Our military tradition

Australia’s military tradition has always had a strong Imperialist underpinning and the conservative interpretation of that tradition is now being emphasized by Australia’s right wing ideological warriors.

I like to remember though that there is a democratic component to the tradition as Humphrey McQueen points out in his comments on Simpson and his donkey. The democratic side of the tradition is also epitomised by this aside in a contribution to discussion in GreenLeft_discussion.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GreenLeft_discussion/message/36268

Joe Lane writes:
Camels ?!! Alan, what have you started? My grandfather was in the Camel Corps after he left Gallipoli, in 1916 and early 1917 - it was formed fromBritish and Anzac horsemen to put down a revolt of the people in the WesternDesert. What my Wobbly granddad was doing there on such a mission, God knows. His commanding officer was Banjo Paterson, a bit of a bastard (they both had been ambulance-men, one at Gallipoli and the other on the Western Front: they had both had injuries to their right arms, and Paterson thought that my GD was taking the Mickey when he tried to salute, so put him on the job of keeping the camels clean, which is impossible, and one thing led to another and my GD slugged Paterson and got court-martialled for it, so the family story goes. Ithink he got an honourable mention for it.
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