Ahead of ANZAC Day later this week a Monash expert is available to discuss the legacy of the day and its current meaning within Australian, particularly sporting, culture.
Dr Tom Heenan, Lecturer, Sport and Australian Studies in the Monash Intercultural Lab, Faculty of Arts
Contact: +61 439 047 118 or tom.heenan@monash.edu
Read more of Dr Heenan’s commentary at Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Dr Heenan:
"ANZAC was dead in the 1960s. It was bolstered by a new nationalism and rising anti-Britishness in the 1980s, but in Melbourne it was the introduction in the 1990s of the ANZAC Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon that sparked the real revival.
“The day is less about the diggers and more about the football. More people know the words of the Collingwood and Essendon theme songs than have heard the Last Post or the Reveille. Lest we forget the diggers, or have they been forgotten by 2:30pm as the players burst through the banners."
For any other topics on which you may be seeking expert comment, contact the Monash University Media Unit on +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu