Reviewed by Richard Tutin
The word “myth” has two meanings. One is that it is a sacred story that tells the origin of something while the other is a story that isn’t quite true even though it may have been based on fact. In exploring Australian war myths, Mark Dapin seems to hover between both meanings.
The stories he examines are, in some cases, often regarded as Australian sacred stories. The landing at Gallipoli, Simpson and his Donkey, the Bridge on the River Kwai and the heroics of people such as Weary Dunlop have been told time and time again. Politicians have used some of them as a means of uniting the nation while returned service personnel and their families have told and retold stories of their war service and the effect that those times had on them.
Dapin though questions the veracity of some of these myths that have contributed to the legend of Australian forces as people of courage and sacrifice who have been willing to place themselves on the line to achieve victory or save their comrades from certain death while under fire.
As Dapin explains, the reality of the situation may be well removed from the circulated story. The landing at Gallipoli, for example, was chaotic to say the least while the whole campaign was more defeat than victory. Yet as the nation gathers for ANZAC Day commemorations that reality is never mentioned or quickly glossed over if it is. Without it though, ANZAC Day would not be as powerful as it has become in the Australian psyche. Simpson and his donkey is another story that has grown as the years have gone by. Was there such as person as Simpson or is he a symbol of the band of field medics who used donkeys to transport the wounded from the battlefield to a hospital where they could receive treatment for their wounds?
I don’t think that Dapin is seeking to remove these myths from the Australian repository, but he does feel that more truth must be inserted to give them additional meaning as we continue to understand our place as a nation within the ever-changing world scene.
This is particularly true of the wronged diggers of the Vietnam war who felt that their service in that conflict was underrated and their welcome home from the battlefield non-existent until many years down the track.
Mark Dapin has undertaken a lot of research to back up his thoughts and observations about these Australian war myths and others that have grown, cited and used for numerous purposes by various people to back claims of nationhood and the coming of age of its people. This has reached the point where ANZAC Day is regarded as more important than the stories of how the Australian states became a federation with a working constitution and democratic system of governance that has continued for over one hundred years.
One of the conclusions reached in this book is that, while Australian war myths are not always as factual as they could be, they are sacred because the nation has embraced them as such. While we continue to tell them, it is worth remembering that there is another dimension to be explored. It we do this exploration, then perhaps the stories may become more powerful as we remember the service of many Australians in various conflicts that have affected our troubled world. Lest we forget.
Mark Dapin is an acclaimed journalist, author, screenwriter and historian. He is the author of the novels King of the Cross, Spirit House and R&R. King of the Cross won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, and Spirit House was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Age Book of the Year and the Royal Society for Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. R&R was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award.
Mark holds a doctorate in military history. His history book The Nashos’ War was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction and won the NIB People’s Choice Award and an Alex Buzo Shortlist Award. He has also written three books of true crime: Public Enemies (shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award), Prison Break and Carnage. He worked as consultant producer on Network Seven’s TV show Armed and Dangerous, and as screenwriter on Stan’s Wolf Creek 2.
Lest: Australian War Myths
by Mark Dapin
(2024)
Scribner Australia
ISBN: 978 17611 0806 8
$34.99; 286pp