New Zealand looks upon Anzac Day differently than Australia

New Zealand looks upon Anzac Day differently than Australia, because of earlier events

April 24, 2015

The difference between how Australia and New Zealand look at Anzac Day could be borne out of the fact that New Zealand, unlike Australia, had sent men to fight overseas as representatives of the country before Gallipoli, a visiting expert to University of Canterbury says. A 100th anniversary Anzac Day service will be held at the university campus tomorrow morning.

New Zealanders had fought in the Boer War in South Africa and had also seen previous action in the First World War when a small contingent seized German Samoa, University of Hull academic Dr Jenny Macleod says.

Dr Macleod is a University of Canterbury visiting Erskine fellow. The Erskine fellowship programme was established in 1963 following a generous bequest by distinguished former student John Erskine.

She says Gallipoli was the first campaign where New Zealand forces incurred major casualties - 2445 men were killed and wounded.

“Like Australia, New Zealand has marked the anniversary of the first landings on the peninsula, on April 25, each year since 1916,” she says.

“In both countries, a similar mixture of parades, church services and patriotic meetings were held in towns and cities from the beginning. But the tone of the day was different in New Zealand. It was much more sombre and religious here.

“By the early 1930s there were debates as to whether the day was too gloomy altogether. Australia was always keen to celebrate the prowess of its own soldiers but New Zealand newspaper coverage tended to be more self-effacing and always acknowledged that this was an imperial campaign.

“Interestingly, the most iconic part of Anzac Day was a relatively late addition to proceedings. The Dawn Service only became a fixture in New Zealand from 1939. It was inspired by a visit by New Zealand returned servicemen to Sydney the previous year, where they witnessed the ceremony which had developed as a means to commemorate the landing of Australian men on the peninsula before dawn. The Auckland Star newspaper noted at the time that it was in some ways an historical development for New Zealand since the New Zealanders only landed later in the morning of April 25.

“The Gallipoli campaign was an attempt to make good on the effort to force the Dardanelles by ships alone which had begun in February 1915. The aim was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

“It was hoped to open a warm water route to Russia via the Black Sea and to protect Egypt and the Suez Canal by drawing enemy forces away from those key strategic points. There were never sufficient resources - either in terms of men or materiel - to fight at Gallipoli whilst also maintaining the effort on the Western Front. This was a key failure in British decision making on the campaign.

“However, despite their poor performances in battle pre-1914, the Ottomans were well prepared and tenacious defenders of their territory. In spite of numerous shortcomings in the conduct of the combined forces of the British and French Empires in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, it must be accepted that Ottoman victory in the campaign was in large measure due to Ottoman effectiveness,” Dr Macleod says.

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