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Praise for the Anzacs

REFERENCE
Ashmead-Bartlett's despatch 'Battle of Gallipoli', dated 27 August
The Argus, 4 October 1915, p. 8, NLA newspaper call no. NX11
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Although employed to report for British newspapers, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett was the most emphatic of the Gallipoli correspondents in his glorification of the actions of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers. His fondness for dramatic descriptions lent itself to his determination to lionise the Anzacs. His articles, published in Australian papers, described brave and selfless acts by Anzac soldiers and units. In the months and years after Gallipoli, his account of the landing on the peninsula was republished in numerous Australian commemorative pamphlets and albums.

Phillip Schuler of the Melbourne Age likewise favoured a dramatic style of writing that supported the blossoming image of the Australian soldier as a cut above the ordinary. In his article on the landing, which he wrote from Egypt, Schuler did not spare his praise for the Australians. In recounting the battle he said:

REFERENCE
Schuler's despatch 'Battle of Gaba Tepe', dated 12 May
The Age, 23 June 1915, p. 12, NLA newspaper call no. NX 233
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The Australians, never before under fire, had behaved with that splendid courage, that splendid fearlessness, that at a jump placed them alongside the flower of the British army. In this terrific landing they were accomplishing a feat that holds no parallel in history. Those first men who fell sold their lives I vow, more dearly than any troops had ever done.

Such commendations continued throughout Schuler's articles written from Gallipoli. In an article on the types of soldiers in the fighting line, Schuler explains that while 'the hills [on Gallipoli] have never troubled the Australians and New Zealanders much' the British soldier found himself 'fearfully handicapped' in the rugged terrain and 'leant heavily then on the Australians' who 'helped willingly and proved good teachers'. The image of the Australian soldiers as 'parents' to the British is a strong one. Such an image also gave a greater degree of agency to Australia and Australians, which was a key factor in the building of Australia's sense of nationhood through the Gallipoli experience.

REFERENCE
Smith's despatch 'Life at Anzac'
The Argus, 5 October 1915, p. 7, NLA newspaper call no. NX 11
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Charles Smith of The Argus also despatched accounts that contributed to establishing the Anzac image. In an article on the soldier he names 'Jim', Smith attempts to detail how the ordinary Australian fighting man discovered his heroic attributes at Gallipoli. In the article Smith notes:

Jim was wounded in the arm. Once he had stayed away from business for a week because he had a sore finger. Now he cursed the luck that put him out of the firing line for an hour. He was taken to the dressing-station, but hurried back to his platoon as fast as the steep hills would let him.

REFERENCE
Read an article, probably by Charles Smith, about a night march at Gallipoli
The Argus, 27 September 1915, p. 6, NLA newspaper call no. NX 11
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There was no actual 'Jim'. The story Smith relates is intended to represent all Australian soldiers at Gallipoli. As it attempted to chart the progression of the Australian soldier from refined and timid to strong and brave it helped fuel the image that the soldiers at Gallipoli were representative of a new breed.

Charles Bean recounts, in his article on the nature of the Australian soldier, that appeared in the Hobart Mercury of 17 August (page 6, NLA call number Nx306), an incident in which a senior officer came upon an Australian who was expressing his agitation at having just had a Turk fire a shell near him. When the officer commented that the soldier seemed annoyed, the Australian soldier replied

REFERENCE
Article by Phillip Schuler dated 25 July on Quinn's Post and 'Aussie' dugouts
The Age 4 September 1915, p. 11, NLA newspaper call no. NX 233
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'Yes, the blanky blanks; so would you be if the blanky swine put a blanky shell into your tea-which I beg your pardon sir', he added hastily. 'I didn't see it was you but the beggars went and blew the parapet into my tea-If I was hit one would get some rest then; but it's over the odds spoiling your tea'.

Anecdotes such as these highlight traits that were coming to be seen as distinctively Australian. The soldier swearing in front of a senior officer is an example of the cheeky disregard for authority that Australian's at home began to see as typical of their troops. The soldier's comment that it would be better to have been wounded than to have his tea spoilt gives credence to the belief that soldiers at Gallipoli were brave and casual about their lives and confirms the treasured notion of the larrikin Australian's experience of battle.

REFERENCE
Charles Bean's article dated 31 May on the heroism of a wounded Australian machine gunner in battle of Gaba Tepe
The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 June 1915, p. 7, NLA newspaper call no. NX 354
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IMAGE
Cover
ENLARGE IMAGE
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett:
The Heroic Story of the Australasians at Anzac (cover)
Cover
Ferguson Collection no.7378