News Archive

Brenton Stacey, Steev Davis

An Avondale College lecturer has published the first study of how the Anzac legend has been portrayed in Australian film and television over 80 years.

Dr Daniel Reynaud's study, published as a book called Celluloid Anzacs, traces the evolving image of Anzac from pro-British city boy to anti-British bushman.

The legend began as a derivative of British military myths before adopting, in the early days of its Australian identity in the interwar years, the comic and lean bushman as its hero. It acquired its exclusively Australian identity and sharp anti-British edge in the nationalistic fervour of the 1980s. "A one-sentence summary could be, 'A digger is always a trooper, never an officer,'" says Reynaud.

Actor Alan David Lee played a non-commissioned officer in the television miniseries, 1915. He described film as conveying "emotional truth" and films about Anzac as "Australian versions of the Knights of the Roundtable" during his keynote speech at the launch of Celluloid Anzacs this past Monday (April 23). He spoke of the characteristics of the legend--the larrikinism, the wisdom of the all-knowing bushman who is "close to nature, close to God"--and of the values such as integrity, loyalty and sacrifice we associate with it. "The legend has been shaped by cinema in different eras into almost opposing characters and yet somehow remains a focal point, something in which we believe and in which we return."

Dr Don Hansen, a former senior history lecturer at Avondale, spoke of the influence of Reynaud's father, John, also a former Avondale lecturer. "He ensured history was a regular topic of discussion in the home." Reynaud acknowledged this in his speech. "History isn't facts, it's the engagement of people with each other. It's dynamic, it's fascinating."

A senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Reynaud has also restored Australia's first Gallipoli movie, The hero of the Dardanelles, a 20-minute silent film made in 1915. His interest in the box office hit came out of the research for his thesis, Celluloid Anzacs: representations of the Great War in Australian cinema and television drama. Reynaud discusses the historical and the socio-political context of the film in a monograph called, The hero of the Dardanelles and other World War One silent dramas, which the The National Film and Sound Archive released in 2005 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

The launch of the book made news in the regional media. The Herald published a feature by Reynaud, the Lake Macquarie News and the Lakes Mail published news articles with photographs, radio station 1233 ABC Newcastle interviewed Reynaud on its "Dayshift" program and television station NBN included a story in its evening bulletin.

Caption: Celluloid Anzacs by Avondale College lecturer Daniel Reynaud is the first study of how film and television have helped shape the Anzac legend.
Credit: Ann Stafford

Caption: The launch of Celluloid Anzacs by Avondale College lecturer Daniel Reynaud (centre) made news, with regional television station NBN including the story in its evening bulletin.
Credit: Ann Stafford