St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

This book is divided into 12 sections. Section 1 opens with the Gallipoli campaign, where the Anzac legend was born. It recalls the key features of the campaign, the events surrounding the evacuation and the story of the Cathedral’s Gallipoli flag on the final day at Anzac Cove. Section 2 recounts the work of Lieutenant-Colonel the Reverend David Garland, a canon of the Cathedral and one of the principal architects of Anzac Day commemorations. Canon Garland established the model for a non-denominational citizens’ service on Anzac Day each year which could be attended by the whole community and which would honour both New Zealand and Australian soldiers. He is also credited with initiating the Anzac Day march, the returned soldiers’ luncheon and perhaps the most poignant moment of Anzac Day: the one minute’s silence. Section 3 of the book describes the Cathedral’s stained-glass windows in the South Transept which recall Australian service personnel who served, and in many cases gave their lives, in all theatres of the First World War. The windows give particular prominence to the many nurses who volunteered for active service, working in military hospitals, hospital ships and trains, or in casualty clearing stations close to the front line. Section 4 illustrates a window in the Cathedral commemorating the ‘Old Contemptibles’ —soldiers who fought in the regular British Army on the Western Front against Germany in the opening stages of the First World War in 1914. The Army was virtually wiped out but managed to hold off the German advance. Section 5 describes another Cathedral window which honours English nurse Edith Cavell who was captured and executed by the Germans for smuggling over 200 allied soldiers to safety from German-occupied Belgium in 1915 Nurse Cavell is remembered not only for her courage but also for her refusal to show bitterness towards her German captors. Section 6 relates how the Anzacs fighting against the Turks at the Second Battle of Gaza in Palestine in 1917 uncovered a mosaic from a 6th Century church which became known as the ‘Shellal Mosaic.’ A fragment lies in the sanctuary floor of the Cathedral and commemorates the Battles for Gaza, including the decisive engagement at Beersheba won by the Australian Light Horse—one of the last battles in which horse-mounted troops were deployed. Section 7 tells the story behind a piece of stone in the Cathedral from the ruins of the Church of All Hallows Barking, in London. During the Second World War this ancient church was bombed by the German Air Force in the ‘Blitz.’ The stone commemorates those who died in the Blitz but also recalls the sacrifice of young Australian airmen who, in the Anzac tradition, fought heroically in the vital air war against Nazi Germany. Section 8 relates two striking windows commemorating the military alliance between Australia and the United States during the Second World War, when both nations fought to reverse Japanese aggression in the South West Pacific. The alliance became a major force in the defence of Australia and in the eventual defeat of Imperial Japan and its military subjugation of Asian and Pacific countries. Section 9 describes a stained-glass window in the Cathedral that recalls a series of atrocities committed by the Japanese Army on Australian missionaries working with local indigenous communities in the Australian- administered territories of Papua and New Guinea. These missionaries— who became known as the ‘New Guinea Martyrs’ —showed extraordinary courage, remaining in the territories as the Japanese invaded, refusing to leave their posts. Their brave decision was to seal their fate, but also to leave a lasting legacy.

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