ANZAC Day commentary

ANZAC Day – from One Millenia to the Next - Professor Ruth Rentschler 03 924 46228 or 0407 461 287

A new book Reflections on ANZAC Day – from One Millenia to the Next looks at the range of perspectives that need to be understood if site and event managers are to successfully manage the surge in interest as Australia approaches the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in 1915.

Online celebration of ANZAC Day- Professor Ruth Rentschler 03 924 46228 or 0407 461 287

Looks at the way online and social media were being used to tell ANZAC stories, creating its own devoted audiences.

ANZAC Day the myth - Associate Professor Stephen Alomes 0438 081 545

Argues that despite the historic nobility inherent in ANZAC Day as a day of remembrance it has become a day of national folly and romantic celebration of war.

"Instead of celebrating war - celebrate peace, which recognises war but also reminds us of its costs, its folly, and its destructiveness," he says.

Commemorative aspects of ANZAC Day – Mr Bart Ziino 03 924 46457 or call Sandra Kingston 0422 005 485

"Grieving has always had its place in ANZAC Day," he says. "Mourners' demands for recognition highlight the continuing tension within ANZAC Day as both solemn commemoration, and a celebration of the ANZACs as national heroes."

ANZAC Day – the visitor's experience at ANZAC Cove / motivations for visiting

Associate Professor John Hall 03 924 45054 or 0408 516 331

Australia, Papua New Guinea, Kokoda and a communal blindness in our history education

Dr Jonathan Ritchie 03 522 78424 or call Sandra Kingston 0422 005 485

"One aspect of our history that so far hasn't received much attention in the draft national history curriculum – despite the abundance of war and fighting stories included in it – is that of Australia's long association with Papua New Guinea. It should not be necessary to remind people about some of the key elements of this history – tales of derring-do, heroism, sacrifice, fighting and adventure in Kokoda, Buna, Gona, Milne Bay, featuring 'choco' soldiers, the 2nd AIF, kiaps (patrol officers), missionaries, gold prospectors and assorted other misfits and ratbags."