Lest We Forget!

Tweet

Today is Anzac Day, the national remembrance day of Australia and New Zealand when people pay their respects and honour the bravery, courage, resilience and sacrifice of the service men and women of our country. Dawn services are conducted all throughout the country, at Anzac Cove in Turkey, throughout battefields in South East Asia and throughout Western Front villages in France and Belgium.

This wonderful and moving painting (click on it for a larger image) appears in the outstanding Australian War Memorial in Canberra. It is my favourite single piece in the entire collection.

The haunting Menin Gate at Midnight appears by itself in a darkened room with background music of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Reportedly painted in one sitting by a deeply mournful Will Longfellow, the painting captures the famed gates in Ypres, Belgium that tens of thousands of soldiers passed heading to the Western Front. Today, the walls of the gate list 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave, a small portion of the quarter of a million lives lost in this area of battle during World War One. The painting eerily and movingly portrays Longfellow's vision of thousands of spirits of the dead rising and marching towards the battlefields.

At all Anzac Day services, the Ode of Remembrance is always read.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget!

Tears at Don Rak War Cemetery (Kanchanaburi, Thailand)

Tweet

Just a short stroll from the Bridge over the River Kwai is the most moving sight of Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. The Don Rak War Cemetery is the final resting place of around 5000 Commonwealth and 2,000 Dutch prisoners of war (the Americans repatriated their war dead), literally worked to death with their military colleagues under a brutal work regime. Their plaques sit on a beautifully manicured and lovingly tendered lawn, each small bronze plaque representing the loss of a father, son, husband and/or grandson. Tiny gardens and colourful blooms interlace the cemetery lovingly tendered by the Thai people.

A few people wander the cemetery in silence reading each plaque and soaking in the ultimate sacrifice made by so many brave men.

The ages of most are so young, men barely out of boyhood living their last months in such awful conditions – it is hardly imaginable. Many feature a short inscription from parents or family which adds an individual touch and character to the valiant soldier who gave his life so we can have a better and freer life today. Each phrase stirs the heart strings. Each epitaph tells a story.

A voice we love is still.
A place vacant that we can never fill.

For your tomorrow we gave our today.

He died that we might live. Ever remembered.

Some day “Tom” I will understand.

Greater Love hath no man than this. That he lay down his life.

It is estimated that one person died for each railway sleeper laid on the Death Railway.

The entrance contains a small altar with a variety of plaques and memorials. At the rear of the cemetery is a plot that carries the ashes of 300 cholera victims from an outbreak in 1943 in the Nieke camp. A large memorial cross stands like a beacon of hope in the centre of the cemetery.

Unlike the famed bridge, Don Rak captures the emotion and feeling of this area. My tears fell as I sat quietly under the tree trying to truly understand what this place means. I cried for the thousands of young men who gave up their lives so my life can be better and that our lives can be lived in freedom.

Every ANZAC Day (25 April) a small ceremony is conducted at Don Rak as it is in many cemeteries and memorials around the world and in towns, big and small, all over Australia and New Zealand. The Ode of Remembrance is read as we recall the brave people at places like Don Rak in their harrowing experiences in building this railway.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Lest we forget.

Kanchanaburi Vacations

Bridge Over the River Kwai (Kanchanaburi, Thailand)

Tweet

Around 100 humid kilometers north of Bangkok is the bridge made famous by the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Kanchanaburi is the site of the Burma-Siam Railway Bridge built by prisoners of the Japanese in World War 2 under forced labour conditions. Today’s idyllic tropical setting (and even the movie) belies the appalling privations, random punishments, disease, meagre food and atrocities along with the withering humidity and searing heat suffered by the bridge builders. The toll was so large – over 12,000 prisoners of war and around 90,000 Burmese, Thai, Malay and Indonesian forced labourers lost their lives in construction of the railroad – that it became known as the Death Railway.

An excellent and busy tourist train (on weekends only) takes a scenic three hours aimed more at Thais than foreign visitors stopping near the famous bridge. The train nervously slows a couple of times on its journey to a snail’s pace to traverse old and rickety wooden bridges held up more by divine intervention than any expertise in engineering.

The train stops near the famed bridge where the passengers stroll the steel and wooden structure kept immaculate for all the visitors (only the outer spans are original as most was destroyed by bombing raids). Trains chuff across the bridge at regular intervals while the tourist train continues over the bridge to its terminus at Nam Tok with its scenic waterfall.

The gently running placid river and quiet setting give little feeling of the toil and hardship that went into building this key railway link and the plain dark steel arches lack character. Unsurprisingly, it is not the bridge used in the movie, which was fully shot on location in Sri Lanka!!

Nearby is the slightly disappointing JEATH Museum, its unusual name being an acronym of the various nations involved with the bridge (Japan, England, Australia / America, Thailand and Holland). Run by the local monks, there are some moving pictures, sketches and newspaper clippings shown in a cramped humid dingy bamboo hut to resemble the accommodation of the prisoners. Many of the exhibits are masked in plastic to prevent damage from the moisture and so are difficult to read or view properly in the poor light.

The bridge only became famous with the success of the movie. Ironically, for its grand title, the bridge doesn’t actually cross the Kwai but rather the Mae Klong (klong is canal in Thai). The Mae Klong runs into the confluence of the Khwae Yai and Khwae Noi Rivers (literally the big and little Khwae).

Under the mesmerising spell of popular cinema and sensing a tourism opportunity , the local authorities quietly renamed the relevant short section of Mae Klong to the Khwae Yai River, ensuring that there is a Bridge Over the River Kwai for all to visit and enjoy.

Despite its checkered history, the rail journey from Bangkok, the bridge and surrounding area are worthy of a visit, though the undoubted highlight is a short walk up the road to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.

Note
The outstanding railway site Seat 61, has a detailed description on the River Kwai rail journey.

Kanchanaburi Vacations

Photo of the Week: Beethoven Grave (Vienna, Austria)

Tweet

Ludwig von Beethoven is undoubtedly one of the finest musicians and composers who has ever lived. He is rightfully remembered with a grand white obelisk and grave. Ironically, his close friend and fine composer Franz Schubert was an attendant at his funeral and died a year later, being buried next to Beethoven. Also buried among this music royalty in Musician's Corner of Vienna's peaceful and leafy historic Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof which despite its name is a long way from the centre) are Strauss and Brahms.

Vienna Vacations

Owen Cavanough: The First European Australian?

Tweet

On January 26, 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip (now buried in Bath Abbey) was rowed ashore on a longboat to claim the continent of Australia for England. It became the first settlement by Europeans of Australia, the aborigines having a record of over 40,000 years of continuous settlement before this time.

Though it has caused arguments over the years, it is generally accepted that Able Seaman Owen Cavanough was the first permanent white settler to set foot in Australia. Cavanough stood at the bow of the rowboat that took Phillip and his crew ashore from HMS Sirius, jumping onto land to secure the boat to allow the officers easy passage.

Every year on January 26, Australians celebrate their national day (Australia Day), recalling the First Fleet, a group of eleven ships and around 1400 people (over half being convicts) who took a treacherous eight month journey from England to settle a new land. The day continues to have a tinge of controversy with Aboriginals not holding the commemorated day in the same positive light, sometimes calling it Invasion Day.

After his time in the navy and a journey to Norfolk Island, Cavanough was granted 100 acres a little north of Sydney on the Hawkesbury River to farm vegetables for the infant colony. He had married a convict First Fleeter (seven years and transportation for stealing a dozen knives and forks) a few years after settling in Australia. They had six children and a long peaceful life, Cavanough passing away from drowning at the ripe old age of 79.

Cavanough donated a small piece of his land to build a small sandstone church and school on a river bend in the tiny Hawkesbury village of Ebenezer that holds the distinguished title as Australia’s Oldest Church. He is buried here in an undistinguished grave, being the first white Australian in a nation that now boasts a population of over 21 million, built on the back of convict settlement. Up to six generations of the same family (and several First Fleeters) are buried in the historic cemetery of Ebenezer church.

Today, many Australians actively seek their heritage looking for links to early English arrivals, especially First Fleeters. For many this makes a link to a convict past, once kept as a dark and uncomfortable family secret but now paraded with pride as being the greatest number of generations Australians - some kind of "ultimate" Australian.

Happy Australia Day to all!

Sydney Vacations

Photo of the Week: India Gate (Delhi, India)

Tweet

In a similar vein to Paris's grand Arc de Triomphe, Delhi's India Gate proudly stands in the centre of twelve radiating streets near central Delhi. Standing 42 metres tall, the names of some 90,000 soldiers who lost their life in World War 1 (and other wars of the time) are inscribed into its light coloured brick, the moving tomb of an unknown soldier lies under the grand arch.

Removed on India's independence in 1947, the smaller canopy used to contain a statue of King George VI of England. It has lain empty since with suggestions that a statue of India's famous independence fighter and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi as an appropriate replacement.

Majestically located on a broad boulevard, India Gate stands elegant and serene in India's frenzied capital and is a must-see Delhi travel wonder along with the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, the 11th century Qutub Minar, the Jama Masjid mosque and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum.

Monster Minarets and Monuments (Delhi, India)

Tweet

Currently hosting the Commonwealth Games, a sports event for the 70-odd nations that comprise the vestiges of the British Empire, Delhi is an intense, seething city of chaos – a sensory overload of bazaars, colourful people, grand monuments and striking contrasts. A melting pot of religions, Delhi is home to some of the richest, and poorest people on Earth – ramshackle constructions sit next to opulent edifices, tired hand-drawn carts are passed by gleaming European luxury cars. Huge British built boulevards compete with narrow aroma-filled laneways. With a rich history of rulers, each left their mark in architecture and grand buildings.

Among the most striking of Delhi’s sites is the Qutub Minar Complex highlighting eight centuries of Islamic rule through the middle ages.

The main feature of this exceptional Islamic complex is the Qutub Minar or victory minaret. Reaching almost 73 metres in height, the soaring five-storey tower is the tallest brick minaret in the world and is seen on signage and advertising all around Delhi. Ironically too tall for calls to prayer, the minaret celebrates the establishment of Islamic rule in Delhi (which lasted until British rule in the 19th century) after victory over the last Hindu king in battle.

It is richly inscribed with ancient Koranic texts and verses that have stood the test of time. Indeed, the tower (and neighbouring mosque) is constructed on the site of a former Hindu site from the remains of 27 temples. Only three metres across at its top and built on rocky foundations, the temple has developed a slight lean though nothing to rival its famous cousin in Pisa.

In a nearby courtyard is a seven metre tall iron pillar that has defied scientific explanation. Bought from another site, the pillar is impossibly pure for its time, the 98% iron purity leaving the pillar completely free from rust despite its 1600 years of exposure to the elements. A legend describes that a person who can reach his arms around the huge pillar while facing outwards will have his wish granted. A simple fence prevents any attempts at modern divine intervention.

While architecturally striking with ornate inscriptions, the remainder of the complex is a slightly rambling collection of monuments, buildings and tombs including India’s oldest mosque. While many reminders of the Hindu faith abound (such as the squared pillars and images of the various Hindu gods), the builders managed to erase many of the Hindu images in the mosques.

The intricately carved tomb of Iltutmish celebrates the man who completed the minaret while the later tomb of Imam Zamin boasts the typical Islamic window screens.

Across from the minaret is a 25 metre roughened foundation to a more ambitious minaret. With plans to tower over the existing minaret, one can only imagine the immense engineering work required for the time. The idea perished with the leader and lays abandoned and worn, though strangely photogenic.


Somehow, the Qutub Minar Complex mirrors Delhi itself. Somewhat chaotic in its layout, the sight is attractive for its intricate carved buildings that have survived the test of time and the mesmerising towering minaret which continues to draw your eyes in wonderment wherever you wander in southern Delhi. What extraordinary times this minaret has overseen, eight centuries of life in one of the world’s most hypnotic cities.

Photo Credit: minaret detail

Photo of the Week: New York New York Hotel 9/11 Memorial (Las Vegas, USA)

Tweet

On this ninth anniversary, I recall sitting at home in Sydney transfixed in the late evening of 9/11 (Sydney is many hours ahead of the east coast of the US) watching live CNN coverage as this act of terrorism unfolded and changed the 21st century world. Even in Las Vegas, the city of excess, there are memorials to those lost in front of the New York New York Hotel Casino. Simple T-shirts, small momentos, fluttering flags and moving personal notes make a rich and touching memorial to those thousands who lost their life in this horrific tragedy.

The Jean Sibelius Monument (Helsinki, Finland)

Tweet

Walking towards Helsinki’s exceptional Temppeliaukio Cathedral, built underground hewn from solid granite, is a striking monument to Finland’s finest composer, Jean Sibelius. Built from more than 600 steel pipes in the form of organ pipes, reactions vary from praise to disappointment at the modern surrealist memorial.

Personally, I loved the monument, glittering in the warming rays of the Helsinki sun, the trees of the surrounding park reflected off the various lengths of silvery pipe. The organ pipes gave a sense of his prodigious musical achievements with a striking and memorable sculpture. Artistic travellers stooped, laid down and leaned to get their perfect angle to photograph this unusual monument.

Next to the organ pipes is the silvery moon-shaped head of Sibelius set on stone with two artistic blobs of quicksilver. While glistening in the sunshine and despite Sibelius’ striking visage, I found the head somewhat tasteless.

Also worth a brief stroll is the neighbouring cemetery. Packed with presidents, prime ministers, military, artists, actors, sportsmen, authors and other significant Finns, the graves nestle peacefully in a tranquil tree-filled peninsula. Armies of tiny squirrels disrespectfully dance across the graves chasing morsels of food fallen from the overhanging trees. Somewhat surprisingly, Jean Sibelius doesn’t feature among the numerous tombs.

While the Finnish suburb of Töölö would be unlikely to attract many visitors without the remarkable travel wonder of its modern cathedral, it warrants a brief stroll to enjoy the restful parklands of the area and to enjoy the sparkling silvery monument to Finland’s most famous composer. Do you like either or both of the sculptures?

Helsinki Vacations

Lest We Forget (Canberra, Australia) - Part Three

Tweet

Continuing from parts one and two of the highlights of the Australian War Memorial...

I approached the information desk to enquire about a relative lost in the second World War. Within a few minutes I had an extract of his service record – he died in an accident while seconded to the British Airforce at just 26 years of age. With a red poppy and a cross reference as to his location on the Roll of Honour, I proceeded to the Roll of Honour area. Separated by

Two huge bronze boards flank the length of the building detailing the names of around 102,000 Australians – sorted by war and battalion, but not by rank – one of the most complete lists of those killed at war of any nation on Earth. Whether a private or a general, all have made the ultimate sacrifice. It was with mixed feelings with only the vaguest understanding of what being in a war must be like, I squeezed the delicate red poppy next to the name of my relative, lost in the prime of his life like so many others. Other visitors scan for their past relatives in quiet contemplation, painting a carpet of red down the walls.

Dividing the walls, the eternal flame burns and the Pool of Reflection highlights the immense dome of the Hall of Memory in the waters disturbed ever so slightly by the gentle breeze. Looking outwards, the War Memorial stands proudly at the end of a long boulevard of trees, Anzac Avenue, leading over Canberra’s lake to the Houses of Parliament.

Walking into the Hall of Memory, a poignant and solemn space, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, sprinkled in poppies sits painted in the afternoon light from tall stained glass windows. Four massive glass tile mosaics represent the army, navy, airforce and servicewomen lead to a vast vibrant golden dome representing the glowing sun, embedded with the Southern Cross.

The tomb was interred in 1993 under the passionate and heartfelt speech by the Prime Minister of the Day, Paul Keating. To me, his words capture the feelings entrenched in Anzac Day and this wonderful memorial.



He is all of them. And he is one of us.

This Australia and the Australia he knew are like foreign countries. The tide of events since he died has been so dramatic, so vast and all – consuming, a world has been created beyond the reach of his imagination.
...
This Unknown Australian is not interred here to glorify war over peace; or to assert a soldier's character above a civilian's; or one race or one nation or one religion above another; or men above women; or the war in which he fought and died above any other war; or one generation above any that has been or will come later.

The Unknown Soldier honours the memory of all those men and women who laid down their lives for Australia. His tomb is a reminder of what we have lost in war and what we have gained.

We have lost more than 100,000 lives, and with them all their love of this country and all their hope and energy.

We have gained a legend: a story of bravery and sacrifice and, with it, a deeper faith in ourselves and our democracy, and a deeper understanding of what it means to be Australian. (full speech here)

Lest We Forget (Canberra, Australia) - Part Two

Tweet

Continuing from part one of the highlights of the Australian War Memorial...

In the same hall is G for George, a World War 2 Lancaster bomber that saw and survived 90 combat missions over Europe – most did not manage ten. With a creative use of light, sound and film, G for George is the centrepiece of a short multimedia presentation that gives an impression of the experiences and discomfort that townsfolk on both sides must have felt during bombing missions. There has been some controversy over the use of such modern means to capture the feelings and mood of the time but I personally enjoyed the display believing that it adds to the reality of the time. Photos of the airmen, most barely out of school forever captures the horrors of war and the demands that the world do a better job in avoiding this approach to national conflict.

Using a similar multimedia approach, an Iriquois helicopter packed with troops enact an assault and a medical evacuation in Vietnam, one of 100s of missions flown by this actual helicopter. Strong fans rustle the thick grass and emulate the rotor blades as troops dive out before the chopper has even landed.

Off on another wing of the memorial, the largest display has visitors walking the bridge of the HMAS Brisbane. Serving in Vietnam and the first Iraqi conflict, the excellent display captures radio transmissions as orders are issued and obeyed. Somewhat eerily, the reflections of the young naval personnel are reflected in the ship’s windows, the reddish and green lights of the metres and radars providing the only lighting on deck.

Uplifting spirits is the central room exhibiting a gallery of around 60 of the 97 Victoria Crosses (the largest public display of such medals) won by Australians, the highest individual award available to a British or Commonwealth member of the armed forces for exceptional individual valour and conspicuous bravery “in the face of the enemy”. Most striking are the ordinary lives associated with such men, most barely in their twenties who have won these medals with a plain crimson ribbon and dark bronze cross – among them boilermakers, railway workers, carpenters, farmhands and blacksmiths. While many were awarded posthumously, others returned to normal civilian life, most around them unaware of their most prestigious award.

Next to the Hall of Valour is what I consider the memorial’s the most moving single display. In a darkened room to the faint music of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, is the haunting Menin Gate at Midnight. Reputedly painted in one sitting by a mournful Will Longfellow, the painting captures the famed gates that tens of thousands of soldiers passed heading to the Western Front. Today, the walls of the gate list 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave, only a small percentage of the quarter of a million lives lost in this area of battle during World War One. The painting eerily captures the artist’s vision of thousands of spirits of the dead rising and marching towards the battlefields.

The highlights of the Australian War Memorial continues to its final chapter.

Lest We Forget (Canberra, Australia) - Part One

Tweet

On ANZAC Day (April 25) every year, Australians and New Zealanders commemorate and acknowledge the bravery, dedication and sacrifice that young men and women made in military actions for our countries. It is based on a specific day in 1915 when young men landed on the shores of a far flung peninsula in Turkey, suffering huge losses over several months of fruitless fighting.

At dawn on Anzac Day every year, numerous people gather at memorials across the country and around the world to pay their respect to those fallen souls who did so much to offer the way of life that we have today.

Bullet holes in the hull of a small lifeboat in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra bears witness to the unthinkably grim circumstances these young men at Gallipoli peninsula must have felt rowing ashore towards the blood stained beaches.

Today the war memorial in Canberra is one of the world’s finest museums, memorials and exhibitions on Australia’s war history. In the shape of a cross, the memorial is split into two major zones – World War 1 and World War 2 with two large rooms of aircraft and a downstairs area with displays on more recent conflicts involving Australia. Above the museum is the commemorative area including the moving Hall of Memory, the Roll of Honour, the Pool of Reflection and the Eternal Flame.

Though with no real interest in military museums, it is impossible not to be moved and swept into the stories and background to so many of the displays. In one area, dioramas (constructed in the 1920s) of some of the worst of the World War 1 battles on the western front capture the squalor, mud and deprivation of these awful arenas of battle as two armies fought for months to gain or lose a few metres of ground. The detail of the trenches, the battle ground and the individual soldiers goes a small way into offering an understanding the emotions that the soldiers must have endured over a battle 12,000 kilometres from their homeland.

The aircraft hall highlights the small flimsy planes of wood, canvas and wires only a few metres in length used in the first World War. An extraordinary 14-minute film by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings and King Kong fame) shot onto a 120 degree screen in the aircraft hall captures the dogfights in the earliest aerial war battles. On the first shot that rang out within inches of a young pilot, the woman sitting next to me leapt out of her seat. The Red Baron’s fur-lined left boot sits in a glass case highlighting the severe cold these young airmen must have experienced fighting in open cockpits.

The highlights of the Australian War Memorial continues in part two.

Serenity and Savagery (New Delhi, India)

Tweet

In a quiet suburb of India's capital, New Delhi, lies a modest bungalow. It was the home of India first woman prime minister, Indira Gandhi and documents her life through photos, personal possessions and the furnishings of the various rooms. Starkly among the exhibits are the blood-stained sari where Gandhi was slain by her Sikh bodyguards in her own yard, walking to an interview with Peter Ustinov. Tragically, in another display are the shredded clothing of her son, Rajiv Gandhi who became Prime Minister on his mother's death before also being assassinated some seven years later.

I couldn't help but be struck by the balanced appreciation of their lives, the modesty of the house and the limited political commentary on the killings. The surrounding gardens are truly serene with an elegant lotus pond emanating peace and tranquility.

A pathway in the garden marks the spot where Indira Gandhi lost her life - the path lined with a colonnade of trees. There is always something tragic in such events, but I think that Indira Gandhi could be proud of the peaceful memorial and the numbers of people, both Indian and foreign, there to try to learn a little more of someone who helped shape India's history.

Note: Photography in the house was not permitted.

Other India Posts
Mahatma Gandhi's Memorial (New Delhi)
It's All in the Stars (Jantar Mantar, Jaipur)
A Royal Facade (Palace of the Winds, Jaipur)
A Monument to Love (Taj Mahal)
From Dead Duck to Bird Heaven (Bharatpur)