We will remember them

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

from 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)

In the early hours of this morning at Shrines of Remembrance, cenotaphs and war memorials around both Australia and New Zealand, men and women who have gone to war and returned, together with their families, friends and other members of the public gathered for dawn services to start another ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day (April 25th) commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at the beach in Gallipoli, Turkey on the morning of April 25th, 1915. It was the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The plan was to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies, but the Australian and New Zealand soldiers were greeted by strong resistance from the Turkish forces. The campaign dragged on for eight months and casualties were great. Over 10,000 ANZACs died and many more were wounded.

Many historians have argued that Gallipoli marked the end of innocence for the relatively new nation of Australia and the ANZAC legend became an important part of Australia's national identity.

However, ANZAC Day is not just a day to remember that morning in 1915, it is more generally a day of remembrance — of the deaths and consequences of war and of the bravery of our enlisted men and women who have not only fought wars, but have also carried out peacekeeping duties in various parts of the world. ANZAC Day also recognises that we carry with us the hope that one day, all the people of the world can live together in harmony without the need for conflicts.

As is often the case on a day of significance, a number of traditions have grown around the event: the dawn services, ANZAC Day marches, two-up schools, and of course, the ANZAC biscuit.

In our household, ANZAC Day approaching is always a reminder to dig out the recipe for ANZAC biscuits and whip up a batch. The biscuits are a great way to introduce the ANZAC story to children and talk about what ANZAC Day means while you mix up the ingredients.

The actual origins of the ANZAC biscuit are disputed, but the most likely story is that during World War I, when supply ships to the front line took about two months to reach their destination, the biscuits were developed (possibly from an old Scottish oatmeal biscuit recipe) to allow families at home to send tins of biscuits to supplement the soldiers meagre food rations. All the ingredients would last well over that period of time in an airtight container.

This year, I couldn't find my usual tried and tested recipe and ended up using the one from the NSW CWA (Country Women's Association) cookbook. The recipe is pretty standard no matter which version you use: the biscuits contain plain flour, rolled oats, coconut, sugar, butter, water, golden syrup and bicarbonate of soda.

It really is a simple enough recipe, but like the Gallipoli campaign itself, my biscuits this year were doomed.

I placed the first batch too close together on the baking tray and they had no room to spread. The formed a solid biscuit mass, and rose up like a sponge cake!

Hint no 1: Spread teaspoon sized amounts of the mixture well apart (over two baking trays) to allow for adequate spread.

I learnt from my mistake, and spaced the second batch well apart. When I looked at them in the oven after a few minutes cooking however, they hadn't spread at all. Hmmm. I checked the recipe. Ooops. I had forgotten the cup of sugar.

Hint no.2: Always double-check your ingredients

The third batch was looking good. All ingredients were present and accounted for, they were spread well apart and then slid into the oven on two trays for cooking, but instead of turning the dial on my oven to fan-forced, I put it on grill...

Hint no.3: Biscuits should be baked, not grilled.

As the smoke billowed through the house, I was able to save the lower tray, and cook it properly.


At last!

Golden, chewy ANZAC biscuits.

I don't know whether they would have lasted two months in a supply ship, as they didn't last more than a couple of hours in my house. That's one experiment I don't think I'll ever be able to achieve.

If you would like to make ANZAC biscuits (heeding the hints above, of course) there is a recipe here.

And for fascinating information about ANZAC Day and the ANZAC legend, check out:

Gallipoli and the ANZACs by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, or
ANZAC Day at the Australian War Memorial

Do you have ANZAC Day memories to share? What is the equivalent day in your country?

A thankless task?

“I am sure I need not add that the receipt of a present, however small, should be acknowledged at once, and the letter worded as graciously as possible.”

Etiquette in Australia by Mrs Erskine
published by William Brooks & Co, Sydney in 1911.

Speak to any person of the most mature years about the giving of presents and one of the comments they will inevitably make is that the younger generations never thank them adequately for their gifts.

In this age of letters, faxes, e-mail, SMS, instant-messaging, Facebook pokes and phone calls, what is the acceptable etiquette of thanking someone for a gift? And how do we broach the gulf in expectations and understanding between generations?

As a child brought up in an age when mail was the only reasonable way of communicating with friends and family members who lived some distance away, my grandmother would have, as a matter of course, written thank you letters on many hundreds of occasions. Thank you for your gift. Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your sympathy. It was the accepted way of acknowledging the effort and thought another person had extended towards you.

She, like many of her generation, therefore expects (and extends) written acknowledgement of gifts. And the acknowledgement should be prompt. I’ve watched her sit down on Boxing Day morning with a set of note cards, writing thanks for gifts she received on Christmas Day.

Her great-grandchildren, on the other hand, are natives of the digital-generation. For them communication with people half a world away can be instantaneous and can take a great many forms. Asking an eleven year old to sit down with paper and a pen and handwrite a number of thank you letters after a birthday party, is akin to asking them to pull their fingernails out one by one (and just as torturous for the parent concerned).

Yet, I persist in nagging my daughters to write thank you letters after their birthdays because to me, the very act of writing the note to the giver of a gift forces you to contemplate and appreciate the effort and thought that went into the selection of the present (or the writing of the cheque!) and communicate this appreciation.

I let the youngest cheat a little, by just asking her to sign her name on letters I’ve written for her. It’s not that difficult, but it does require some effort on their behalf, and they need to do it within a day (or three or four…) of receiving the gift.

I do however, have my own special 'thank you caveat'…I don’t make the girls write Christmas gift thank you letters, and I don’t write them myself. We thank people personally or ring them because let’s face it, who wants to spend the Christmas break forcing children to write letters when there are beaches to be visited, and icecreams to be eaten?

Perhaps I’m old-fashioned and out-of-touch to insist my girls send thank you letters through the post? Perhaps it would be just as acceptable for them to SMS their thanks? Or send e-mails? Maybe they could just phone everyone? Or instant-message them if they catch them on-line?

I worry though, that a pain-free and fleeting method of communicating a ‘thank you’, removes the contemplation time a written note involves. A ‘thank you’ can be casually tossed out verbally with very little actual thought.

Some of those methods may not meet the expectations of all of the givers either. Anything short of a handwritten envelope in the mailbox with a stamp attached may come up short of my grandmother's generation's requirements, and with gift-giving being a two-way process is it not disrespectful and inconsiderate to refuse to play the part that generation expects?

Maybe I need to develop a multi-tiered system of thank you categories depending on the age and expectations of the gift-givers? Handwritten letters for great-grandmothers, word-processed letters for grandparents and great-aunts, e-mails for anyone internet-friendly, and a casual verbal, ‘Thanks,’ for school friends?

What do you suggest? (But please, don’t expect me to handwrite a thank you letter for your advice!)