Lest

Australian War Myths

By Mark Dapin

Published by Scribner; Dist. by Simon & Schuster

RRP $34.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781761108068

 

It’s no surprise that Mark Dapin begins this book by tackling the Anzac Day myths which seem to have been caught up in faux ‘culture wars’ created by politicians pandering to the uninformed and reflexively belligerent by decrying any attempt to separate fact from fiction.

The first Anzac Day, for example, was far from being a solemn march—it was a celebration where people dressed as cavemen and dinosaurs, among other things.

Did John Howard know the last remaining Australian to serve at Gallipoli, Alec Campbell, who passed away aged 103 in 2002, was a trade unionist, republican and socialist when he vowed to protect the values Campbell had lived by?

Is it true that British officers callously dispatched Australian soldiers to their deaths in the Dardanelles, as we’ve been told?

And moving on, did we really hate the soldiers returning from Vietnam?

Despite the popular myth the returning Vietnam soldiers were not given a welcome home parade until 1987, it turns out there had been at least sixteen such events to welcome them home.

Somewhere though my education has been sadly lacking. I had never heard of the Emu War.

Dapin has a keen sense of the absurd and the downright stupid. He has enjoyed setting the record straight in this book about any number of well-worn, deeply imbedded Australian myths. The question now though is will the ‘uninformed and reflexively belligerent’ be swayed by serious research on the topic?

Regardless this is an entertaining and enlightening read.

About the author

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. 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. His website is at markdapin.com.