‘Two Anzac speeches 2015’, Honest History, 12 May 2015 updated
Douglas Newton spoke on 22 April 2015 at Petersham Town Hall, Sydney, to a meeting of the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign, based in Marrickville. The speech covered respect for servicemen and women, the ‘Anzac spirit’, the dimensions of the disaster of the Great War, commemoration – or disremembering, hard truths of the war and of Australia’s Gallipoli, lessons of the war and Gallipoli, and prospects for peace. A video of the speech. (Look also for videos of speeches by Margot Pearson and Anne Noonan.)
Douglas Newton then spoke on 26 April 2015 at Crows Nest Uniting Church, Sydney. This speech covered respect, what Anzac commemorations might be, what Anzac ‘celebration’ can be, plain packaging for Anzac, why Anzac? Why Gallipoli? lessons, peace and reconciliation.
While the two speeches overlap to some extent, we have published them both in full to preserve their integrity. Readers may wish to read the Crows Nest speech first, as it is to some extent a precis of the Petersham speech, or read the Petersham speech first, as it is more comprehensive. They are both well worth a close read.
Douglas Newton is the author of Hell-Bent: Australia’s Leap into the Great War and The Darkest Days: the Truth Behind Britain’s Rush to War 1914. He is one of Honest History’s distinguished supporters. His chapter in The Honest History Book (2017) is ‘Other people’s war: The Great War in a world context’.