Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 15
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[Page 15]
by a very large percentage of the Australian population & even now the full intensity of the Call is hardly realized to the fullest estent.
When one thinks for a moment that the very existance of Great Britain as an Empire is at stake, in fact the very existance of all those Nations of the World who are now upholding that civilization which is based on Reason & Justice, the call should be paramount.
Far too many surrounded by all the comforts & happiness of bright Australian home life are much too apt to view the situation as one that the War is really between Russia & France against the Huns others that so far as we are concerned the war is Britains not ours.
But had it not been for the power & strength of the British Navy, to which our own Navy had been handed over to form a part, Australia itself would have very soon found to its cost, that this war was as much Australia's as Britain's or any other Nation's now combatting with the Central Powers of Europe.
The manner in which the Australian Navy so worthily upheld the glorious traditions of Britain's Seamen, – established unbrokenly for centuries, – the manner in which the first Divisions of Australian troops, all new to war, untried, established on the Peninsula of Gallipoli such fame that the record will be kept fresh & green, while the British language is spoken, really tended to continue the line of thought, regarding the remoteness of the war, and to lull Australians in Australia to a sense of security which is good to feel but which can only be maintained by sending continuously a supply of troops to take the places of those who have lived, and died, in a way the most glorious offered to any man "Fighting in the Defence of his Country". The men who fought & fell in Gallipoli and in France, fought & fell as truly for their Country, as if the fight had