|
Every year on April 25, people in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand gather to commemorate the soldiers who have served in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.
While Anzac Day was established to honour those who served in the Gallipoli campaign in the first world war, over the decades it’s expanded to recognise all who have served in wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.
Today, we’re highlighting some stories that have been often overlooked within the Anzac Day narrative. Taking us back to the first world war, Garritt C. Van Dyk looks at the – largely mythological – story of Anzac biscuits. Behind the myth, he finds an important story of the women who supported men on the front lines, both from home in Australia, and serving near the front.
Turning to the New Guinea campaign of 1942 to 1945, Erika K. Smith and Ingrid Matthews have traced the origins of the phrase “fuzzy wuzzy angels”, used to refer to the Papua New Guineans who served alongside Anzacs. Far from a term of affection, they show its roots in anti-Black racism – and argue it’s time we stopped using it.
Mia Martin Hobbs has written about Australia’s anti-war veterans, whose experiences on the front lines turned them into pacifists. And Alexander Gillespie writes on New Zealand’s history of sending people to fight and then rejecting their claims for recognition and compensation when the war is over – and what needs to change to support the veterans still with us today.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world today, tens of thousands of people are quietly queuing to pay their last respects to Pope Francis. We've created a visual feature to take you inside the basilica and explore the eleborate ceremony of farewelling a pope.
|
|
Jane Howard
Arts + Culture Editor
|
|
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Whatever the result on May 3, even Liberal insiders think they have run a very poor national campaign. Not just poor, but odd.
|
Garritt C. Van Dyk, University of Waikato
The Anzac biscuit is a cultural icon, invented after the first world war. But women still provided necessities and small comforts to the ANZACs.
|
Erika K. Smith, Western Sydney University; Ingrid Matthews, UNSW Sydney
We’ve left behind most racist terms used on the Kokoda Track – so why does ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ persist?
|
Mia Martin Hobbs, Deakin University
From the first world war to the invasion of Iraq, left-wing soldiers have questioned our involvement in wars. Yet we rarely hear these dissenting veteran’s voices.
|
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato
The government’s plan to expand the definition of the term ‘veteran’ will add about 100,000 service people in an effort to provide better recognition.
|
Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
While there is always much interest in preference deals, many voters simply do their own thing at the ballot box.
|
Robert Hortle, University of Tasmania; Logan Linkston, University of Tasmania
Here’s how to navigate federal ballot papers. In this practice election, it’s farm animals battling for your vote.
|
Samuel Cornell, UNSW Sydney
Long-period swell is a classic hidden hazard that can trick even the most experienced beach goers.
|
Natalie Peng, The University of Queensland
Retiring in a volatile market isn’t easy, but panic isn’t a plan. Here are some strategies to consider.
|
Anna Mortimore, Griffith University
Ending Labor’s EV tax break would make it much harder to cut surging emissions in Australia’s transport sector.
|
Daniel Ghezelbash, UNSW Sydney; Keyvan Dorostkar, UNSW Sydney; Mia Bridle, UNSW Sydney
Overall, Australia needs a fundamental shift that recognises fairness contributes to, rather than detracts from efficiency.
|
Pi-Shen Seet, Edith Cowan University; Janice Jones, Flinders University; Suku Sukunesan, Edith Cowan University
Labor’s proposal should help address some skills shortages in the sector. But it will be a long time before the benefits flow through to housing.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
T.J. Thomson, RMIT University; Stephen Harrington, Queensland University of Technology
Memes are the currency of the election campaign online. Here’s a report card on the Labor, Liberal and Greens efforts, from the good to the tone-deaf.
-
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University; Hayley Boxall, Australian National University
After an election campaign largely silent on women’s safety issues, the major parties have unveiled their policies. They fall well short of what is needed.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Siobhan O'Dean, University of Sydney; Elizabeth Summerell, University of Adelaide; Tom Denson, UNSW Sydney
Nearly one-quarter of us feel angry on any given day. Here’s how mindfulness could help.
-
Benjamin Scrivener, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Functional neurological disorder can be hard to distinguish from other conditions. Some patients feel misunderstood and their symptoms dismissed.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Gabriele Gratton, UNSW Sydney
Game theory shows why political parties may gravitate to the centre in the quest for the median voter.
-
Christopher Laurikainen Gaete, University of Wollongong; Anthony Dosseto, University of Wollongong; Lee Arnold, University of Wollongong; Scott Hocknull, The University of Melbourne
Australia’s giant Protemnodon kangaroos didn’t die out everywhere at the same time. Instead, extinction proceeded one habitat at a time.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Kelly Kirkland, The University of Queensland; Abby Robinson, The University of Melbourne; Amy S G Lee, The University of Melbourne; Samantha Stanley, UNSW Sydney; Zoe Leviston, Australian National University
Most Australians are still able to be convinced on climate change. As climate action drops off the radar, that’s good news
-
Liz Hicks, The University of Melbourne; Ashleigh Best, The University of Melbourne
The culling of 700 starving koalas in Victoria has triggered outrage. There has to be a better way to respond after bushfire.
|
|
Education
|
-
Katherine Stevens, Murdoch University; Peter R. Whipp, Murdoch University
In an Australian study, Year 7 students reflect on their recent move to high school. And what would help make this big change easier.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Australian Catholic University
For centuries, the role has gone to a member of the College of Cardinals – and almost always to an Italian. Might we soon have our first pope from Asia or Africa?
-
Craig Barker, University of Sydney
The 1972 concert film Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, back in cinemas this week, would change the way many thought of Pompeii.
|
|
|
