Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

I'm starting to grasp the kind of drive that propelled her to take all sorts of risks.

But what still intrigues me about the photo is that it was taken in the same year as the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli, yet this image is the antithesis of the blood, sacrifice, and loss that we associate with the wartime era.

You know, so often when we think of the iconic Australian of the early 20th century, we think of the ANZAC soldier.

And that was certainly important at the time, even for Australia's self-image, but it was only one idea, and it's a very male image.

I appreciate it.

And I think about the ex- Anzacs every day.

A big love to our fallen soldiers.

A huge, huge love.

I mean, I think this is, um, you're right.

The, you can see where, well, it becomes the Anzac legend, but before that we had the pioneer legend.

We have this history of trying to, this experience of hardship, and that this is where the Australian spirit is made through these sorts of rugged endurance in these frontier conditions.

Um, should they have been out there? Should they have been put out there to struggle? I think we continue to grapple with that history and it is, it is interesting how I suppose we, we have this story of where European farming practices are trying to be established in hostile territory with g- devastating impacts for, for those families, as you say, for the indigenous peoples there, and then of course for the, for the environment.

They are uncompromising.

And the rural and regional Anzacs, who, no surprises, were the first to put their hand up midweek.

Well, midweek excitement...

The word that sums it up, wow.

South Wales Police, Combined Country and the New South Wales Cup First and Second.

And

how about Rural and Regional Anzacs? I know I mentioned that.

Yeah, I know you did.

And we've also got a list of current serving and peacekeeping veterans as well that we developed during the development of the new galleries to further expand that ongoing history, military history of Australia.

So the goal here is to continue to put the Indigenous face on the Anzac legend and through my work and through the work of that of the Australian War Memorial, we continue to do that, share those stories and put the place of Aboriginal people in the place where it was previously excluded because of past policies and the past non-recognition of our service.

The reason that the Australian War Memorial Identification and Recognition Project is It was that because during the period of service, especially for the Australian military or the Australian Army, Air Force and Navy, is that the 1903 Defence Act, amended in 1909, Section 61, Clause H, specifically exempted people of non-substantive European heritage of origin from enlisting.

It was deemed under the newly formed federal government of Australia that it was a white man's war for white men, and so therefore excluded people of colour.

And then the psych said, take a rest.

And 2016, I got a call.

They were doing this committee to have this Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Memorial in Anzac Square.

And they said, would you be interested in joining? He said, we don't get paid.

Sad to see.

Both Aussies or Anzacs on the cards lost.

No good, mate.

No good.

And so these poems are just full of this admiration for Katie but also this clear kind of love and desire for her.

And it's kind of extraordinary, right? We think about the Anzacs and we think about the period of the Great War and people don't perhaps realise there's this whole sort of other side of people experiencing sexuality in a very different kind of way.

Geoff,

let's talk about the poems.