I
finally visited Melbourne, the cultural capital of Australia. The
area that is now called Melbourne was explored in 1835 by Batman.
Yes, you read it right! Jon Batman negotiated
a purchase of 600,000 acres with eight elders of the Wurundjeri
tribe, a tribe that had been inhabiting the land for around 40,000
years. So Melbourne was born and with the discovery of gold in
Victoria, grew into a huge port and a bustling metropolis. If there's
a city in Australia that might remind you of Mumbai, it's Melbourne.
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| Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne (Pic by: Eisha Sarkar) |
While
taking a tram down the St Kilda Road, I noticed a pyramid-like
structure rising from manicured lawns. It turned out to be the Shrine
of Remembrance. Unveiled in 1934, the Shrine of Remembrance was
established to commemorate the soldiers from Victoria who had died in
service during the First World War and is now a memorial to all
Australians who have served in war. The sanctuary contains the marble
of Remembrance, upon which is engraved the words "Greater love
hath no man".
What
captured my attention was this ode Rudyard Kipling had penned down on
11 November, 1934:
"So
long as memory, valour, and faith endure,
Let
these stones witness, through the years to come,
How
once there was a people fenced secure
Behind
great waters girdling a far home.
Their
own and their land’s youth ran side by side
Heedless
and headlong as their unyoked seas,
Lavish
o’er all, and set in stubborn pride
Of
judgment, nurtured by accepted peace.
Thus,
suddenly, war took them, seas and skies
Joined
with the earth for slaughter. In a breath
They,
scoffing at all talk of sacrifice,
Gave
themselves without idle words to death.
Thronging
as cities throng to watch a game
Or
their own herds move southward with the year,
Secretly,
swiftly, from their ports they came,
So
that before half earth had heard their name
Half
earth had learned to speak of them with fear;
Because
of certain men who strove to reach,
Through
the red surf, the crest no man might hold,
And
gave their name for ever to a beach
Which
shall outlive Troy’s tale when Time is old;
Because
of horsemen, gathered apart and hid,
Merciless
riders whom Megiddo sent forth
When
the outflanking hour struck, and bid
Them
close and bar the drove-roads to the north;
And
those who, when men feared the last March flood
Of
Western war had risen beyond recall,
Stormed
through the night from Amiens and made good,
At
their glad cost, the breach that perilled all.
Then
they returned to their desired land,
The
kindly cities and plains where they were bred,
Having
revealed their nation in earth’s sight
So
long as sacrifice and honour stand,
And
their own sun at the hushed hour shall light
The
shrine of these their dead!"
 |
| Poppies to mark the fallen heroes (Pic by: Eisha Sarkar) |
Outside,
there was a field of poppies (artificial) as a mark for those
soldiers who laid down their lives during World War I and
a few lines from a poem by John Alexander McCrae called
Flanders Fields:
“In
Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between
the crosses, row on row
That
mark our place; and in the sky
The
larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce
heard amidst the guns below...”
The
ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day are celebrated in Australia on 25 April
and 11 November respectively.
Back
in Brisbane, I met my aboriginal friend, Marda Pitt, who shared the
story of her ancestors' first contact with the white man. Marda hails
from remote north Queensland, from a village populated by 300
aboriginals who continue their hunting-gathering lifestyle as their ancestors had done for 40,000 years.
About 200 years ago, Marda's ancestors came in contact
with Dutch merchants. The Dutch grabbed the aboriginals' lands, raped
their women, killed their children and brutalised the men into
subjugation and slavery, with the aid of the police and missionaries.
It's not a history that is taught regularly in schools in Australia.
 |
| Brisbane Times' coverage of the aboriginal protests during the G20 Leaders' Summit on 15-16 November 2014 |
During the recent G20 Leaders' Summit in Brisbane, hundreds of
aboriginal activists gathered to protest against custodial deaths of
their people and threats to their land rights. The protests garnered
some coverage in the media, but it waned quicker than Tony Abbott's
shirtfronting threat. Someone asked Marda whether the indigenous people could forget
the wrongs that were done to their ancestors. She defiantly asked,
“You bleed, we bleed. Are we not the same?” I get her point. If
we can never forget what our soldiers went through during a war that
took place 100 years ago, we shouldn't expect Australia's indigenous
communities to forget their ancestors' brutal history.
