A Divided Society – Tasmania during World War One
By Marilyn Lake 1975
A review by Gordon Bradbury
This has to be one of the most important and extraordinary books on Tasmanian history that I’ve read.
It is a shame it has not been reprinted with the centenary of ANZAC. After reading this book no one can ever march in an ANZAC Day parade again and feel much in the way of pride, because on the home front during WW1, Tasmania was anything but a unified, loyal community.
No wonder I’ve always found ANZAC day to be so sterile and myopic. ANZAC day puts the focus on those who died in war. All the other important stories and lessons of war are ignored, like those stories told in this book.
Libraries are full of WW1 books but they invariably focus on aspects of the battlefield. My interest in this began when my son was given a school assignment on the impact of WW1 on Australian/Tasmanian society.
I found it an interesting assignment because I already knew there was very little written about this. So far I have found only four books dealing with the subject.
This book is less than 200 pages long but it tells of a community in conflict and disintegration. I won’t attempt to précis the book except to say that fear, hatred and persecution reigned supreme on the home front in Tasmania.
The stresses of the war brought out the worst of human behaviour, aided and abetted by our political, religious and community leaders. No opportunity was missed for dissent, hatred and persecution.
Does that sound familiar?
There are disturbing parallels in this book with the current political focus on terror.
Even at the end of the war, when US President Woodrow Wilson was leading the charge for a humanitarian peace settlement with Germany, Tasmanians were mostly baying for blood and revenge, and turning their pent up fears and resentments upon each other through organisations such as the Loyalty League.
Limited copies of this book are available for purchase through Abebooks:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=lake&sts=t&tn=divided+society
Copies are also available in the State Library system, mostly reference copies but there is one copy available for lending:
http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?q=divided+society&i=4&id=349751
For a completely different view of what ANZAC day means and how communities respond to the stresses of war, propaganda and manipulation this is a very important and worthwhile read.
