Report to Government

International context to the Board’s work

1.20The 100th anniversary of the First World War will be a significant period for the nations that were involved. Preparations are generally well under way (see Appendix 4). In most cases, there is a growing interest between the respective nations and Australia to develop appropriate joint initiatives, and there is ongoing liaison at Ministerial and departmental levels. This liaison builds on the close planning relationships between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, around planning and delivery of annual Anzac Day services. The Board’s Chair has also met government officials from many of these countries (see Appendix 3).

1.21The New Zealand Government is planning significant domestic and international projects and ceremonies under its First World War Centenary Program, known as WW100. A First World War Centenary Panel has been established to help steer this program. New Zealand’s active commemorative and ceremonial program will include at least one major national commemoration to mark each of the main theatres of service for New Zealand forces in the First World War (Gallipoli, the Western Front and Sinai/Palestine). A number of legacy projects are under development, including the establishment of a National War Memorial Park in Wellington, which includes the construction of an Australian War Memorial, and the establishment of an Education/Interpretive Centre in the same precinct. Heritage trails will be developed in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s online database of First World War personnel records (Cenotaph) will be enhanced. A range of community, heritage and educational programs are also proposed, with $17 million of Lottery Grants funding made available to support these activities. Giving expression to the Anzac relationship with Australia will be a priority for New Zealand, and cooperation between the two countries has been close.

1.22The British Prime Minister announced the United Kingdom’s approach to the Centenary in October 2012. The key features include: extensive refurbishment of the First World War galleries at the Imperial War Museum; establishment of a Centenary Education Program aimed at providing opportunities for teachers and students to visit First World War battlefields and to study local individuals who fought in the First World War; encouragement and support, including funding, for local communities to conduct their own memorial events; and national days of commemoration on significant dates.

1.23A significant commemorative program is expected in France, given that many of the war’s major battles were fought on French soil. The centenaries of these battles are expected to be significant international occasions. French deaths in the First World War, including from its colonies, amounted to almost 1.4 million, together with some 300,000 civilian deaths attributable to the war. Various levels of government are expected to host a raft of commemorative initiatives spanning the Centenary, including some nationally symbolic events to be hosted by the French Government and many other decentralised events under the control of local authorities. There may be joint activities with Australia.

1.24Belgium was also convulsed by war on its soil and the anniversaries of major battles are expected to be significant events. The associated museums e.g. Ieper (Ypres) and Passchendaele are being refurbished in readiness for the expected increase in visitor numbers during the Centenary. An important part of this relationship is likely to be joint activities, particularly in 2017. This may lead to 2017 being recognised as the ‘Year of Belgium in Australia’ and ‘Year of Australia in Belgium’ (see example of Turkey in paragraph 1.25 below). There could be similar arrangements with other nations with which Australia was involved during the First World War, e.g. France.

1.25Turkey is also expected to have significant official, community-based, academic and sporting commemorations. In April 2012, the Prime Ministers of Australia and Turkey made a joint declaration on Centenary commemorations between the two countries. The year 2015 will be known as ‘Year of Turkey in Australia’ and the ‘Year of Australia in Turkey’. Proposals submitted by Australian individuals and entities to be carried out in Turkey would be assessed and discussed with Turkish authorities. A joint coordination body may be established to include the relevant ministries and cultural agencies. It is anticipated that each government will secure funding for the activities organised by themselves for the centenary commemorations of 2015.

Rabaul to Return

1.26Rabaul to Return will trace and commemorate Australia’s involvement in the First World War from the seizure of German New Guinea in September and October 1914 to the return of the surviving Australian servicemen and servicewomen in 1919–20, following the signing of the Armistice in November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. The First World War commenced on 4 August 1914. Australia’s first military campaign of the War involved a joint Navy and Army expeditionary force, as well as most of the Australian fleet, which removed the German forces and subsequently occupied German New Guinea, where German wireless stations supporting German naval raiders posed a threat. The campaign was successful, with some casualties. This was also the occasion of the loss of HMAS AE1—the Royal Australian Navy’s first submarine and the Navy’s first wartime loss—although not to enemy action. It vanished without trace with all 35 crew members.

1.27The first convoys that carried troops of the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force, later to be known collectively as the Anzacs, gathered at Albany, Western Australia in late 1914. The first convoy left for Egypt and Gallipoli on 1 November 1914. At the time they left, the troops believed they were bound for Europe and only discovered en route that their destination was Egypt. Even when they reached Egypt, they were not aware that they would eventually be sent to Gallipoli.

1.28The Gallipoli campaign, from April 1915 to January 1916, involved over 50,000 Australian troops and involved casualties of over 26,000, including over 8,000 dead. Numerous volumes have been written about the campaign and its obvious profound impact on Australia and national values. While there have been nuanced changes in how Anzac Day is seen and commemorated by Australians over the years, Anzac Day has become invested with potent and unifying meaning. Anzac Day is today a time to remember and commemorate all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. For this and other reasons, the 100th anniversary of the landings on 25 April 1915 will be the single most important day in the Anzac Centenary.

1.29After Gallipoli, Australian troops were involved in the dreadful carnage of the Western Front. In the costly stalemate of 1916 and 1917 to the turning points in 1918 that ultimately led to victory, Australian troops paid a tragic price, alongside the vast casualties of other Allied forces. Australian casualties for the three years of fighting on the Western Front (1916–18) amounted to over 180,000 men. Of these, over 46,000 died, over 100,000 were wounded and 16,000 were gassed.³

1.30Australian troops fought in some significant campaigns and battles:

• 
  in 1916, at Fromelles, and on the Somme at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm
  
• 
  in 1917, at Bapaume and Bullecourt in France and at Messines, the Third Battle of Ypres, including Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle and Passchendaele in Belgium
  
• 
  in 1918, at Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens, Mont St Quentin, Peronne and against the Hindenburg Line.
  

1.31The centenaries of these battles and engagements, especially of Villers-Bretonneux on Anzac Day 2018, and of the Armistice on 11 November 2018, will be significant commemorative events.

1.32Over seventy-five per cent of Australia’s war dead from the First World War died on the Western Front. Over the years, and for a range of reasons, the legacy of the Gallipoli campaign has come to overshadow in the wider community, the involvement and sacrifice of Australians in other campaigns and battles during the First World War, including the Western Front. Similarly, the Western Front is assumed by many to refer to France and not Belgium. The role of Australian forces in Belgium in 1917 is not well understood. The Centenary should be a time to improve awareness, understanding and commemoration of Australians’ involvement in other theatres of the war, as well as reflecting on the sacrifices at Gallipoli.

1.33Australian ground troops and airmen also fought in the Middle East—Sinai, Palestine (including the capture of Beersheba in 1917) and Syria. These troops made a major contribution to the collapse of the Ottoman forces.

1.34The Royal Australian Navy was active throughout the First World War, as part of a combined Allied force. An early success, in November 1914, involved the HMAS Sydney, which was part of the naval protection of the convoys departing from Albany. It engaged the German vessel, Emden, off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands ahead of the convoy, and disabled it. The Emden subsequently ran aground. The Australian submarine, HMAS AE2, was involved in the Gallipoli campaign. It was Australia’s first naval vessel lost in battle and still lies where it sank.

1.35The small Australian Flying Corps operated over the Western Front and the Middle East. The Corps had the distinction of remaining a part of the Australian Imperial Force, rather than being subsumed into the Royal Flying Corps or, in 1918, the Royal Air Force. The first Australian airmen to go to war were members of the Mesopotamian Half Flight, sent to provide aerial support to the British effort against the Turks in southern Mesopotamia. They reached Basra in May 1915, flew their first operational mission on 31 May and remained in that theatre of war until the Turkish victory at Kut in April 1916. In the Middle East, by January 1918, equipped with the formidable Bristol Fighter, Australian airmen along with their British counterparts gained aerial dominance and played a key role in the defeat of Turkey during the final months of the year. Australia also fielded three line squadrons on the Western Front, deployed for photo reconnaissance, ground attacks, offensive patrolling, bombing operations against targets well to the rear of enemy lines, and low-level reconnaissance missions.

1.36Australia’s first military flight took place at Point Cook, near Melbourne, on 1 March 1914. The centenary of this event is expected to be commemorated on 1 March 2014 at a national air show at Point Cook. While this event does not occur strictly within the Rabaul to Return time frame, the air show will also be an occasion to commemorate the role of the Australian Flying Corps in the First World War. It will also highlight the leading role played by Australian Flying Corps aviators in the development of civil aviation in Australia. These include Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness who, in 1920 with several other individuals, established the air service that became known as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (QANTAS). Air shows will continue through the Centenary period, including the Avalon Air Show in March 2015. The concept of conducting a number of regional air shows in March–April 2015 is also being explored. These shows may be seen as stand-alone initiatives or could contribute to the travelling exhibition proposal recommended by the Board (see paragraphs 2.5–2.12).

1.37It is important that the service and sacrifice of each of the three services is recognised and commemorated during the Anzac Centenary. Chapters 2 and 3 contain proposals on this.