Our Impact

Please click here to see a list of selected publications associated with the Scripture, Spirituality and Society Research Centre

Critiquing the Anzac legend

Abstract

TeamAssociate Professor Daniel Reynaud, Avondale University
DescriptionThis research critiques key elements of the Anzac legend through the lenses of cinema and of religion. A closer study of Anzac cinema reveals the ways in which the legend has evolved over time, adapting to contemporary concerns and challenging its monolithic reputation. The study of Anzac interactions with religion during the First World War challenges widely held scholarly and popular conclusions about the secularity of the Anzacs.
Impact SummaryThis research has resulted in the publication of a number of scholarly works, as well as a series of audio-visual productions, popular publications and public presentations.

Background

The research evolved from Associate Professor Reynaud’s PhD topic and parallels important research into the development of the Anzac legend in print and popular culture. Both cinema and religion offer vantage points from which to critique aspects of Anzac mythology.

Focus

The focus of this work has been on ways in which particular entrenched popular and scholarly representations of the Anzacs are challenged by exploring both fictional representations and archival sources. A study of Anzac cinema particularly challenges popular contemporary notions of Anzac as a homogenous and unifying myth of Australian nationalism, while a study of the Anzacs and religion challenges scholarly writing on the inherent secularity of the Anzacs.

Impact

The impact of Associate Professor Reynaud’s research is evidenced by the following:
  1. Publications: Fifteen refereed journal articles (including ERA-ranked A* and A journals), ten book- chapters (mostly commissioned by international publishers) and four monographs (one commissioned by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).
  2. Citations: Over 40 scholarly citations. The book Celluloid Anzacs is a core text in several university courses.
  3. Recovery of four lost silent Australian war films:
    1. The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915): lost footage, stills and the original screenplay of Australia’s first Gallipoli movie were identified, and the film partially reconstructed through the NFSA. Commercially released on DVD in 2015, the centenary of its initial release.
    2. The Exploits of the Emden (1928): reassembled at the NFSA from the two surviving films into which the original had been divided.
    3. For Australia & How We Beat the Emden (1915): Two significant films thought lost until identified by Associate Professor Reynaud in a British archive merged as one film under a different title. The research identified their origins and a copy is now held in the NFSA.
  4. Documentaries: eight half-hour documentaries. The eight documentaries have been screened in prime slots on Anzac Days in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015, as well as being re-broadcast in specialist religious television slots and on Christian television networks. In each case, the original commercial broadcaster chose to air the program to a daytime audience which is a rare outcome for Christian television products.

    Using the Seven Network’s figures, the most successful episode, ‘Faith of the Anzacs’, in 2010 achieved an estimated audience of 250,000 people in the eastern states alone. While the average audience response to an It is Written Oceania program is of the order of 160 offers and 75 new contacts per week, that episode alone generated 1,000 responses in the first 24 hours. The episode also won two awards: Silver Angel Award 2011 National Television, for Excellence in Media; and Australian Cinematographers Society NSW & ACT Bronze Award, Documentaries, Cinema & TV.
  5. Public presentations and popular publications: A series of radio, television and newspaper interviews, articles & public presentations, including lecture/screenings at the Australian Centre of the Moving Image (Melbourne), the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance, Avondale University (Cooranbong), Heroes and Horsemen (Waverley Council, Sydney), the Newcastle Film Festival, lectures at schools, clubs, organisations and churches. An article for a popular magazine won an Australian Religious Publishing Association Bronze Award for Best Profile Story in 2013.
  6. Teaching: The research prompted explorations of innovative teaching in the area of the World Wars, resulting in an institutional Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2008 and an ALTC Learning & Teaching Citation in 2009.

Future Direction

Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud is currently writing monographs and peer-reviewed journal articles which include further investigation of Anzac chaplains and spirituality, comparative studies of war film, and war graphic novels.

Field of Research (FOR)

190204 Film and Television
200212 Screen and Media Culture
210303 Australian History
220401 Christian Studies

Collaborations

National Film and Sound Archives, screen writer and historian Stephen Vagg, Associate Professor Phil Fitzsimmons, Professor Jane Fernandez, Signs Publishing Company, and It Is Written Oceania.

Supporting Publications

Thesis

Daniel Reynaud, Celluloid Anzacs: Representations of the Great War in Australian cinema and television dramas. PhD, University of Newcastle, 1997

Journal articles

Reynaud, D. ‘Convention and contradiction: representations of women in Australian war films, 1914-1918,’ in Australian Historical Studies, Vol 30, No 113, October 1999.
Reynaud, D., ‘The influence of dramas on the Anzac legend between the wars,’ in Illusions: New Zealand Moving Image and Performing Arts Criticism, No 32, Winter, 2001.
Reynaud, D. ‘The effectiveness of Australian film propaganda for the war effort 1914–1918,’Screening the Past, Issue 20, December 2006.
Reynaud, D. ‘The changing Anzac legend in three key Australian films,’ Screening the Past, Issue 22, December 2007.
Reynaud, D. ‘Dealing with historical movies in the History and English classroom,’ in Teach, Journal of Christian Education, Vol 2 No 2, December 2008.
Reynaud, D. ‘The legend of William McKenzie,’ in Lucas, 2:7, June 2014.
Reynaud, D ‘Film/Cinema (Australia)’, in: 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.
Reynaud, D. ‘Religion and the Anzac legend on screen’, in St Mark’s Review: a journal of Christian thought & opinion, 231(1), April 2015.
Reynaud, D. ‘Attitudes to Compulsory Church Parades in the AIF: Signs of Spiritual Crisis or Evidence of Unexpected Commitment?’ Journal of Religious History, in publication
Reynaud, D. ‘Dodging a Bullet: Australian Seventh-day Adventism and the Great War,’ Spes Christiana, Friedensau, Germany, in press.
Reynaud, D. ‘Revisiting the secular Anzac: the Anzacs and religion,’ Lucas, in press.
Reynaud, D. & Miler, L. ‘Australian Chaplains at Gallipoli: role, impact and influence,’ 4th International Symposium on Gallipoli, in press.
Reynaud, D., Rickett, C. & Bogacs, P. ‘“Beyond telling:” Narrating trauma in the wartime writings of Great War AIF Chaplain William McKenzie.’ Teach Journal, 10(1) May 2016.Vagg, S. & Reynaud, D. ‘Alfred Rolfe: Forgotten Pioneer Australian Film Director,’ Studies in Australasian Cinema, 7 June 2016, DOI: 10.1080/17503175.2016.1170950.

Book chapters

Fitzsimmons, P. & Reynaud, D. ‘Comics/Graphic Novels/Bandes Dessinées and the Representation of the Great War.’ In The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film. Löschnigg, M. & Sokołowska-Paryż, M. (eds.) Berlin & Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
Reynaud, D. ‘Australian Cinema and the War Effort.’ In Our Selection On Writings on Cinema’s Histories: Selected papers from the 7th Australian History and Film Conference, National Film and Sound Archive and ANU, Canberra 30 November — 2 December 1995, Doyle, J., van der Heide, B. & Cowan, S. (eds.). Canberra: NFSA/ADFA, 1998.
Reynaud, D. ‘Constructing the Anzac Image: A study of Australia’s first three Gallipoli movies 1915–16.’ In Dooley, M. (ed.). Credits Rolling: Selected papers, 12th Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand. Canberra: National Film and Sound Archive, 2005.
Reynaud, D. ‘Film and National Mythology: The Anzac legend in Australian films.’ In Creative Nation: Australian cinema and cultural studies reader, Sarwal, A. and Sarwal. R.(eds.). New Delhi: SSS Publications, 2009.
Reynaud, D. ‘War Cinema.’ In Directory of World Cinema, Vol 3, Australia and New Zealand,Goldsmith, B. & Lealand, G. (eds.). Bristol & Chicago: Intellect Press & University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Reynaud, D. ‘War and Society: Introduction.’ In Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, Bennett, J. E. & and Beirne, R. (eds.) London, New York: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
Reynaud, D. ‘Gallipoli.’ In Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, Bennett, J. E. & Beirne, R. (eds.) London, New York: I. B. Tauris, 2011.
Reynaud, D. ‘National Versions of the Great War: Modern Australian Anzac Cinema’. In The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film. Löschnigg, M. & Sokołowska-Paryż, M. (eds.) Berlin & Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
Daniel Reynaud, ‘War.’ In Directory of World Cinema: Australian & New Zealand Cinema, Vol. 2. Ben Goldsmith, B., Ryan, M. D. & Lealand, G. (eds.). Bristol & Chicago: Intellect, 2015.
Reynaud, D. & Fernandez, J. ‘“To Thrash the Offending Adam out of Them”: The theology of violence in the writings of Great War Anzacs.’ In Secularisation: New Historical Perspectives, Hartney, C. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.

Monographs

Reynaud, D. The Hero of the Dardanelles and other World War I Silent Dramas. Canberra: National Film and Sound Archive Monographs, 2005.
Reynaud, D. Celluloid Anzacs: The Great War through Australian Cinema. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2007.
Reynaud, D. The Man the Anzacs Revered: William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, Anzac Chaplain.Warburton Vic: Signs Publishing, 2015.
Reynaud, D. & Kent, G. Faith of the Anzacs. Sydney: It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network, 2010.

Audio-visual

Hamilton, M & Reynaud, D. The Kings (Anzac Heritage). It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 27 minutes. 24 & 25 April Hope channel various times, 26 April Ch 7 3:30am & Ch 10 4:30am, 28 April ACC 7pm, 2015.
Hamilton, M & Reynaud, D. The Lavertys (Anzac Heritage). It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 27 minutes. 10 & 11 April Hope channel various times, 12 April Ch 7 3:30am & Ch 10 4:30am, 14 April ACC 7pm, 2015.
Hamilton, M & Reynaud, D. The Tom Richards Story (Anzac Heritage). It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 27 minutes. 17 & 18 April Hope channel various times, 19 April Ch 7 3:30am & Ch 10 4:30am, 21 April ACC 7pm, 2015.
Livingstone, D. Hamilton, M. & Reynaud, D. Faith of the Anzacs. It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 23 minutes. Channel 7, 25 April, 2010.
Livingstone, D. Hamilton, M. & Reynaud, D. Brothers in Arms: Anzac Chaplains. It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 23 minutes. Channel 7, 25 April 2010.
Livingstone, D. Hamilton, M. & Reynaud, D. Fighting Mac: the story of William McKenzie. It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 23 minutes. Channel 7, 25 April 2012.
Livingstone, D. Hamilton, M. & Reynaud, D. Bennett: Gallipoli chaplain. It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 23 minutes. Channel 7, 25 April 2014.
Livingstone, D. Hamilton, M. & Reynaud, D. The Kiwi Chaplains. It Is Written Oceania/Adventist Media Network. 23 minutes. NZTV, 24 April 2015.
Reynaud, D. & Dooley M., The Exploits of the Emden. Film reconstruction. National Film and Sound Archive, April 2005. Archival Reconstruction.
Reynaud, D. & Dooley, M. The Hero of the Dardanelles: Gallipoli Centenary Edition. National Film and Sound Archive, April 2015. Archival Reconstruction.


Adult Bible Study Guide or Sabbath-School Quarterly and Accompanying Books

Abstract

TeamAssoc Prof Steve Thompson, Avondale University
Dr Borge Schantz, Loma Linda University, California
Dr David Tasker, Avondale University
Assoc Prof Robert McIver, Avondale University
DescriptionWriting the Sabbath School Quarterly Lessons for the World Seventh-day Adventist Church and the accompanying book.
3rd Quarter 2015: Borge Schantz and Steven Thompson, “Biblical Misisonaries” 1st Quarter 2016: David Tasker, “Rebellion and Redemption”
2nd Quarter 2017: Robert McIver, “1 and 2 Peter”
Impact SummaryRead carefully by millions in most recognized countries across the globe, and in most major language groups.

Background

There are approximately 78,000 officially recognized SDA churches world-wide. Each one of these runs a Sabbath School program in addition to the church service. Almost all of them devote significant time during the Sabbath School to the study of a set range of topics found in the Senior Bible Study Guide, or Sabbath School quarterly.

Focus

Schantz, Thompson, Tasker and McIver have been invited to contribute the Sabbath School
lessons and the accompanying books because of their expertise in the topics that have been set, as evidenced by publications relating to the topic. Adult Bible Study Guide is refereed by an international panel; and the 2016 book by McIver was also refereed.

Impact

Schantz, Thompson, Tasker and McIver have expressed their academic expertise in a form accessible to a wide range of readers. The resultant Bible Study Guides have been studied intensively by millions of Seventh-day Adventists in most organized countries and language-groups across the globe. Their work has been extensively translated and distributed. According to Clifford Goldstein, the editor of the Adult Sabbath School Quarterly, “the vast majority of the churches have some access to the ABSG [Adult Bible Study Guide].” He estimates that the ABSG is translated into about 120 languages, that “a few million” are printed, and “it is all over the Web now, too.”

Field of Research (FOR)

220401 Christian Studies (incl. Biblical Studies and Church History)

Collaborations

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Springs, MD; together with the Sabbath School Departments in each of the 13 divisions of the World Church.

Supporting Publications

McIver, Thompson and Tasker have published widely in areas related to the topics on which they wrote the Adult Bible Study Guides. The following were published to accompany the Adult Bible Study Guides:
Schantz, Borge, and Steven Thompson (2014). Biblical Missionaries. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press.
Tasker, David (2015). Rebellion and Redemption. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press.
McIver, Robert K. (2016). 1 and 2 Peter. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press.