THE ROYAL ANTHEM 'DROPPED' AT ANZAC DAY CEREMONY?

by Betty Luks
Why am I not surprised to read on the ABC website that 'God Save the Queen' (is to be) dropped from (the) Anzac Day service in Melbourne? There are powerful forces who want to turn this nation into a republic with ties between us based on a modern concept of ‘an impersonal state’. We all belong to some sort of ‘international zoo’. The article reads:

“The RSL says a decision to drop 'God Save the Queen' from Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn service was made after widespread consultation. (I wonder what this group considers ‘widespread’?) The decision has angered monarchist groups, who say it may offend veterans and their families.
David Flint from “Australians for Constitutional Monarchy” says the decision is disrespectful to Australia's wartime past. ‘They certainly haven't done the right thing,’ he says. ‘You don't just trample all over your traditions. You don't say, well, that's the past, and we're going to get rid of that, otherwise you start doing other things as well, which take away the whole point.’
But the RSL's Victorian president, Maj. Gen. David McLachlan, says the decision was made based on feedback from veterans and young people alike. He says after the dawn service every year, they ask a whole range of people what they think of the service. "The question often comes up why do you have 'God Save the Queen'? It's not relevant and nobody knows it. So we've taken that into consideration…the decision has the support of the Anzac Day commemoration council.”

Maj. Gen. David McLachlan, Victorian RSL president (along with all your other cohorts on the Anzac Day ‘commemoration council’), I for one disagree vehemently with your policy ! You are, in effect, saying history, culture, tradition, count for nothing; there is only today and the republican future.

Next year at dawn this day, we will all meet again
I once read of the early days of this commemoration service and that was long before any Anzac Day ‘commemoration council’ took over. The story of its origins goes something like this: Martin Place, adjacent to the General Post Office (GPO), was the location in which the majority of Sydney's soldiers enlisted into the Australian Army for World War I. The Sydney GPO was also the main conduit of news information during World War I.
This (commemoration day) was initiated by returned soldiers after the First World War in the 1920s as a common form of remembrance. Initially dawn services were only attended by veterans who followed the ritual of 'standing to' before two minutes of silence was observed, broken by the sound of a lone piper playing the 'Last Post'. Later in the day, there were marches in all the major cities and many smaller towns for families and other well-wishers.

But one day at dawn on 25 April - the time of the original landing - a widow placed a wreath of flowers on a spot in Martin Place and stood in silence remembering her loved ones. A group of returned soldiers joined her in her silent tribute and agreed to gather together at the same time and same place the following year. That spot (I believe) is now marked by the Sydney Cenotaph which is located in Martin Place and is one of the oldest World War I war monuments. On the southern side, facing the General Post Office it states "To Our Glorious Dead" and on the Northern side, facing Challis House it states "Lest We Forget." The first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927, which was also the first year that all states recognised a public holiday on the day.

The spirit of Anzac? As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
• The spirit of ANZAC recognises the qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice which were demonstrated at the Gallipoli landing.
• Today it is a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war. Gatherings are held at war memorials across the country.
Do the two concepts, above, defining the meaning of Anzac provide clues as to why the changes envisaged by such groups as the Victorian RSL are now put into policy?

The Royal Anthem acknowledges first God, and then a prayer for the Grace and Salvation of God for our Queen, (God save our gracious Queen). I wonder what one of Australia’s truly great heroes, Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, WWII prisoner-of-war of the Japanese, would think? In his “War Diaries” one can read of that ‘spirit’.
The introduction by the British Colonel Sir Laurens van der Post to Sir Edward ‘s "War Diaries", published forty years after WWII, gets to the core of the spirit of the Anzacs.

Colonel van der Post refers to his brief experiences with the American and Australian soldiers of war, along with the British, in the early days of the Japanese internment and he described prison life as "the war within the War":
“For the first three months and under the inspired leadership of (then) Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Dunlop, an all out effort was made to not only invest the resources available to them for "the physical well being" of the men, and to unite them as of the British-Commonwealth, but a "vast educational system was set up" to cater for their mental and spiritual well being. To aid in their "physical survival and spiritual sanity", the officers set up schools, classes and lectures, even a microcosm of a Commonwealth Parliament in prison.

Col. Sir Laurens van der Post continued: "They felt that there should be some over-riding political institution to express this profound sense of identity and purpose which they recognised as the greatest gift from Britain's imperial past. This prison parliament was as great and therapeutic an attraction as the rest of the prison educational and cultural activities and it did a great deal to maintain the feeling of continuity with some worthwhile purpose pitched far beyond prison walls which the act of imprisonment daily tried to refute."

One of Van der Post's most moving recollections was of the insatiable need the men had for "myth, legend, story and art" which administered to their sanity and helped secure their "spiritual survival". The Australians, in particular, were interested in the stories of ancient Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and saw themselves as having something akin to those ancient Greek expeditionary forces fighting on that great plain of Troy for that ancient Greek Commonwealth.
They were, he said, "a contemporary version of the same immemorial and constantly recurring pattern and in the authentic line of succession of all men who had ever left their homes to fight for a cause greater than themselves." The Odyssey as expounded to them by a (former) Cambridge professor seemed to draw them even more than the Iliad. "Like Odysseus and his men, they knew they also had a long and perilous journey through time and circumstance before the lucky few among them would come home again to their own version of Penelope".

Let’s look for that spirit of Anzac in our British past
The works of philologist Owen Barfield are a great treasure trove for finding that spirit. Even though I had read portions of the work of L.A. Waddell LL.D., C.B., C.I.E., an early 20th century Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Linnean Society, Honorary Correspondent of Indian Archaeological Survey, Ex-Professor of Tibetan, London University, and discovered that he traced the origin of the modern word British back to the early Sumerians, I thought there needed to be more recent verification. It came when philologist Owen Barfield in 1953 published “History in English Words” and anthropologist Dr. John R. Baker in 1974 published his research in “Race”.

The subconscious race memory of our people
Barfield wrote: “It has only just begun to dawn on us that in our own language alone, not to speak of its many companions, the past history of humanity is spread out in an imperishable map… language has preserved for us the inner, living history of man’s soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness… ”

To my mind, “the insatiable need the men (the Japanese prisoners-of-war under ‘Weary’ Dunlop’s command) had for "myth, legend, story and art" which administered to their sanity and helped secure their "spiritual survival"…this profound sense of identity and purpose which they recognised as the greatest gift from Britain's imperial past…” was, and is, the subconscious ‘race’ memory of our people, the spirit of a people yearning for all that is good and decent and noble and right – unless it has been indoctrinated and/or educated out of them, as has happened to our younger generations.

The English words British and brother traced back through various stems and branches of the languages of the Indo-European peoples reveal a common root. You sir, would have us sever our personal bonds with our Queen, our history and our British brothers! Maj.Gen. McLachlan, what you and the Victorian RSL have done is an act of vandalism.

To Our Glorious Dead
The true spirit behind Anzac Day is much more than simply “a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war”… where “gatherings are held at war memorials across the country.” The true spirit of ANZAC seeks to recognise the qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice and the importance of those qualities are embedded in the myths, legends, and history of the British peoples – and “of all men who ever left their homes to fight for a cause greater than themselves!” Lest We Forget!  

STOP PRESS:

As the following communications came just before our weekly website was uploaded we have included them as extras because of their important relevance to ANZAC DAY:
"In contrast to the sad news from Victoria, I am pleased to advise that Mr Ron Brown, President of the Anzac Day Dawn Trust has personally phoned to advise me that 'God Save The Queen' will continue to be sung at the Dawn Service in Sydney. Perhaps this is now the time to agitate the Anzac Dawn Service Committees in
all other States to re-instate the singing of the Royal Hymn/Anthem.

The following was published in The Adelaide Advertiser yesterday from the AML Branch Secretary:
"Victoria's RSL should not dispense with the Royal Anthem on Anzac Day and it should be restored in other states. Singing "God save the Queen" is consistent with the military promise to serve the Sovereign "well and truly" and "according to law", and it honours those who died for king and country. Moreover, the military rising sun badge features bayonets radiating from and protecting the Crown - as a further reminder of duty and service."

RE: THE DUMPING OF GOD SAVE THE QUEEN FROM THE MELBOURNE DAWN SERVICE.
Below is a response from the RSL Victorian State President, Major-General McLachlan in which he advises that the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council have met and decided to stick by their decision to omit the Royal Hymn from the Anzac Dawn Service.
With only a few days to go to ANZAC Day, please use this information to protest at the dumping of God Save The Queen from the Melbourne Dawn Service. The greater the pressure, the more likely we will win.

Philip Benwell, National Chairman Australian Monarchist League

LETTER DATED 16/4/2010 FROM MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID MCLACHLAN AO:
Dear Mr Benwell,
I write in response to your email expressing concern about the decision of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council to remove the hymn 'God Save the Queen from the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance.

The ANZAC Day Commemoration Council is the body responsible for ANZAC Day ceremonies at the Shrine of Remembrance and has been in existence since 1926. The Council is comprised of representatives from the State Government, the City of Melbourne, the Returned & Services League of Australia, WWII Navy, WWII Army, WWII RAAF, Post 1945 Army, Navy and RAAF veterans, Legacy and the Shrine of Remembrance.

Although the RSL State President chairs the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, decisions in relation to ANZAC Day Commemoration activities in Melbourne are not RSL decisions. The media, however, has portrayed this specific decision as an RSL one and nearly all the public comment on the decision, both critical and supportive, has been directed at the RSL.

In view of your email and wider public reaction to the above decision, the Council met again on the 15th April to revisit its decision of the 23rd March 2010.

After much debate, the Council voted in favour of standing by its original decision and, in doing so, bring us into line with the ANZAC Day Dawn services conducted at the Australian War Memorial and in the other State Capitals, with the exception of New South Wales, where God Save the Queen is not included. Please be assured that the Council took into consideration the comments received by both yourself and others within the community and listened intently to the comments from the veterans present at the meeting.

Yours sincerely, David J McLachlan Chairman ANZAC Day Commemoration Council

FIRED UP ABOUT THE ETHNIC MIX/MIX-UP

by James Reed
So called comedian Robin Williams (I don’t regard him as “funny” – more a kind of manic outpouring of nonsense characterises his movies) took a swipe at Australians, calling us “English rednecks”. Say Robin, it’s a joke isn’t it? I mean, we are being immigrated to death. Australia is almost free of Anglo-Saxon people, let alone rednecks. Prime Minister Rudd jumped up and had a go at Williams. When does a PM respond to a “comic” – surely only when the PM is a joke himself? Rudd is doing his best via immigration to turn Australia into a colony of China and took offence to Williams’ jibe. Rudd upset the whole state of Alabama by implying that they were the real “rednecks”. My guess is that there are no rednecks in Alabama either.  

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY: FOR STUDENT DOCTORS

by Brian Simpson
So – student doctors are spending just 56 hours on anatomy (“Student Doctors Skipping Anatomy,” The Australian, 31/3/2010, p.1). What then do the little darlings do with their time? You guessed it – politically correct activities. A little story “New Doctors Feel ‘ill prepared’,” The Australian, 1/4/2010, p.3) tells us that the young doctors are lulling away their time with “creative writing” assignments and such creative writing assignments constitute one third of the graduating mark. Thus, the future may be a frightening one medically, with dangerously illiterate local students. Just as well our immigration program is bringing all of those wonderfully qualified foreign doctors to save us poor, sick Anglos!  

WILL OBAMA’S “ANTI-ISRAELI HYSTERIA” BE HIS UNDOING?

by Peter Ewer
According to Greg Sheridan, The Australian’s foreign editor (“Obama’s Anti-Israeli Hysteria Dangerous and Destructive”, The Weekend Australian 27-28/3/2010, p.23) B.Hussein Obama is the US’s most anti-Israeli president. Thus he doesn’t want to be seen interfering in Iranian affairs when many Zionists wanted a president to stop Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program. He bowed in deep respect to the king of Saudi Arabia. And he won’t be seen in public with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Sheridan speculates that Obama wants to bring down the Israeli government!

What I think is more accurate is that Obama is basically a Muslim – at least philosophically and culturally. He is aligned with the Islamic world and perhaps sees the West as being at its end. He is said to be post-colonial and post-multicultural but Obama is also post-West as well. Rudd is also post-West, being essentially an Asian rather than a Western man. These leaders have given up on our most fundamental values and want to be part of what they think will be the winning side. It would be interesting to see the winner in a title fight between radical Islam and China.  

THE CRUMBLING HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

Germany openly puts its guilt on display through building a Holocaust memorial – 19,000sqm of pseudo-tombstones, 2711 tall grey concrete columns. But although being barely five years old, the concrete is cracking badly. Two thirds of the concrete has deep cracks. The cause seems to be five months of snow and ice - but one would have expected that such a memorial would have been engineered to withstand that. Isn’t this memorial supposed to stand as long as the pyramids? Has cheap, shonky cement been used? Surely historical revisionists aren’t responsible! Watch out – heads will be rolling. 

OH NO! THE “RACISTS” ARE RAMPANT

by James Reed
A survey has found that Indian, Sri Lanka and Chinese students experience “racism” at over double the rate of other Australians (The Australian, 31/3/2010, p.23). Intellectuals have proposed that racism in general needs to be addressed first, to solve the racism against students problem. A typical academic response, useless even on its own terms. How about reducing the numbers of foreign students coming to Australia so that they don’t experience racism in the first place? How about reclaiming the universities so that they serve the national interest, rather than the perverse cosmopolitan interests of the global elite? Why not go out and survey that! Maybe with those changes the “racists” won’t be rampant.  

HERE STAY THE IRANIANS

by James Reed
I have observed that a lot has been published in the media recently about how the Iranian embassy in Australia is spying on activist “pro-democracy” students. As usual it seems that such students are persecuted upon returning home and students have “well-founded fears” for their future (The Australian, 6/4/2010, p.1) . Recognise the refugee convention talk? Get ready for all the Iranian students becoming refugees – my hot tip. All the more reason for not granting them a student visa in the first place. They are needed in Iran, not Australia, to take on that regime.  

THE BEAUTY OF VITAMIN B

Here is a David knocks Goliath story. Leading medical journal the New England Journal of Medicine has published a study which shows that the low cost B-group vitamin niacin outperforms the drug Zeita in stopping the build-up of arterial plaque (www.naturalnews.com). The sales of Zeita top US$5 billion and at $3.89 per pill, the drug is many times more expensive than the humble vitamin B3.

Interestingly enough, when the benefits of niacin were realised, the study was cancelled. These sorts of stories were coming in the alternative health literature. Here we are not qualified to make any health recommendations, but common sense suggests that individuals need to think about their health and do some research using the internet rather than being told what to do and take. That’s called freedom and adult responsibility. 

THE BETRAYAL OF PHILOSOPHY

by Chris Knight
Australian philosopher Stepehn Buckle (“Philosophy Betrays First Principles”, The Australian 31/3/2010, p.29) has written an interesting article on the Australian academic philosophers’ response to the Australian government’s drive for “Excellence in Research”. This involves ranking journals and generally scrutinising academics. Buckles says that the philosophers just gave in to this and accepted an “authoritative” ranking of the journals, which was arbitrary and philosophically unjustified.

That may be so. But what I know is that philosophers are largely useless. If they do relevant material it is almost certainly politically correct liberal garbage. Usually they keep to abstract topics, the scientific contemporary equivalents of how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. Thus, all that exists in the universe are the entities of physics – just quarks – no societies, people or philosophers. So why should they care if their discipline is closed down - it does not really exist anyway!  

WHY HUMANS ARE ALONE IN THE COSMOS

by Chris Knight
From time to time articles appear in the press about whether or not humans are the only “intelligent” life in the universe, other than Earthly animals. In all of the billions of solar systems surely there must be something else out there. If so, when, why, haven’t they contacted us? I am not sure what the Christian answer to this is, beyond supposing that God made us in his image so any aliens are likely to be humanoid. But why should there be any?
From a naturalistic perspective, intelligent life is likely to be rare if not non-existent, as plants come and go and the universe is harsh even for mechanical beings. The vast distances of space ensure that intelligent civilisations will come and go, just like on Earth. So, we are likely to be alone in the universe, or at least our corner of it. That puts our fight in a different perspective – if we lose, planet Earth will ultimately be a burnt out, charred sphere, meaninglessly circling the sun until it is burnt to a crisp. If we lose this battle against the global financial psychopaths, life itself loses.  

WATCHING THE JIHAD WHEELS GO ROUND ‘N ROUND

by Peter Ewer
I have recently subscribed (for free) to the on-line news service of jihad watch (www.jihadwatch.org). Each day I receive incredible news items: “Taliban actively training child suicide bombers” – children as young as seven. And did you read in our papers about the Perth Islamic elder who lists jihad as the top ideal for Muslims - and preaches that the Taliban are “angels”? No, I did not see that story until it was sent to me via jihad watch.
How about “Nuclear terror risk to Britain from al-Qaeda: How’s that student visa system working?” It seems that 370,000 student visas are issued in the UK each year, with no immigration checking. At the same time there is a global rise in the trafficking of radiological material. No doubt radical students will soon blow-up London – how will big business respond? (My guess – more immigration). Of course big business will have to stop flying on jets: “Al-Qaeda urges UK jihadists to build missiles and attack passenger jets”, is another story.
You may wonder in this high-tech age how all of this smuggling goes on? Another story explains: “Jihadists hiding bombs in breast implants”. Don’t say you weren’t told.  

ANTHONY THE MALLEABLE AND THE HEINER AFFAIR

by Betty Luks
I am still chewing over Tony (the Iron Man) Abbott’s response to an email from a correspondent (09:16am The Daily Telegraph blog of 19-2-10):
“There’s not much point elaborating when I am in substantial agreement. It just limits the number of comments I can get to. You know I think that the Heiner affair stinks. The problem is that half the Qld establishment is implicated. If one person does the wrong thing he is in trouble. If dozens do the wrong thing they often get away with it because it’s hard to pinpoint who, precisely, is to blame and it might not be fair to blame all. That’s the difficulty with the Heiner Affair.”

Substitute ‘bank robbers’ for ‘Qld establishment’
What if we substituted the words ‘bank robbers’ for ‘Qld establishment’? Is he saying he doesn’t believe in applying the Rule of Law when the alleged crime involves more than one or two persons? And as for the allegation the perpetrators are part of the Queensland ‘establishment’! Is he saying that they do not come under the Rule of Law, as does the ordinary subject of the Crown? I expect better from a stated Constitutional Monarchist and, possibly, a future prime minister of the Crown. Are his words simply empty rhetoric?

I have named him ‘Anthony The Malleable’ because he has demonstrated through actions not words, that given the application of a little heat and pressure from forces behind the scenes, and in terror of the mainline media, he is easily bent and shaped into what they want.

Another example is the present government’s ‘climate change’ agenda and the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation. Although he referred to the alarmist claims of ‘global warming’ as ‘crap’, soon after being appointed leader of his party he came out with a modified Liberal version of the same ‘crap’. In both cases it means the further intrusion of governments and bureaucrats into the property rights of the Australian people.
So, whether it is the ‘stinking’ Heiner Affair – that will not go away - or the ‘crap’ of an Emissions Trading Scheme, Anthony the Malleable is going to have to ‘straighten out and up’ and demonstrate his commitment to the Rule of Law for all Australians – or he betrays himself as one who says he is a Constitutional Monarchist, but is he?