What's Wrong With Anzac? - A surreal experience

A surreal connection, well, at least for me, seemed to pervade the room as I listened last night to Marilyn Lake (below) and Henry Reynolds (bottom)talk about their new book, What’s Wrong With Anzac?
Just a week or so earlier I had sat in the same room and listened as politics lecturer and social commentator, Waleed Aly, had discussed his latest work published in Quarterly Essay, What’s Right? The Future of Conservatism in Australia.
Both pieces seemed connected, although I feel sure that neither Lake, Reynolds nor Aly would not agree.

Aly’s views on conservatism reflected Australians enthusiasm to go to war in another country to fight for and defend a civilization they knew and loved.
Conservatism is not about an unwillingness to change, rather it sees change as organic and evolving and conservatives will welcome change when it is illustrated to be appropriate.
Lake and Reynolds would probably not disagree with Aly’s thesis, but it seems their concerns are more about the militarization of Australian history.
Some 200 people packed out the main auditorium at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre (the Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas) to hear Lake and Reynolds discuss what it was the pushed them to assemble their ideas.
Both are noted historians and both argue that Australia’s Anzac obsession distorts our understanding of the past, replacing historical fact with myth.
Last night, Lake questioned the Federal Government’s official sponsorship, particularly when John Howard led the country, of Anzac through the funding of commemoration and education that has been mobilized as a conservative political force.

It is at this point that Aly may become a little restless as the Anzac juggernaut is not truly conservative; rather it is neo-conservative with political aims that pander to nationalism, racism and individualism, rather than the building of communities.
Lake made the point that the Department of Veteran Affairs appears to have a blank cheque in relation to funding when it comes to promoting and educating people about Anzac Day and she wondered what the public reaction would be like if other departments, such as the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs or the Department of Immigration and Citizenship had the same access to government cash and within that, influence.
The book, What’s Wrong With Anzac is published by the University of New South Wales Press and the ISBN is 978 1 74223 151 8.