Newspapers are telling us that Tony Abbott is joining the
board of the Australian War Memorial. This is the former prime
minister's first official appointment since his losing
his seat in the 18th May federal election.

He will replace historian and newspaper editor Les Carlyon who
died in March.

There are exciting times ahead for the War Memorial which
is to receive a $500m upgrade.

As PM Mr Abbott led the case to build the Sir John Monash
Centre in Villers Bretonneux to tell the stories and honour
the thousands of fallen Australians who served in the
First World War.

Meanwhile a search is under way to find a replacement for
Brendan Nelson who will step down as Director of the Memorial
when his term ends at the end of this year.

Will Mr Abbott ensure that the stories from recent military
conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Solomon Islands and East
Timor be proudly told?

Does Mr Abbott have the extensive experience required for
this job?

He will not need it Foxy, if the list of former government people now in such jobs is ever released we will be shocked
He has his reward
Not sure he deserves it or even can do a good job

So what! We can read that in the news, see it on TV or hear it on radio. OLO is not a news organ.

Ah, hang on. It's just another invitation to badmouth Tony Abbott: conservative and all round good bloke.

The War Memorial is a sacred place for Australians.
A spiritual home for our veterans.

I got quite excited when I read that Tony Abbott
had been appointed on the board of the War Memorial.
I thought it was a very apt and appropriate position
for him to be given. I feel sure that he will provide
more accessibility for all Australians to hear the
stories of our serving men and women and their sacrifices.
I'm sure that he will do a good job.

I don't doubt for one moment his empathy and commitment
to telling the story of Australian service men and women.

We can criticise the man's policies and actions when
he was PM, but we can't
criticise his love and commitment to this country.
The job is in good hands.

"Not sure he deserves it or even can do a good job"

Perhaps you forget Belly, he promised to stop the boats, which Labor said was impossible, & he did it. If he can do the impossible, he can surely manage the memorial.

He is of course hated by the left Greens & bleeding hearts for doing what he promised, which is no surprise.

Dear Hassie,

I was hoping that quite a few conservatives would
respond to this discussion acknowledging the
man's achievements.

Dear Foxy,

I'm really at a total loss as to whether the Australian War Memorial and the identity of Australians at war has any relevance to most of the people who presently live in the country. Who really cares anymore about the 'the diggers', Gallipoli, mateship, etc. Today those things are not even part of one's history for more than half of the Australian population. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money to spend to imbue a feeling of identity and patriotism in what is now a minority of the country's residences.

Here is a link for those interested in the
Memorial Redevelopment:

http://www.awm.gov.au/about/our-work/projects/MemorialRedevelopment

Dear Mr Opinion,

The War Memorial is our nation's tribute to the
courage and sacrifice of generations of men and
women who served in war.

The idea was to create a national memorial where
families and friends and fellow Australians could
grieve for those buried in places far away, as
well as being a place that would contribute to an
understanding of war itself.

It houses a collection of relics, personal and
public records, art, media, dioramas - which tell
the story of our nation's experience in world wars -
regional conflicts and international peace keeping.

I would highly recommend a visit. It's an emotional
experience.

Dear Foxy,

It's that and a whole lot more.

A historian would accept your premise but as a sociologist I see a lot of things about it that the person in the street doesn't. And it is those aspects that I am referring. The elite within any society use these artefacts to develop social schema to organise collective action to validate the inequalities that maintain their ascendency within the society. The War Memorial is no longer a universal or national history and is now a particular history for a minority, whom of course Tony Abbott can readily connect through a common ethnicity grafted to the image of a common war experience.

And under someone like Tony Abbott the artefact as I would call it is now open to abuse. He will manipulate the identity and patriotism of the common war experience to promote his own political ends. How does this benefit the vast majority of people residing in Australia who do not see the common war experience and it's other associations as a relevant part of their own history?

Mr O forgive me, see I once saw you as a bright person
Boy was I wrong
Your insulting comment that most living here are not interested in our past ANZAC links is quite mad
I think your list of obtained education achievements is made up
Put my milk bottle collecting diploma and rubbish burning in the school incinerator up against any you can produce
SNIDE comment that half the population of Sydney are Chinese is child like and just WRONG

Dear Belly,

There's no need to get upset with me because your image of what it is to be Australian has all of a sudden turned to crap. The truth is that the sort of Australian that you want exists in a minority within a multicultural context where the majority do not not share your history and there now exists multiple ethnic histories amongst the peoples who reside in Australia. For all intents and purposes we might as well declare the Australian War Memorial a heritage site so that all peoples living in Australia can engage with it as a piece of historical archaeological significance in lieu of a national sociocultural narrative that pertains only to a minority.

PS I don't care if you don't believe I have several Arts degrees. You, along with a few others - nudge nudge wink wink know who I mean, are not in a position to make that determination.

The Australian War Memorial undoubtedly does not mean what it used to, as our brainwashed, inexperienced little friend gleefully tells us. Modern Australians have little, if any, connection with the two dreadful wars that ensured the peace and safety that we are now gradually losing though ignorance like theirs. They think that sort of stuff is all down to luck.

Multiculturalism, self-hatred and constant apologising for what our forebears achieved and willed to us has led to the sort of insulting thoughts and behaviour that are typical of 'sociologists' who have their brains injured by tertiary education, which was never necessary in the scheme of things, and which is downright disrespectful to the millions of people no longer with us who are represented by the Australian War Memorial.

It's going to be very interesting for those of us who will still be around to see how sociologists and others who know sweet FA about life and history will handle the coming crises. My bet is that there won't be any memorial to them.

Dear Mr Opinion,

Historians are often asked - what is the use and
relevance of studying the past - why is history
important and what does it matter what happened
long ago? Well there's an old adage that tells us
people who don't learn from history, live to repeat
it - or words to that effect. The study of the past
is essential in giving people roots.

People who feel themselves not to have any roots -
live rootless lives, often causing a lot of damage to
themselves and others in the process.

Studying the past connects things through time and
encourages us to take a long view of such connections.
That's why people today are taking an interest in
their family trees - why TV programs like "Who Do You
think you are?" are so popular.

All of us are in fact living histories. We cannot deny
ourselves. We all speak languages inherited from the
past. We live in societies with complex cultures,
traditions and religions that have not been created on
the spur of the moment. We use technologies that we
ourselves have not invented and each of us is born
with a personal variant of an inherited genetic template,
known as the genome, which has evolved during the entire
life span of the human species.

Therefore understanding the linkages between past and
present is absolutely basic for a good understanding of the
condition of being human - and in our case - of being
Australian

cont'd ...

Dear Mr Opinion,

We are a multicultural society as you yourself
have acknowledged, and therefore you should
realise that Australia has been involved in many
conflicts overseas in which people from various
ethnic backgrounds, many of them born overseas,
have served and died for Australia in these conflicts.
Their histories are a part and parcel of the War
Memorial.

Dear Foxy,

I am referring to groups, not individuals. I'm a sociologist, not a psychologist.

Interesting topic, as a pacifist I detest the folly of war as a meaningless inhumane act of barbarism. I loathe the warmonger, and the politicians who push people into wars. However, I do not hate those forced into war, the common men and women made to fight, or mislead into believing they are in pursuit of some noble enterprise, when they are not! The victims of war include many, the innocent non combatants, as well as those aggressively participating. Most who go into war with lofty ideals and survive, if not physically scared, certainly are emotionally damaged to some degree for the rest of their lives.

Dear Mr Opinion,

Yes, but groups are made up of individuals.
Also they fought as a group. The Memorial's
purpose to to commemorate the sacrifices
of all these people. The mission of the
War Memorial is to assist us to remember,
interpret and understand the Australian
experience and its enduring impact on
Australian society.

Dear Paul,

We need new ways of thinking to cope with the
nuclear age. It is by visiting the War Memorial
that we can learn the horrific reality of what
war means and possibly this will nerve us to
build an alternative and better future.

As Stephen Vincent Benet wrote:

"Oh where are you coming from soldier, gaunt soldier
With weapons beyond any reach of my mind
With weapons so deadly the world must grow older
and die in its tracks if it does not turn kind."

The reason we need to study history is in order to understand the present. Our present is the product of our past. The present can only be explained fully with recourse to the past.

PS History is not the past. History is a description of the past and is constructed within the present to explain the present. As such history can be described differently from the perspective of the historian depending on the times he/she is living in.

What I am saying is that in a multicultural country like Australia we have different groups of people who have their own history. Each group can explain their present without reference to a dominant history. What gives us the right to push our history on others who don't need our history to explain their present? Can you see how someone like Tony Abbott could use the AWM for his own purposes?

Dear Mr Opinion,

I can't argue with your logic.

I can't agree with you Mr O; "identity of Australians at war has any relevance to most of the people who presently live in the country."
Even though I am anti-war I make a point of attending the local 'Dawn Service' around each ANZAC Day in my local area, not to glorify war, no way, but to remember ALL from ALL sides who died in pointless conflicts. The last one I attended, like all the previous, was well patronised, 500 or 600, not just by old folks, but there were many young people, families and ethnic people as well. There has to be a difference between the glorification of war, and the remembrance of the loss and suffering war inflicts.

I think what my grumpy old Grand Uncle, who served at Gallipoli, and on the Western Front in WWI said to me sums it up, when at the age of eight, I enquired; "Uncle what did you do at Gallipoli?" He didn't reply; I killed Turks, or I shot Germans. Nah, his reply was "SON!... I kept my f'n head down!" that about sums up what participation in war is worth. I once met a Japanese chap whose father fought in the Pacific in WWII. He was still alive at the time, and in his 80's, his wife and family were so overjoyed that he was one of the very few from his unit that returned home to Japan after the war. he settled down, worked in construction, and raised a family, sounds familiar?

BTW for Mhaze, I learnt a lot about WWI from grumpy (a consequence of the war I believe) old Grand Uncle, not necessarily the stuff you would get from the high school history books. Men will be men, and boys will be boys.

Dear Paul,

I find it rather sad that someone who is living in this
country and I assume permanently - finds no relevance
to our War Memorial for himself or others.

Yes, we are a multicultural country - but we are all
Australians. And we need to respectfully acknowledge the
fact that many have given their lives in this
country's service. And will continue to do so if
required.

To be an Australian citizen one pledges
loyalty first: loyalty to Australia. One pledges to
share certain believes - democratic beliefs - to
respect the rights and liberty of others and to respect
the rule of law.

Memorials are an important part of every culture. They
allow people to remember the deceased. Memorials have
existed in every culture for thousands of years.

For example - the Taj Mahal, Lincoln Memorial, the Great
Pyramids, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, the National
September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, Yad Vashem
Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, to name just a few.

They were all created in loving memory - for a purpose.
So that people can remember those who died
and their relevance to
their countries. They include sons and daughters, wives,
parents, friends, colleagues, Presidents and leaders,
so that we can show respect for them.

Each Memorial has a purpose - and in order to appreciate
that one does need to visit before making any judgements.

Anyway, I think that this discussion appears to have
petered out.

Thanks again for your thoughts. They are appreciated.

cont'd ...

Dear Paul,

Just one last topic that we were discussing at a
dinner party last night. Seeing as the War Memorial
has been granted a huge sum of money for a redevelopment
project - what about the Frontier Wars? Can they be
included in our War Memorial?

Dear Paul,

Tony Abbott has always been very supportive of our Indigenous
People. And now being on the Board of our War Memorial -
he just may be successful in making the project of the
Frontier Wars his own, and it just may go down in history as
his legacy.

Wouldn't that be an achievement?