Oxford Australia Blog

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Tag: WW1

  • Remembering Anzac Day – how Australia grieved in the early years

    As we draw closer to the day where our country’s tradition is to remember, we thought we’d take a look back at how Australian’s began commemorating ‘Anzac day’ in those first few years. This is an excerpt from chapter 28** from the forthcoming The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War Series  – Volume…

  • The War with the Ottoman Empire

    The Great War looms very large in Australian society and culture, something which the commemoration of the centenary years emphasises but certainly didn’t create. Some of the stories about the Great War are ill-informed, prone to sentimentality and dominated by myths and popular beliefs. Australia’s part in the war with the Ottomans exemplifies these tendencies…

  • Oxford Word of the Month – December: Billzac

    Billzac – noun: a typical Australian soldier. During the First World War a number of terms for the typical Australian soldier appeared. In the early stages of the war a name from the Boer War, Tommy Cornstalk, was revived and used, along with Tommy Colonial. After the landings at Anzac Cove in 1915, the term…

  • Furphies and Whizz-bangs: Documenting the Language of Australians in the First World War

    In 2015, Australia will mark the centenary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand soldiers at what came to be known as Anzac Cove (Gaba Tepe). For Australia, this event has been a significant marker of nationhood, and the legacy of Anzac plays an important role in Australian cultural and political life. The experience…

  • Oxford Word of the Month – November: Snowball March

    Snowball march – noun: a march held during the First World War to encourage army recruitment, particularly from rural areas. During the First World War, a method for recruiting soldiers, especially from rural areas, was the snowball march. After the outbreak of war, committees were formed in most Australian towns to organise and encourage recruitment….