria Cross. These stamps were issued to restore the absent medals for the soldiers of the Battle of Gallipoli and acknowledged Australians sacrifice (Roseblum, 1966: 471-472).

One might argue that these images were a nationalist policy by the State to revive themes and myths of the Battle of Galipoli, as an appeal to Australians of a heroic precedent for the involvement in the Vietnam War. The remnants of the second Australian nation were beyond enlistment age but appeals to the spirit of the Battle of Gallipoli was a way in which the State could use the resources of the third nation of Australia for its own political ends. By the 75th anniversary of Gallipoli the commemorative images on Australian postage stamps had changed to include a broader range of themes and used to divert attention away from the traditional links with Europe to ones that were more engaging with South East Asia. Forster (1995: 12) argues:

a people's memory is largely constructed by the State. The government normally has the greatest resources at its disposal to shape how its citizens view their past and it can promote certain events and values while suppressing or downplaying others

Moreover the myth of the Battle of Gallipoli as a founding event in the history of the Australian State was now replaced with a broader range of military theatres because the myth no longer appealed to the new politics of the State. The five commemorative stamps of the 75th anniversary of Gallipoli included soldier’s wounded, gravesites, woman left behind as workers and modern weapons such as helicopters. The Battle of Gallipoli myth could not be ignored completely, as the 41-cent value stamp shows, but these stamps are further evidence of how the Stae creates a national consciousness and the method in which the State uses nationalism to promote its political goals.


Hewson (2002: 48) argues that our State leaders put their hands on their hearts on Anzac Day and revel in the mythical values and morals of the Battle of Gallipoli; mateship, bravery and self sacrifice, hoping that the myth will adhere to them. Prime Minister John Howard even tried to have these "values" written into a preamble of a proposed new constitution but it is now people the State chooses not to exclude that increasingly defines national consciousness and nationalism.

With the death of the last Gallipoli veteran in 2002, it is perhaps now time to look for new ways to examine the Battle of Gallipoli, for instnace, historically rather than as a defining element of Australian Statehood. Not all Australian men rushed to enlist in the days before the Battle of Gallipoli. Most were rejected on medical grounds and it is ironic, that three prominent and revered Australian Prime Ministers, Robert Menzies, John Curtin and Ben Chifley preferred to stay at home with their families in peace time occupations believing as individuals and as a nation they had no place in being killed in foreign countries (Day, 2002: 11). The Gallipoli story, myth and legend is more related to the psychological needs of the "Wild Colonial Boy" rather than the needs of the present Australian nation. Unfortunately in a historic sense, the Battle of Gallipoli turned an open view of the new Australian State back toward Britain and away from Asia. However Gallipoli has been forged into a potent founding story and is used by the State to hold onto the certainties of the past and enlist people into wars of the future (Day, 2002: 11).

There have been three Australian nations of Australia and all have contributed to the growth of the Australian State. Postage stamps can be a valuable tool in illustrating how States promote the stories, legends and myths of nations to promote national consciousness and nationalism and secure State legitimacy and bolster its authority. Gallipoli will continue to be a potent foundation story, to a greater or lessor extent because it is so seductive as a political tool for the leaders of the Australian State. What will continue to be problematic are the definitions and meanings of national consciousness and nationalism and how they impact the constituents of the nations that reside in the State.

Selected References
Adam-Smith, P. 1978, The Anzac's, Thomas Nielson Ltd. Melbourne.
Alomes, S. & Jones, C. 1991, Australian Nationalism: a documentary history, Harper Collins, Sydney.
Ball, T. 1991, Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal, Harper Collins, New York.
Cochrane, P. 1999, Queens, Crowns, Stamps and National Identity: The Millionth Migrant Exhibition, Art Monthly Australia,
No. 123, September, pp. 19-21.
Day, D. 2002, Let's lay the Anzac myth to rest, The Australian, Monday, May 20, 2002, p. 11.
Forster, R. J. 1995 Nation Making: Emergent identities in postcolonial Melanesia, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
Hewson, J. 2002, Mateship Out, Exclusion In, The Australian Financial Review, Fairfax Publications, Friday, 26th April.
Hobsbawn, E. J. 1990, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Robertson, J. 1990, The Tragedy and Glory of Gallipoli: Anzac and Empire, Hamlyn, Melbourne.
Roseblum, A. A. 1966, The Stamps of the Commonwealth of Australia, 6th Edition, Acaia Press, Melbourne.
Said, E. W. 1994 Culture and Imperialism, Vintage Books, New York.
Stalin, J. 1947, Marxism and the national and Colonial Question, Lawrence and Wisart, London.
Tarling, N. 1998, Nations and States in South East Asia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.