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