How we remember Anzac: A Town Named War Boy

With the Anzac commemorations beginning all over Australia leading up to 25 April 2018, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the ways in which Anzac is remembered more than a century after the landings at Gallipoli. Anzac Day itself is the climactic day on which we commemorate the spirit that forged a Nation in battle, but there are many other ways in which a society can exercise its collective memory to preserve important moments. Art provides us with the most evocative means of recollecting the past, as it enables us to see and engage emotionally with subjects chosen by the artist, whether it be through painting, sculpture or film.  Yet, of all these, no artistic medium better engages our senses than the live performance of theatre.

A Town Named War Boy is a poignant example of what can be achieved when we harness art, and theatre in particular, for the purpose of remembering. It is a play which is based on the State Library of New South Wales' extensive collection of soldiers’ diaries from WWI. Award winning playwright, Ross Mueller, has faithfully used these diaries and records as the authentic basis of the storyline of A Town Named War Boy, frequently using diarised passages directly as dialogue in the play. The story focuses on a signalman and Anzac named Snow, who is haunted by the memories of the friends, comrades, and ‘war boys’ he lost at Gallipoli. The play captures in the most vivid terms the trauma and post-war anxiety which veterans had to grapple with after returning home to Australia. The highly talented four-man cast manages to strike such an emotional rapport with the audience that this truly is an Anzac experience like no other, which explores the pain and loss upon which our modern-day Anzac legend is built in a way that reminds us anew why we march on 25 April.

A Town Named War Boy has toured Australia for the past three years and will be performed in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales in the coming months. Indeed, it tells a story which every Australian should see and hear. Our team at Australia in the Great War have also worked hard to keep the stories of our servicemen alive for generations to come through our Great War Diaries. The chronological instalments takes the reader on a journey to the battlefields of the Great War through the illustrated diary of an Australian digger named John Murray, and is accompanied by unique collectible memory pennies that commemorate key moments of the War.

Anzac Day is an important occasion to honour and commemorate those who fought for our freedom, especially in this year, the 100th since Armistice. However, the ultimate commemoration of these men and women is to keep their stories alive and to share their experiences in new ways with each new generation, lest we forget.