Crikey...wouldn't surprise me one bit! Couldn't understand what anyone saw in BB...was all a bit pervy for me!
I must admit, I do like being forced to vote because otherwise I probably wouldn't. It makes us listen more to what's being offered and take an interest. That's got to be a good thing. You're so right about the apathy - someone on the board (can't be bothered to check who!!!!) quite rightly pointed out that there were people prepared to die for the right to vote in other countries. A sobering thought indeed.

Spot on !
The Aussies are a boring lot and what is this obsession with Anzac Day , did the first and second world wars just happen to them and the Brits did nothing to contribute , the English apparently sat round drinking tea whilst the Aussies did all the tough fighting !!...they must have a different history book to the rest of the world.

The Aussies are no more obsessed with Anzac Day than we are with Remembrance Sunday.

As a proportion of population, men enlisted to men killed Australia had a far higher percentage of men killed than any other Allied nation.

The movie Gallipolli was a bit loose with the facts but it was still an horrendous introduction to the war for the Aussie and Kiwi soldiers.

No the Aussies are obsessed with Anzac Day, they get a day off for it and they remember no-one but Aussies, many many Brits died at Gallipolli as did French all ordinary blokes just like Aussies..For some reason the Anzacs think they are special...remembrance day is remembered by the rest of the world to signify the end of the WW1 and includes all the poor blokes died throughout Europe and the WORLD. England lost thousands of lives including the Gallipolli campaign.

Whenever i watched the parade in Sydney there were always groups marching from British and other Allied countries.

Different countries have different public holidays and celebration days - Fourth of July and Thanksgiving in the US for eg.

Gallipolli was a particular shock to Australia in the same way the first day of the Somme was for Britain - troops training for a big campaign then so many slaughtered and in the Aussie and Kiwi case thousands of miles away from home.

There is a memorial in St Nicolas church in Brockenhurst, Hants to 93 Kiwi soldiers who died of wounds - there was a hospital for them in Brockenhurst during WW1. I find one of the graves particularly poignant as his parents made the 12000 mile trip in 1923 to see where he lies.

Entente Powers Population Millions Military Deaths Civilian Deaths Total Deaths Military Wounded
Australia[1] 4.5 61,928 61,928 152,171
Belgium[2] 7.4 42,987 62,000 104,987 44,686
Canada[3] 7.2 64,944 2,000 66,944 149,732
France[4] 39.6 1,397,800 300,000 1,697,800 4,266,000
Greece[5] 4.8 26,000 150,000 176,000 21,000
India[6] 315.1 74,187 74,187 69,214
Italy[7] 35.6 651,010 589,000 1,240,010 953,886
Japan[8] 53.6 415 415 907
Montenegro[9] .5 3,000 3,000 10,000
New Zealand[10] 1.1 18,050 18,050 41,317
Newfoundland[11] .2 1,204 1,204 2,314
Portugal[12] 6.0 7,222 82,000 89,222 13,751
Romania[13] 7.5 250,000 430,000 680,000 120,000
Russia[14] 158.9 1,811,000 1,500,000 3,311,000 4,950,000
Serbia[15] 4.5 275,000 450,000 725,000 133,148
South Africa[16] 6.0 9,463 9,463 12,029
United Kingdom[17] 45.4 885,138 109,000 994,138 1,663,435
United States[18] 92.0 116,708 757 117,465 205,690
Total (Entente Powers) 789.9 5,696,056 3,674,757 10,353,813 12,809,280
Central Powers Population Millions Military Deaths Civilian Deaths Total Deaths Military Wounded
Austria-Hungary[19] 51.4 1,100,000 467,000 1,567,000 3,620,000
Bulgaria[20] 5.5 87,500 100,000 187,500 152,390
Germany[21] 64.9 2,036,897 426,000 2,462,897 4,247,143
Ottoman Empire[22] 21.3 800,000 4,200,000 5,000,000 400,000
Total (Central Powers) 143.1 4,024,397 5,191,000 9,415,397 8,419,533
Neutral nations
Denmark[23] 2.7 722 722
Norway[24] 2.4 - 1,892 1,892
Sweden[25] 5.6 - 877 877
Grand Total 941.0 9,720,453 8,869,248 19,772,701 21,228,813


[edit] Table sources

Comparison of Casualties*

Source
Australian Campaigns in the Great War - Lt The Hon Stanisforth Smith

Country
Total Casualties
Total Embarkation
% Casualties of Embarked

British Isles
2,535,424
5,000,000
50.71

Canada
210,100
422,405
49.74

Australia
215,585
331,781
64.98

New Zealand
58,526
98,950
59.01

India (native)
140,015
1,096,013
12.77


*Casualty = captured, missing, wounded or killed

No conscripts in Australia of course - all volunteers.

I don't know why you hate Anzac Day anyway. For the Aussies it is sacred. They were (still are) a young nation and in 1915 many people worried how they would measure up to Britain. For what it's worth Gallipolli and the rest of the war 'proved' it. Whether the number of casualties is worth it is another question.

I do find this is strange, the fact that the majority of Australians are only prepared to remember the Australain - and possibly New Zealand - contribution. I remember asking at work why it wasn't a day of remembrance for all who died, as Remembrance Day is, but they felt that was a strange concept, and the impression I came away with was that the Aussies only wanted to remember the Aussies, there was really no concept of commemorating the sacrifice of lives by people of other nationalities. Doesn't feel right to me that they should make this distinction - those who fought were not just fighting for their own country, so why limit the remembrance to just one nation?

Frankly that is symptomatic of the culture though isn't it. They don't seem to be interested in anything that does not involve Aussies winning, being the best, or centre stage in some way, across the board ... be it sport, movies, actors, music etc. ad nauseum.

I find this attitude very, very disappointing. In my home town of Plymouth (which has huge military connections) there is a war memorial up the Hoe which pays respect to all the fallen of the 1st and 2nd world wars and has names displayed of combatants from all Allied nations, bear in mind 25,000 troops from Plymouth alone sacrificed their lives across the two wars so we could have just filled the war memorial with our own if we were one eyed xenophobes. I also really dislike the resentment towards the British regarding the tactics at Gallipoli, this resulted in huge losses for UK and Canadian troops as well as Anzacs, the fighting spirit of the Turks took everyone by surprise (they lost 80K troops) but Anzac Day shouldn't be a stage for apportioning blame. Remember if it wasn't for the British and our immense sacrifice Australia would certainly be a very different place today.

Absolutely.

I was watching Sky News live coverage of the Olympic torch thing in Canberra during the week.
I felt positively nauseous when, 10 minutes into it the commentator starts harping on and on and on at how much better the Australian police are dealing with it than London, Paris and San Francisco
Forgetting to mention the fact they had far more forewarning of trouble BECAUSE of events in London Paris and SanFran, or the fact they have huge wide expanses of space to do it here keeping crowds further away, unlike the other inner cities!! Of course, he looked a proper knob, when several minutes later a man ran out and sat down in front of the torch!
I also noted they did NOT mention the complete and utter farce relating to security at the APEC summit and the chaser boys
It appears if you are an international head of state the Aussies aint that bothered, but god damn it you aint gonna ruin their sporting exploits. This is the Olympic torch ya know!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olympics stuff, don't start me on that subject. Looking forward to watching it in UK and actually seeing other nations win medals - I assume other nations apart from Australia actually do win medals, just haven't witnessed it for a while.

After the fall of Singapore Australia realized that Britain could not defend Australia from the Japanese. Imagine how frightening to know that the Japs are on your doorstep and most of your best fighting men are in the RAF or in the army in North Africa or in Jap POW camps. There were not any British troops in PNG and it was the Americans who helped save Australia.

Most nations have only their own names on their war memorials. The ones in the villages around me record the names of the men (and women) from the immediate district. It's the same in Australian towns. The difference there (if there is any in the sense of futility at the loss of so many lives) is that most of the men are buried on the other side of the world.

Australian resentment towards 'British' tactics at Gallipolli is partly the same anger than many Britons feel towards the WW1 generals who threw away tens of thousands of lives, and partly the feeling that British generals cared even less for Australian troops than they did for British. Again, this is borne out by the higher percentage of men killed.

I've never felt any resentment on ANZAC Day in Australia but plenty of pride.

I know the Australian media is more than a little one-eyed in their sports coverage. No one is perfect and I fancy it's partly down to commercial considerations i.e. feature as much 'Aussie' and more punters will watch the commercials. At least Aussies do not have to pay a licence fee for their TV.

Plenty of movie-makers play loose with the facts like that American movie that showed US sailors boarding a U Boat to find an Enigma machine - can't remember the name of it but I think Jon Bon Jovi was in it. Of course it was really British sailors that did it.

I like to be a bit patronizing then. After all, they are still 'colonials', let them get a few more centuries of history in and all that.

I've been here for 9 months. Planning to return in October (after just over a year). Main reason, my daughter hasn't settled that well and misses her dad and grandparents too much (who all live in the UK).

Parts of Aus are very difficult to break into. By that I mean people can be very clicky. I have made a lot of friends since I have been here - but none of them are Australian - not for want of trying of course. Most of the people I have made friends with are other migrants from the UK and Europe - people who all appreciate living in a rental with a useless landlord (who promises to fix or replace things and never does) and with no furniture for weeks cos your stuffs late etc.!

I love it here, I really do. There are a couple of things that get on my nerves - but then its a different country so of course it would. The main thing is when people say they'll do something (we'll have to get you over for a barby/night out/meet the family/whatever) and despite a few subtle reminders and 'oh yeah we will do that' never actually materialises....It takes a lot of effort and I make a lot of effort with people which I don't mind making - but its a two way street - people here can be really unreliable.

We're still waiting for some people to invite us 'round for a BBQ after 22 years! Just wait till you have to send out party invites for the kids - don't expect too many RSVP's!