AustLit

Perhaps Dorothy Wall's famous character Blinky Bill represents the larrikin element which is an integral part of the Anzac Tradition. Blinky Bill plays soldiers in the bush with his friends: frogs, tadpoles, and rabbits as well as bull ants. Some Australian soldiers, who are looking for a mascot, see Blinky drilling his 'army' and ask him to be the mascot for Australian soldiers in Sydney. Not knowing what a mascot is, Blinky Bill at first refuses. Later, as he prepares to leave his home, Blinky celebrates with his mother and his bush friends through a series of competitions and concerts which result in laughter and joy, as well as the odd fight.

Suggested Audience: Primary

More unusual pets include mice, frogs, and pigeons. This early text is a forerunner of more recent texts which focus on soldiers pets. See for example The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded by Jackie French (2009) and M is for Mates (from the Australian War Memorial).

Suggested audience: Primary

Suggested audience: Upper primary, Secondary

The relevant story in this collection is Children of Anzac (pp. 40-43) which tells about a returned soldier who wants to go to the Anzac Day march but cannot afford the train fare nor the time away from his farm. However, his children arrange for a neighbour to help with the jobs and offer their pocket money to their father so that he can remember his mates who never came back.

Of particular relevance in this collection is the story "The Memorial" on the Great War. It offers an interesting exercise in the use of language to position readers to adopt a particular stance. It tells the story of a memorial being erected in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I. Upon a handyman expressing his opinion that it is a waste of money the narrator suggests: "But he was a disgruntled, soured little man, embittered against his fellows, against authority and those who sit in high places, against Empire and all that sort of thing" (p.33). Compare this with his description of the men who form a guard at the unveiling of the memorial: "They were smart very smart and soldierly-looking, big-chested boys they were, with a good, clean glow in their cheeks and health in their eyes." (p.37)

There is irony in the narrator's comment in relation to the handyman:" Like others of his kind, he had lost his balance somewhat, and was apt to be extreme in his views, and in his bitterness." (p.33)The narrator, too, seems to be extreme in his views and in his indignation, but does not recognise this.

This collection of fairy tales, nursery rhymes, limericks, and so on, written by the public in response to a competition held by the Sun-Raysed Dried Fruit company in 1919, is an excellent example of a popular cultural text. The language of both the Foreword (About This Book) and the competition entries is full of national fervour which is hardly surprising so soon after the end of World War I. It includes some poems written about Anzacs.

Suggested audience: Primary

She explains her grandfather's motivations: \"He marches for all his friends who can't march. He marches for us.\" (This echoes the sentiments expressed by the father in the CLDR story Children of Anzac described above.) Readers are given an account of the significance of Anzac Day through the small girl's observations. Her vow at the end of the book: \"One day I will march on Anzac Day, and I will do the remembering\" points to a reinterpretation of the Gallipoli Tradition. The website Gallipoli and the Anzacs listed above could be used in conjunction with this picture book to explain the rituals and artefacts associated with Anzac Day celebrations.

Suggested audience: Primary

The Donkey who Carried the Wounded by Jackie French tells the now famous legend of Simpson and his donkey, with a difference, as the events of the story are presented from several different viewpoints. Not only do readers hear Simpson's account of the landing at Gallipoli and the gruelling months that followed but they also hear from, among others, a Turkish sniper, the New Zealand stretcher bearer Richard Henderson who took over from Simpson, along with the musings of Duffy as he went about his work. This text is an excellent vehicle through which students can look at how texts enable readers to take up different reading positions. French, through a mix of fact and fiction, offers her own reinterpretation of the spirit of Gallipoli.

Suggested audience: Primary

This novel follows an Australian girl Ellie as she travels with her mother to Turkey to commemorate Anzac Day at Gallipoli. The pair stays in a boarding house run by a Turkish woman and her daughter Zeynep. When the two young girls discover that their grandfathers fought on opposite sides in the war this link leads to a developing friendship. See the tribute to ANZACs written by Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1934: http://explorersfoundation.org/glyphery/354.html Just as President Ataturk proclaimed that: \"There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us\" - so too Ellie and Zeynep find more commonalities than differences in their lives.

Suggested audience: Secondary

This YA novel is the first in the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. It is a coming-of-age novel which details the invasion and occupation of Australia by an unidentified foreign power. Told through a first-person narration by central character Ellie it provides a powerful portrayal of young people forced to deal with a life-threatening situation. In the process they also undertake a journey of self-discovery. The novel has been made into a film which was released in 2010 (see Role of Women in War Trail). One interesting exercise would be to consider the process of adaptation from book to film.

Suggested audience: Secondary

Alan Seymour's play, One day of the Year (1958) was written at a time when many Australians, particularly young people, were questioning the whole mythology surrounding Anzac Day​. This generational shift is played out as Alf supports Anzac Day celebrations while son, Hughie, ridicules them. Ironically, the title of the play which was seen as critical of aspects of the commemoration of Anzac Day has come to be synonymous with it.

Suggested audience: Upper Secondary