The Brave Dungarees
The Spirit
of Anzac
Rats of Tobruk in verse
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Following footsteps of brave Dungarees |
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| Twenty-eight volunteers will
re-enact the March of the Dungarees in April. To begin in Warwick on April 13,
the march will trace the route of the original march which took place in 1915. The Dungarees were answering a call for troops from Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes following the shocking loss of life and casualty count from Gallipoli. Patriotic marches were probably one of the most spectacular and successful ways of attracting young men into the services. Potential recruits were canvassed from towns and rural communities. Ten such marches were conducted, the first - and most famous - being the Cooee March which began in Gilgandra, NSW, in October 1915. The south-east Queensland march followed the Cooee example. Leaving Warwick on November 16, the Dungaree march made its way through Allora, Clifton, Greenmount, Cambooya, Toowoomba, Helidon, Gatton, Laidley, Rosewood, Ipswich and Oxley. The 270k march ended in Brisbane, with 125 young men arriving to a tumultuous civic reception .They had been similarly feted along the way, local communities turning out in force to applaud the young volunteers. The names of the original 28 Dungaree recruits who began the march and the other 97 who enlisted at centres along the way, were faithfully reported in local newspapers at the time Only one of these volunteers, Eric Abraham, of Brisbane is still alive, having survived the horrors of the trenches of the Western Front. Mr Abraham, who in November 1915 was a telegraphist with the Post Master General's Department at Boonah, attended the Dungaree meeting out of curiosity. He had two brothers already serving and at the age of 17 1/2 he was under the minimum age. But when he heard the local band strike up a stirring rendition of the French National Anthem, the Marseillaise, his blood was stirred and he could not resist the urge to sign up. With his mother's consent, Eric became the third of her five sons to enlist. All would ultimately volunteer, with two paying the supreme sacrifice and two being severely injured. The re-enactment is timed to arrive in Brisbane in time to participate in the city's Anzac Day march, and also to mark Eric's 101st birthday. A history of all original recruits is being compiled by the re-enactment association which will use this information, together with an excellent collection of photographs, to record the history of the Dungarees in book form. The re-enactment has been sponsored by the Federal Government under its CAP and "Their Service - Our Heritage" programmes. The Queensland Government is another major sponsor. Memorabilia such as old diaries, pictures etc would be appreciated by the association's historian. Enquiries can be directed to: The President, Dungarees March Re-enactment Inc Box 19 Kippa-Ring Qld 4021 or mailto:oz_bird@ozbird.com
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Australia came of age, it's said, by many learned scholars who frequent halls of learning in starched and stiffened collars on one bleak day in World War I when on a foreign stage our finest and most gallant wrote another history page. Dinkum Aussie Diggers, many of them teens, had donned the Aussie slouch-hat to discover what it means to men throughout the ages, from every place on Earth, called on to fight for loved ones and the country of their birth. The twenty-fifth of April (we know as Anzac Day) is a crucial part of national life and our Australian way. While the campaign was a blunder, the Diggers showed such valour they surely have an honoured spot with Gods in Valhalla. Remember Simpson and his donkey who helped the wounded back, ignoring bursts of enemy shells, and sniper's rifle crack ? Simpson was but one brave man at the Turkish Dardenelles just doing what he had to do without fanfare or bells! Back home in all the papers, the death lists showed a need for frontline reinforcements to be sent with urgent speed and those who led Australia, like Mr. Billy Hughes, knew the impact on the country of such devastating news. People were dismayed at what the war reports were saying about the carnage and the horror. Mothers all were praying for a speedy end to killing and all the senseless shooting, and strong resistance reared its head to campaigns for recruiting. Enlistment was declining. The Army needed men. Whatever could the Pollies do? Nothing worked! And then one tiny, rustic, wheatbelt place out on the Darling Downs brought the Private Simpson spirit to all Queensland country towns. The township known as Warwick saw a score of its brave men head off en route to Brisbane, each one with fierce yen to answer to the nation's call, and protect their land of birth as good men have been wont to do since first put on this earth. They headed for Toowoomba. Recruiting was their aim, new troops to join the cause with them, not glory, gold nor fame. It was Aussie calling Aussie, one mate calling mate, across the Range to Laidley, to Ipswich and their fate. "Coo-ee!" they called in every town: "Coo-ee! Coo-ee! Coo-ee!" That word is dinki-di, for sure, just like "Corroboree", "Gum Tree", "Black Stump", "Digger", "Dungaree" , "Didgeridoo". No wonder men came running. What else would Aussies do ? And on that March to Brisbane, the Anzac spirit grew and spread across the outback and in the cities, too, It was mateship, call of country, sense of duty, obligation: it was spirit of the Anzacs everywhere across the nation. Those Dungarees from Warwick - just a score of them in all, all nondescript Australians, some short, some fat, some tall - stirred the conscience of the nation. They knew just what to do - without fanfare or flashy fuss, as befits good men and true. It's hardly ever mentioned in Australian history books but the story's worth a few more words than many of the crooks who consume the time of schoolkids each boring bloody day. Let's tell 'em how those Warwick men showed all of us the way. Dan O'Donnell
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RATS
OF TOBRUK |
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Whenever there's talk of Australia's
flag, you can safely bet a dollar
the name of Goodman will crop up - Dr.
Goodman, Queensland scholar!
His close friends call him Rupert. His
wife Win calls him Rupe
but Doctor is the usual address for
most within his group.
Schoolmaster then professor, he has
written many a book:
author, historian, patriot - oh yes,
and Rat-of-Tobruk!
You can't help feeling sorry for
Rommel's Afrika Corps,
the most ruthless unit in warfare,
hell-bent of blood and gore,
for Rommel made a blunder when he saw those
brown slouch hats.
He had 'em cornered. What could they
do, those helpless desert Rats ?
Well, history shows that what they did
was turn the tide of war.
Rommel and his Afrika Corps got more
than bargained for!
Lord Haw-Haw also blundered, calling
then "Rats caught in a trap",
and history shows up his words too as
hollow wartime claptrap.
Outnumbered by tenfold to one, the Rats
repulsed the foe.
It was a critical turning point of war
for Hitler, Rommel and Co.
Two lessons come from that battlefield,
two of the very best:
Don't ever grovel to Bully-boys! Face
up to every test!
It was just the same in peacetime
whenever there was threat.
If something ever had to be done,
they'd be there. On that you'd bet!
Just look at Dr. Goodman, always ready
to do his bit,
just as he did at El Alamein, with
courage and true grit!
When the hordes demand we change our
Flag, he helped turn back the foes
who surged across Australia like packs
of wild dingoes.
"Don't change our Flag!" the
old soldier said, in voice quite firm and stern:
"It's served us through our
history, with lessons we should learn!"
"Don't change our Flag!" he
repeated the words, soon part of his daily life:
"You cannot re-write our history
by expunging parts of strife!"
"Don't change our Flag!" the
old soldier warned: "It would be a tragic loss
to tamper with its symbols dear - the
Saints, the Values, the Cross!"
His voice was a whisper that stirred
our hearts with memories of soldiers dead.
"Shoot me if you must, but spare
the Flag!" the old soldier softly said.
When Dr. Goodman was eighty-six and on
a hospital bed
some people decided to turf him out and
take his job instead.
They robbed him of his noble work with
the Flag group he had founded
and though he was quite frail and old,
from that setback he re-bounded.
What did he do, this Rat-of-Tobruk,
facing a daunting crisis like that?
He simply wrote another book, entitled
: "I was a Rat!"
Dan O'Donnell
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