Book challenges ideas of Anzac

Best We Forget

AUTHOR: Peter Cochrane PUBLISHER: Text

RRP: $32.99

REVIEWER: Mary Ann Elliott

PETER Cochrane has written several books on Australian history including the awardwinning Simpson and the Donkey, and a companion volume to the ABC TV series Australians at War.

In his new thought-provoking book, Cochrane examines the Anzac legend, maintaining that racial preoccupations influenced Australia’s preparation for the Great War in 1914.

He further suggests that behind Australians’ commitment to World War 1 was the great strategic concern with the threat posed by Asia, especially Japan.

Ironically Japan and Britain had a recently-forged alliance; as a result Australia and Britain had divergent war policies and Australia no longer felt itself safe under the imperial umbrella.

Worried by opposition to the White Australia policy, the Commonwealth prepared for defence against Japan, while its soldiers were fighting for the United Kingdom in Europe.

In 1916, in an apparent attempt to reconcile these potentially conflicting objectives, Prime Minister Billy Hughes urged his countrymen, “I bid you go and fight for White Australia in France”.

Cochrane asserts that the celebrated myth of Anzac obscures real history. He argues that racial preoccupations were uppermost among politicians and drove participation in the war.

Although many who rushed to enlist simply sought adventure abroad, many were also there to serve the Anglo-Saxon ideology of their leaders; a racial past best forgotten, as the title suggests.

Consequently, Cochrane argues that our commemoration of ANZAC is “misplaced patriotism”.

Cochrane maintains that our present leaders choose to perpetuate the Anzac legend, based much more on its heroics than its reality, for their own ends.

Although some may find Cochrane’s ideas challenging, his extensively researched book is nevertheless worth reading.

‘‘ COCHRANE MAINTAINS THAT OUR PRESENT LEADERS CHOOSE TO PERPETUATE THE ANZAC LEGEND, BASED MUCH MORE ON ITS HEROICS THAN ITS REALITY, FOR THEIR OWN ENDS.