By Nick Bikeman
November 11 is one of the most significant dates on the national calendar. Some of our major historical and cultural events associated with the development of an Australian identity have happened on this day.
Back in 1918, when SMS and instant messaging services weren’t available, a simple succession of numbers provided an easy repetitive pattern for soldiers of the warring armies to remember. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918, an armistice came into effect, signalling an end to the First World War. Annually, on the anniversary of this date, Australia officially observes a minute’s silence to honour the sacrifice of all who served while remembering those who lost their lives.
November 11 is also a sorrowful day in Victorian Indigenous history as it marks the enactment of the 1869 Aboriginal Protection Act, which forcibly denied First Nations people their right to freedom of movement and self-determination.
Additionally, in Canberra, a democratically elected Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, was sensationally dismissed from office on November 11, 1975, by the then Governor General, Sir John Kerr, the Queen’s representative. What’s more, bushranger Ned Kelly, our native-born ironclad folk hero, was executed on November 11, 1880, in the Old Melbourne Gaol. Having been found guilty of murdering a police officer, Ned was hanged by the neck until he was dead, despite rallies and petitions seeking clemency for Kelly.
On November 11, 1941, amid the fighting of the Second World War, the new Australian War Memorial, the world’s largest, was opened in Canberra. Then, once more, on November 11, 1993, a hapless Australian soldier’s remains were interned after having been exhumed from a French cemetery, compelled once more into the service of his country. Repatriated back to Australia and buried in the ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’, he became a new attraction within the War Memorial.
But since the end of World War 1 an undeclared battle has been raging. A fight for the popular narrative, a war on remembrance itself.
War has been celebrated by some as the birthplace of a national identity forged on the battlefields of foreign lands in the cause of freedom . Many veterans of the conflict claimed the war was a ‘complete shemozzle’, a waste of life that achieved nothing but death. The Australian War Memorial was recently granted $600 million to further expand with new exhibitions to better preserve and tell the stories of the nation’s War History. Critics argue this high expenditure would be better spent on support for returned service personnel from more recent wars, who are overrepresented in suicide and homelessness figures
November 11, Remembrance Day, is a poignant, solemn commemoration. Heavily laden with sadness, symbolism, and regret. The military precision of the 21-gun salute, Air Force flyovers, flag raisings, and the mournful haunting tones of the bugler sounding The Last Post are deeply moving, a fitting tribute to our war dead. But in our desire to remember, are we forgetting something?
World War 1 wasn’t the war to end all wars; in fact, it proved to be an unresolved conflict sowing the seeds of a much larger and more destructive apocalyptic war which engulfed the world 20 years later. The truth is that there are powerful malevolent forces at work that always want war even if the people never do.
Citizens must be cajoled into uniform, seduced by notions of duty, patriotism and the need to fight a ‘Just War‘.
It’s said that “War is the continuation of politics by other means,” or perhaps war is really a failure of politics altogether, and if that’s the case, what comes next?
Currently, we are witnessing the world’s great powers jostling for position, forming alliances, stoking fear, finding potential enemies everywhere, all the while promoting the illusion of a security that comes only with increased military spending, as we sleepwalk towards another war. Those championing arguments for peace are routinely stifled, imprisoned, or worse.
War is always a crime against humanity, a perverse numbers game that nobody wins.
Numerology, a curious belief in the symbolic significance of numbers, credits the 11/11/11 sequence with positive energy, transformation, and new beginnings. It’s worth remembering that this November 11 is an optimistic moment in time for a commemoration to take place, suggesting deeper insights and increased opportunities for wisdom.
We can only hope
Remembrance Day, Lest We Forget indeed!
