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Article Excerpt
Brisbane's daily newspaper's front page of 25 March 1941 declared that 'Brisbane Was Never Like This Before'. (1) World War II signalled significant social change for the city and both soldiers and civilians alike took to the streets to embody the feelings and emotions of the community. Street festivities were an important part of demonstrating patriotic sentiments. Commemorative days such as Anzac Day and Empire Day enjoyed fresh currency with the advent of the war in 1939. During the war, greater numbers of people turned up both to march in and to watch the parades and by 1941 veterans of four wars could participate including those injured during World War II. But the greatest change to the cultural landscape came with the arrival of American servicemen who were both formally and informally on parade in the city's streets while Australians cheered on the footpaths. In March 1941, approximately 250,000 people lined the parade path to welcome the American naval squadron for a brief visit. Similar scenes of military pageantry were displayed when the first influx of US servicemen to be stationed in Brisbane arrived on 22 December 1941. Parades were so much a part of daily life that in October 1941, American servicemen took to the streets in the morning and the circus paraded in the afternoon of the same day. Demonstrations of military strength, civic pride and community solidarity were commonplace.
This paper will focus on the social significance of the performance of street parades in Brisbane during World War II. The rituals associated with taking to the streets as a part of the war effort will be discussed and there will be a focus on the performative roles of the individual participants. Critical attention to war-related parades such as those held on Anzac Day typically focus on historical and religious readings of the events. This paper attempts to broaden this perspective by focussing on the theatricality of such days. Spectacle and display are key elements in the creation of significant and meaningful public rituals. By analysing the performance characteristics of these events as represented in Brisbane's daily newspaper, the Courier-Mail, Brisbane's sanctioned descriptions of militarism may be observed. This paper will examine a variety of parades that took place in Brisbane during World War II. Military parades to mark the arrival of soldiers from a range of countries will be discussed and particular attention will be paid to the parades associated with Anzac Day, which commemorates the Australian involvement at Gallipoli in World War I. Processions that were not strictly military in nature will also be reviewed. It will be shown that the parades of the period, whether military or otherwise, embraced performance imagery which clearly served to anchor the participants and the spectators as patriotic members of the community.
Brisbane's streets became a key locale for the performance of community during World War II. Kate Darian-Smith notes that in Australia at this time 'any type of excess was ... unpatriotic, whether it was large attendances at football matches or public exhibitions of drunkenness'. (2) It stands to reason that sanctioned 'performances' on the streets would be a viable alternative. Street festivities that were an important part of daily life during World War I were once again a central part of demonstrating patriotic sentiments. Parades remained a significant feature of war-time life in Brisbane during World War II. The Greek Day procession, for example, included soldiers from the Greek army parading through the city streets as part of the celebrations on 19 March 1941. As was often the case during parades of this nature, women collected money en route. (3) In this instance the women were dressed in Greek national costume. The Greek soldiers were followed by 940 members of the AIF, 110 Air Force trainees, and some representatives from the Naval Depot. An estimated 90,000 people witnessed the parade. (4) The Lord Mayor, Alderman Chandler, was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm with which Brisbane people supported the Greek Day Appeal. However, he was not very happy with the reception that the people gave their own soldiers: 'I wish, however, that the people of Brisbane would show a little more enthusiasm and become a trifle more demonstrative when the boys of the A.I.F. march past'. (5) This telling statement suggests a disjointed manifestation of 'patriotism' in Brisbane which subordinates the worth of the local soldier. It may also be a manifestation of the 'exotic other' whereby the Australians in the audience placed a greater value on the foreign soldiers than they did on their own. The scale of the Greek Day parade, although seemingly great, was eclipsed within days, when 250,000 people greeted a naval squadron of United States servicemen. (6)
Parades of this period borrowed imagery and performance strategies commonly found in the theatre to help emphasise the sense of community within Brisbane. Benedict Anderson's study Imagined Communities suggests that 'communities' are created or, to use his term, 'imagined' by members of the community. (7) This notion is particularly significant when analysing war-time parades. Community members can imagine themselves to be unified behind a common cause when they are participating or watching parades. There were many theatrical devices which were employed in the construction of nationalistic imagery by a range of people, including theatre proprietors, parade organisers, and civic fund-raising coordinators. Some of the performative strategies that were incorporated into war-related civic functions presented jingoistic sentiments and encouraged participants to enter into the imaginary patriotic world that was being created through such theatrical features as flags, brass bands, costumes of different nations, and soldiers in their military costumes. Militaristic pomp and ceremony were signifiers of support for the war-effort; even if this support was only for loved ones who were involved in the fighting. Some of the other civic commemorative rituals included church services, church parades within the military camps, and special meetings in the evening. Each of these events provided elements of both religious and civic sentiments to varying degrees. However, they also use performative elements to strengthen the messages that they are trying to convey. The representation of patriotism on Brisbane's streets was borrowed from...
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