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Touring “Vietnam”: a cultural and political map of the Australian war

2012; Routledge; Volume: 36; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14443058.2012.727846

1835-6419

Robin Gerster,

World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

Abstract This chapter considers the cultural and political legacies of the Australian military tour of duty in Vietnam, primarily through the tropes of mapping and travel. It contends that Vietnam, the country, has been systematically erased in the attempt to locate the war in the Australian national narrative. Keywords: Vietnam War and Australian cultureVietnam War and Australian politicsVietnam War literature Notes 1. See W. Joseph Campbell, “‘Too Early to Say’: Zhou Was Talking About 1968, not 1789,” Media Myth Alert (blog), June 14, 2011, http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/too-early-to-say-zhou. 2. Michael Herr, Dispatches (London: Pan Books, 1978), 11. 3. Chelsea Mannix, “A ‘Living Room War’? Australian Television Coverage of the Vietnam War,” in The Information Battlefield: Representing Australians at War, ed. Kevin Foster (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011), 106. 4. Richard Neville, Play Power (London: Jonathan Cape, 1970), 19. 5. Herr, Dispatches, 207. 6. Paul Ham, Vietnam: the Australian War (Sydney: Harper Collins, 2007), 166. 7. Peter Mathers, Trap (Melbourne: Sphere Books, 1978), 46. 8. Stuart Rintoul, Ashes of Vietnam: Australian Voices (Melbourne: Heinemann, 1987), 24. 9. Siobhan McHugh, Minefields and Miniskirts: Australian Women and the Vietnam War (Sydney: Doubleday, 1993), 6. 10. Kenneth Cook, The Wine of God's Anger (Melbourne: Cheshire-Lansdowne, 1968), 13–14, 49. 11. Gregory Clark, “Vietnam, China, and the Foreign Affairs Debate in Australia: a Personal Account,” in Australia's Vietnam: Australia in the Second Indo-China war, ed. Peter King (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1983), 18, 21. 12. Sun-Herald, June 1, 1969. Quoted in Robin Gerster and Jan Bassett, Seizures of Youth: ‘The Sixties’ and Australia (Melbourne: Hyland House, 1991), 43. 13. Barry Oakley, Let's Hear it for Prendergast (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1971), 167. 14. In her analysis of Australian television coverage of the war, “A ‘Living Room War?’”, Chelsea Mannix contends that the role of TV in shaping public opinion has been exaggerated. 15. Jack Lindsay, “No Escape,” in We Took Their Orders and are Dead: an Anti-War Anthology, eds. Shirley Cass et al. (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1971), 140. 16. See Robin Gerster, Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan (Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2008). 17. Phillip Adams, “Uncommon Humanity,” Overland 34 (Autumn 1966): 33. 18. David Lee and Moreen Dee, “Southeast Asian Conflicts,” in Facing North: a Century of Australian Engagement with Asia, 1910 to the 1970s, vol. 1, ed. David Goldsworthy (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 308. 19. Gareth Evans and Bruce Grant, Australia's Foreign Relations: In the World of the 1990s, 2nd ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1995), 220. Quoted by Lee and Dee, 309. 20. Calwell, quoted in Gerster and Bassett, Seizures of Youth, 118. 21. Gough Whitlam, Beyond Vietnam: Australia's Regional Responsibility (Melbourne: Victorian Fabian Society, 1968), 46, 48–49. 22. Jim Cairns, Living with Asia (Melbourne: Lansdowne, 1965), 1. 23. Donald Horne, The Lucky Country, 2nd revised ed. (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1965), 94, 102, 105. 24. Donald Horne, The Lucky Country Revisited (Melbourne: Dent, 1987), 112. 25. Paul Coucher, A History of Buddhism in Australia 1848–1988 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 1989), 83. 26. Neville, Play Power, 216. 27. William Nagle, The Odd Angry Shot (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1975), 82. 28. Lex McAulay, When the Buffalo Fight (Melbourne: Century Hutchinson, 1980), 170. 29. Rhys Pollard, The Cream Machine (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1972), 77, 88. 30. See Peter Pierce, “The Australian Literature of the Viet Nam War,” Meanjin 39.3 (1980): 298. 31. Robert Drewe, “A Cry in the Jungle Bar: Australians in Asia,” Meridian 5.2 (1986): 135. 32. Julia Gillard quoted in Max Blenkin, “Vietnam War Changed Australia, Julia Gillard says,” Australian Associated Press report, accessed November 30, 2011, http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/fedvietnam-war-changed-australia-pm-says/s… 33. Phillip Coorey, “Gillard Pledges $3m for Vietnam Veteran Memorial in US,” Brisbane Times, accessed June 13, 2011, http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/gillard-pledges-3m-for-vietn. 34. Kevin Rudd, “Creating an Asia-literate Australia,” in Living with Dragons: Australia Confronts Its Asian Destiny, ed. Greg Sheridan (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995), 26; John Upton, The Hordes from the South, unpublished typescript quoted in Alison Broinowski, The Yellow Lady: Australian Impressions of Asia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992), 133. 35. See “Howard Defends Vietnam War,” Herald Sun (Melbourne), November 22, 2006; “Howard Gives Apology to Vietnam Vets,” ABC, August 17, 2006, http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl? http://www.a. 36. Kevin Rudd speech, “Government Reception to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral, Vietnam,” Parliament House, Canberra, May 12, 2008, 12 Field Regiment (Vietnam) Association, accessed April 22, 2010, http://12fieldregiment.com/40th_anniversary_speech_by_pm.htm. 37. Ron Gluckman, “The War Goes On. And On,” Ron Gluckman's Reporting Pages (blog), accessed June 13, 2011, http://gluckman.com/vietwar.htm. 38. John Pilger, Heroes (London: Pan Books, 1986), 174.