Australians of Arabia
...& Lawrence: '1918
...& the WTC Bombing: '2001
...& the Arab War '2003 - '2016
...& Conscription, but whose children go to war?"
|
| |
The Play Script
Please find the script below.
Or download it as a doc file
here.
Email me if you have any problems.
Good Luck!
Peter Hogan
_______________________________________________
AUSTRALIANS OF ARABIA
...& Lawrence: '1918
...& the WTC Bombing: '2001
...& the Arab War '2003 - '2016
...& Conscription, but whose children go to war?
_______________________________________________
Version: 26 March '05 (v1.9)
Author: Peter Hogan
PO Box 1 Potts Point NSW 1335 Sydney Australia
pete@kxol.com.au
http://www.kxol.com.au/aoa
Copyright © '2002 - '2005 Peter Hogan
The author gives permission for anyone to produce this play.
Just simply notify your intention to put the play on.
Let me know if you have any queries about the script.
I will also be happy to attend the opening night and stay around for any Q&A after the show.
_______________________________________________
Time span: '1918 - '2118
Place: Futuristic TV Show, "Meet The Past"
Running Time: Approx. 40 mins
Cast: min. 3 ( 2 m. + 1 f. )
Synopsis :
A frightening apocalypse of the Middle East saga.
Here's the startling paradoxical chain of events:
• No Australian Light Horse in Palestine: '1916-18
• No victory at Beersheba: 31 October, '1917
• No Balfour Declaration proclaiming Britian's support for a Jewish state in Palestine 2 days later: 2 November, '1917
• No Israel: '1948
• No World Trade Center Bombing: September 11 '2001
• No sending of Australian troops to the Arab War: '2003 – '2016
• No blowing up of Sydney Opera House: '2006
Presented through a series of interview highlights from "Meet the Past" TV show. Set 105 years into the future on the bi-centennial of epochal ousting of Turks from 400 year occupation of Palestine by a force spearheaded by Australian Light Horse, and not "Lawrence of Arabia". Futuristic technolgy gives show capability to beam in keyplayers from the past, including the host, Keith Murdoch (Rupert's father).
CHARACTERS
In order of appearance:
0: KEITH MURDOCH, 62, guest host / interviewer. [The man who got the Billjims out of Gallipoli and Rupert's father]
1: WINSTON CHURCHILL, 91, then Lord of the Admiralty
2: CAPT. ARTHUR OLDEN, 10th Australian Light Horse
3: GEN. HARRY CHAUVEL, commander of cavalry in Palestine
4: LOWELL THOMAS, American journalist who creates "Lawrence of Arabia" myth
5: ADA, 22, typical wife of a Billjim*
6: T.E. 'NED' LAWRENCE, 45, L'Imposteur, very short.
7: DAVID LEAN, mid 70s - Director of "Lawrence of Arabia", the film ('1962)
8: BILLJIM, 24, Australian Light Horseman
9: GULLETT, an Histrorian (tribute to H.S. Gullett, famous WWI chronicler)
10: JOHN HOWARD, 91, Prime Minister - '1996 - '2016
11: PRVT. SARAH FARMER, 19, Australian Soldier in Arab War '2003 - '2016
12: TARA, 13, school girl - Year 7 student in '2009
SETTING
- On the set of a TV talk show, "Meet the Past" (a pun on famous "Meet the Press" political talk show).
- It's 105 years into the future - the year 12,118CT** October 1. 200 years since the Australian Light Horse were the spearheading force in capturing Damascus - completing the ousting of the Turks from Palestine after a 400 year occupation.
Unwittingly triggering the Middle East saga.
- The advance of Civilization's technology provides the capability to have a TV talk show where you can have guests that have been long since dead. They are " materialized" from the past using Micro$teel's "Time Browser" v5.1 hardware.
[ Some kind of "materializing" / beaming-in stage effect, visual and/or sound, like in Star Trek. ]
Visuals:
- ideally use a lot of graphics - newspaper clippings, old photos, film…
- Use of presentation software like PowerPoint / Slide Projector - onto back of stage.
- Montage kind of aura
Music:
- Opening and theme: Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" (live version from '1991 Weld Album)
- Ending: The Cure's "Homesick" from the '1989 "Disintegration" album
_______________________________________________
[Opening Scene]
"MEET THE PAST"
[ On the set of the TV Show "Meet the Past"
Starts with VO of ANNOUNCER while graphics projected onto back of stage:
- 'Cortez the Killer' (Neil Young) theme music starts
- Opening shots / graphics: closeup of horses in desert conditions (Is it Outback Australia? No, it's Palestine.)
- newspaper / telegram reports... ]
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to "Meet The Past"!
For those viewers new to MTP all participants including the host are 'ressurected' from the past. They are "beamed-in" using the Micro$teel's "Time Browser" version 5.1 technology.
Subject of tonight's special is the bi-centennial of the capture of Damascus and the subsequent paradox:
'Australia was unwittingly responsible for the mess in the Middle East'.
It will be comprised of a montage, exerpts from interviews done by our guest host, Keith Murdoch. He's the one who blew the whistle on the Gallipoli fiasco created by then, Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, and exacerbated by field commander General Hamilton. Both later being sacked as a result.
Thanks to Keith Murdoch, the ALH, the Australian Light Horse, were reunited with their horses that they had left back in Egypt. Triggering a chain of events that led the world to a century of conflict.
MURDOCH: I'm particularly proud to be your guest host tonight, the format has been explained to me. I have traversed the last 200 years and picked out some highlights.
Just amazing... Anyway, on with the show.
My first guest is...
[Interview 1]
WINSTON CHURCHILL
[ 91, then Lord of the Admiralty]
MURDOCH: ...My first guest is Winston Churchill... then Lord of the Admiralty.
Mr Churchill, you thought up the Gallipoli operation, do you feel anything at all, any remorse, any guilt - the loss of life - soldiers that died in their teens - no chance to experience life. And you're now 91...
CHURCHILL: We'll fight them in the air, we'll fight them on the beaches...
MURDOCH: [Interrupting] Yes, but you picked the wrong beach...
CHURCHILL: Mm, maybe, but when I looked at the map, out of all those damn Turk names, it had the nicest sound, "Gallipoli". Has a ring to it, don't you think?
And it reminded me of my dog's name...
MURDOCH: Your dog's name... Were you surprised when you got the sack as a result of the Gallipoli carnage?
CHURCHILL: Ah, that was your fault Murdoch. If only you hadn't gotten so close to the battlefield and written that article in the Times... we would have got on top of them eventually.
MURDOCH: A few thousand more dead husbands, fathers, brothers...
CHURCHILL: These things are unavoidable in war my boy, after all, it was mostly those unruly convicts we sent down to the antipodes. No great loss really. You have to look at the big picture. You jack-ass journalists, you haven't got a clue. Some of us are born to do great things. Whatever it takes to save England, we must make the sacrifice...
... We'll fight them in the air, we'll fight them on the beaches...
+++
[Interview 2]
CAPT. ARTHUR OLDEN
[ Commander 10 ALH.
Time: Years after the war.
Graphics: include ALH surrounding Damascus. ]
MURDOCH: My next guest is Capt. Olden.
You lead the 10th Australian Light Horse brigade into Damascus and took the surrender at the Town Hall 6:00am, 1st October '1918.
Had you ever heard of this man, TE Lawrence?
OLDEN: He was one of many go-betweens used by the high command to deal with the Arabs. Lawrence wasn't the only Allied soldier carrying out covert operations. Colonel Newcombe, Colonel Dawnay, Major Joyce, and Colonel Meinertzhagen are prominent examples. Undoubtedly, these quiet achievers, like the Australians, played a more effective role than Lawrence. (Lawrence's Arab band actually included an Australian who managed the mortar, and the Australian Flying Corps carried out most of his air support.)
MURDOCH: Now everyone thinks Lawrence was first into Damascus, that he kicked the Turks out of the Middle East almost single-handedly.
OLDEN: No, that whole campaign from when we pushed back their offensive at the Suez Canal, and kept pushing was, spearheaded by the ALH all the way to Damascus. That mob blew up a few yards of railway tracks. So what. The Turks had them repaired in no time.
MURDOCH: But did you see Lawrence at all that day?
OLDEN: On the evening before, September 30 we camped on the outskirts of the city. At sunrise we mounted up, ovecame their defences and took the surrender by 6:00am. Lawrence didn't arrive until 9:00am and not on camel-back or even horse. He came in a bloody Rolls Royce, acting like he owned real estate.
[ Graphic of Lawrence entering Damascus in a Rolls Royce. ]
MURDOCH: There was supposed to have been a hundreds of Lawrence's Arabs already in Damascus before you arrived.
OLDEN: Well, all I can say is, if they were, why didn't they overpower the Turks and take the surrender days before. They could have been there coming and going - wondering which side they were going to take. No, that was a war won by soldiers not clerks in pyjamas.
+++
[Interview 3]
GEN. HARRY CHAUVEL
[ 80, just before his death in '1945 ]
MURDOCH: Bottomline, the unfashionable Australians had pulled off arguably the greatest prize in modern history, executed by the most successful cavalry in modern history, and to leave no doubt in the conclusions of the objective researcher, it was an Australian, General Harry Chauvel, who was in command of the cavalry force in the field, not a British General. And Chauvel led the final victory parade through Damascus ...not Lawrence!
CHAUVEL: And a proud moment it was, for all we had accomplished in just 20 months - from August '1916, when we turned theTurks back at Romani near the Suez Canal - when they were threatening to invade Egypt - then onward, north - through the famous Battle of Beersheba, then onto to the taking of Jerusalem, and finally completing the job when the 10 ALH took the surrender in Damascus, early on the morning of October 1, '1918.
MURDOCH: Do you remember this poseur, Lawrence?
CHAUVEL: Only slightly. Lawrence was clearly miffed at being beaten into the city by us Australians. He was trying to make up for lost ground by bossing everyone around. He was just an irritation really.
MURDOCH: And what do you think about the credit he as attracted...
CHAUVEL: Giving credit to everyone but the Australian Light Horse was nothing new. Starting with us being lumped into the misnomer, "British Forces" or even "Allied Forces".
+++
[Interview 4]
LOWELL THOMAS
[ 89, Mythmaker - American journalist who creates the "Lawrence of Arabia" myth ]
MURDOCH: Then comes Lowell Thomas -- 'The Mythmaker' -- an American journalist/ opportunist. Quite simply: 'No Thomas = No Lawrence of Arabia'.
THOMAS: That's exactly right. "Lawrence of Arabia" is all my creation. He would be nothing without me. Originally, I had been sent across the Atlantic to help swing the American public in favour of entering the war. The Western Front was a debacle, so I checked out the Middle East theatre. I stumbled onto the raw material I was looking for in Lawrence. He was an expert at feigning modesty at the right time, the classic 'poseur' with the penchant for 'backing into the limelight'.
MURDOCH: So no-one had ever heard of Lawrence before you came along. There's no mention of him in newspapers during the War (only the Australians).
THOMAS: Well, first I took the show on the road in the U.S., complete with moving pictures - including footage taken by one of you "Aussies", the war photographer, Capt. Frank Hurley -, it became so popular that I was enticed to Britain by the impresario, Percy Burton where of course, the general public had never heard of Lawrence.
MURDOCH: ...Never heard of Lawrence?
THOMAS: The show opened there, well after the war had ended in August '1919. The promotion brochure called it, "America's Tribute to 'British' Valour". To bad you Aussies got lumped in with the British. Anyway the rest is Hollywood history.
+++
[Interview 5]
ADA
[ 22, typical wife of a Billjim - lives on an Outback farm. ]
MURDOCH: All too often we overlook that the casualties of war are not just soldiers. But what about the families back home. Imagine your son or loved one having to go to war - especially one that has dubious justification, and they are just forgotten anyway. Ada tell us about your situation?
ADA: Mr Murdoch my husband is over there. I pleaded with him not to volunteer. We have 2 young children. I haven't heard from him in 2 months. I'm starting to get worried. We have a little farm we call "Bally-Clare". I'm having trouble working it by myself - and the bank is threatening to...
+++
[Interview 6]
LAWRENCE
[T.E. 'Ned' Lawrence 46, very short. Just before he dies in what could be a suicide motor bike accident just weeks after leaving the military. ]
MURDOCH: "Lawrence of Arabia", is one of the most emotive names in modern history...
[Next guess is beamed-in.]
BEAMED-IN PERSON: Ah, I'm not Lawrence, I'm Col. Newcombe...
MURDOCH: But you're wearing Arab costume...
Ah sorry about that, we've got a technical problem...
MURDOCH: [Listening through an ear-piece] Ah, I think we've got the right...
Lawrence of Arabia, is one of the most emotive names in modern history.
Ironically, a name he had little respect for. His father, Thomas Chapman, a landlord in Ireland, was a bigamist, having run off with a servant. Later he took her family name, "Lawrence", although she too was illegitimate, of Scottish ancestry, and gave birth to Thomas Edward (who was called 'Ned') in a town in Wales while they were on the run.
Beam in the right one this time.
[Lawrence is beamed in.]
Mr Lawrence, how did you get involved in the whole story?
LAWRENCE: I grew up interested in Middle East archeology. I was over there when war broke out. Although I got rejected from regular service for being too short, I could speak some Arabic. That got me into Cairo Intelligence as a clerk, and later a liaison with Prince Feisal. And even with the Turks - the "Kut" debacle, when they had the upperhand. We offerred them 4 million pounds. They could have the Middle East, the High Command was too pre-occupied with the stalemate in France.
MURDOCH: You're not mentioned in any newspapers during the war. Of course, there is mention of Chauvel being given command of the entire cavalry forces in the field, and the Australians being the first into Damascus to complete the ousting of the Turks.
LAWRENCE: Well, that's because of Lowell Thomas.
MURDOCH: But you deliberately perpetuated, and greatly enlarged the sham further in your pseudo-autobiography "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", published a few years after Lowell Thomas made you famous.
LAWRENCE: What can I say, give the publisher what they want. Perhaps I was on thin ice in some passages.
MURDOCH: Seven Pillars makes disparaging references to the Australians and General Harry Chauvel. Was that to deflect attention away from their true dominant role in the driving out the Turks?
LAWRENCE: The Australians just annoyed me - so unruly and the way they wore their uniforms, trouser legs torn off at the knee.
MURDOCH: Talking about uniforms, as we saw earlier, you weren' the only one wearing Arab costume, were you? Even General Allenby, the overall commander of Allied Forces in the Middle East, said he had several officers doing the same things you were doing, and more effectively.
LAWRENCE: Again, you'll have to ask Lowell.
MURDOCH: So bottomline, if you had never existed, the result would have been the same. But take out the Australians, and history is turned upside down.
LAWRENCE: Maybe. Either way, the Arabs were going to get screwed.
+++
[Interview 7]
DAVID LEAN
[ Mid 70s - Director of "Lawrence of Arabia", the film ('1962) - on his deathbed. Murdoch is hounding Lean... conducting the interview in Lean's bedroom on his deathbed. ]
MURDOCH: Why did you only use Lawrence's version of events. You completely left out the Australians.
LEAN: It costs a lot of money to make a movie, investors want a commerical success, blowing up Lawrence as a kind of super action hero helped to guarantee that success. We weren't concerned with historical accuracy. It's a Hollywood drama.
MURDOCH: When casting for an actor to play Lawrence, knowing full well how short he was, why did you go the other extreme and select Peter O'toole.
[ Graphics emphasizing big difference in height ]
LEAN: Same reasoning we needed a tall and imposing superhero.
MURDOCH: But your film was so successful, people ended up believing your version of events over historical facts. Don't you feel any moral responsibility at all. What if you ever ran into an Australian Light Horseman?
LEAN: Stuff your bloody Light Horsemen!
[MURDOCH walks out disgusted]
[After MURDOCH leaves, LEAN nods off, begins dreaming...
- Use of graphics projected onto back of stage.
- He is back in the desert filming his beloved 'Lawrence of Arabia', reliving glorious times - we see him smiling blissfully in his sleep.
Then he notices a dot on the horizon, something is riding towards him, he thinks he is replaying the famous scene introducing Ali (Omar Sharif), but as it gets closer he realizes it's not a man on camel-back, but horse. Then fear begins to creep over him, he knows this is his grimreaper as he focuses on the slouched hat - it's an Australian Light Horseman, who finally draws up close to Lean.
- Billjim image fades from back of stage screen to onstage presence.
- We see he clearly comes direct from the battlefield.
(Allusion to being conveyed by the Valkyries of Valhalla )
- Initially the light-horsemen stares at Lean, and then he raises his sword in a ritual slaying.
- Lean has apparent heart attack and dies. ]
+++
[Interview 8]
BILLJIM
[ 24 (ideally played by immature looking (lack of beard growth) 18 year old)
- A real Billjim** - Australian Light Horseman.
- Fatally wounded, bleeding profusley from his wounds. ]
[Cont. from previous interview:
Initially the Light Horseman stares at Lean, and then he raises his sword in a ritual slaying. Lean has apparent heart attack and dies.]
BILLJIM: I heard all about you. That was for all my mates, our wives, our families, our farms, all lost, all forgotten. All replaced by impostors and parasites.
[MURDOCH enters having seen the ritual payback.
Murdoch now interviews the Billjim.
And is frightened that in this mood he is not safe either..
The Billjim stumbles foward onto MURDOCH - who grabs him and stops him from falling - helps into a chair - MURDOCH's shirt is now covered in blood - he tries not to be conscious of it during the interview...]
MURDOCH: You've been briefed on what has happened, how the credit has gone to this man Lawrence - even 99.99% Australians don't care - what do you think?
BILLJIM: What are we as a Nation, if we have no respect for our ancestors. If we live a lie. When we volunteered, not Drafted, it was like a contagious fever, "Coo-ee" was the uniting cry in the Bush. Maybe if people like you take this show round the country, the Outback, stir up grassroots Australia... a ground swell of public opinion might rise up:
- "Join the AOA brigade"
- "Restore the honour of the Light Horse"
[Billjim stumbles again - clearly he is dying from his wounds, Keith is holding him.]
Can you do me a favour mate. See that my wife get's this [takes something out of inside his uniform and puts it in MURDOCH'S hand]. We've got a beautiful little farm we built up together, it was just starting to breakeven, we call it "Ba- [gasping for breath] Bally-Clare.
[The Billjim dies]
+++
[Interview 9]
GULLETT
[An Historian - interview is 'live' in '2118. ]
MURDOCH: Now we are back live here in our studio, October 1st, in the year, twelve thousand one hundred and eighteen CT [ 12,118 CT ] - two thousand one hundred and eighteen [ '2118 AD ] - in the old christian religion system used by many of the guests in tonight's show .
We thought we would cut in, and use a leading Historian, Professor Gullett, to help us make sense of all this. He has made great use of Micro$teel's "Time Browser" version 5.1 hardware to get a grasp of how all this came about?
GULLETT: Well, obviously we don't have enough time here to try to properly analyze events that unfolded over the last 200 years.
So I'll just go over a few key events. The interested observer is welcome to obtain more information from the website on your screen.
OK. Let's see, the sequence of events.
... I have a chart here...
[GULLETT proceeds to use presentation software which puts up on a screen most of the following text with related graphics.]
- The Turks had been occupying Palestine for some 4 centuries.
- Then in '1916 they were looking to expand the Ottoman Empire, pushing towards Suez Canal and British controlled Egypt.
- Back in Australia Prime Minister Billy Hughes is under pressure from the British to supply more men, loses his Conscription Referendum, leaving only volunteer recuitment, which relied on shaming men to sign up.
- ALH arrive Alexandria (Egypt) with their beloved Walers.
- Separated from their horses. Many sent to Gallipoli - the Churchill fiasco, perpetuated by General Hamilton - heavy losses.
- Keith Murdoch, eh, that's you, blows the whislte with your article...
- Political reaction - Churchill and Hamilton sacked.
- But how do they take it back in Australia?
Here we have some masterful political manipulation and brainwashing of the Australian people. How to spin the futile mass slaughter at Gallipoli so that it does not worsen the problem of sucking in more volunteer recruits? Answer:
- Make a big deal out of Gallipoli - 'coming of age of a Nation'...
ANZAC Day...
- Astonishingly, it works.
So well that it overshadows the later epochal victory in Palestine spearheaded by the Australian Light Horse against the same Turks and same German commander - Liman von Sanders.
- Thanks to Keith Murdoch, remains of ALH pulled out of Gallipoli, and stalemate on Western Front and reunited with horses back in Egypt.
- Billjim, mostly from Outback Australia are naturally suited to the desert conditons.
- Have immediate success starting with first major victory at Romani in August, '1916, then El Arish fell, then the epochal Battle of Beesheba.
- Beersheba. Now here is a key turning point in history. With Australians right in the middle of it. It can be no coincidence that just 2 days after the ALH victory at Beersheba on October 31, '1917, the Imperial Powers heavily influenced by the Zionist movemnet could see it was now possible to go all the way. They agree to the Balfour Declaration proclaiming Britian's official support for a Jewish state in Palestine on November 2, '1917.
- then ALH finish the job with the taking of Damascus...
- Before long everything they did is totally forgotten. Everything they and their families went through. Not only to be forgotten, but, by their own descendants, Australians - nothing taught in schools...
And to add insult to injury the credit and spoils of victory go to, Lawrence, the Jews and the Imperial Powers... They just couldn't have the unruly Australians taking the credit and rightful place in history...
- All exacerbated by the classic opportuninst, Lowell Thomas. Builds the sham so effectively, that when Lawrence dies Churchill attends his funeral, and a flood of biographies ensue.
- In the meantime, Zionist movement (started in '1896) is all smiles - things have worked out better than their wildest dreams. Before the accomplishmetns of the ALH they were resigned to locating Israel in Argentina somewhere.
Now they are busy finalizing plans to occupy Palestine and setup the new state of Israel, which with the help of the Imperial Powers is rushed through after the odd massacre of the Palestinian people already living there, in '1948.
- '1955: Enter Richard Aldington -- one of the early dissenters. Aldington publishes his "Lawrence L'Imposteur", and is promptly ostracized. But, ironically, he has the opposite of the intended effect, and renews public interest in Lawrence.
- '1962: David Lean makes his classic "Lawrence of Arabia" - wins the Oscar for best film - doesn't mention the Australian Light Horse at all - the myth grows and grows until it becomes re-written history. And even Australians are happy to swallow the Hollywood version.
Look at this example:
[Relevant graphics ]
- Newspaper reports from October '1918 - "the Australians are first into Damascus".
- Compared with media and so called documentaries some 80 years later - "Now Lawrence is first into Damascus".
- But over-riding everything is the ongoing conflict between the new state of Israel plonked down in the middle of Palestine.
All this turmoil in the Middle East was triggered by the ALH. Leading to a century of conflict:
- the World Trade Center Bombing: September 11 '2001;
- the sending of Australian troops to the Arab War in '2003.
It would become a 13 year quagmire. Another Vietnam. All because of the dependence on oil. It only ends when finally the dirty dealings of the big oil companies are put under control and there's a genuine move to alternative energy sources.
The only positive to come out of the useless carnage was the UN passes the resolution to properly comply with the separation of church and State clause in the Bill of Human Rights. As a result all references to religion are removed from international affairs. In particular the AD - 'Anno Domini' - christian religion year counter for dating is replace with CT, Civilzation Time.
CT of course is much more legitimate being applicable to all 'Citizens of the World' - counts the years from the beginning of Civilization, from the end of the last Ice Age.
And it's interesting to note, that generally, from around that point in human history religion loses ground, and there hasn't been a major conflict in the world based on religious differences since.
MURDOCH: That's right. Coming from a '2 centuries back' perpsective myself, I did notice something different, and that's it - there's definitely a much greater aura of 'Citizens of the World' in the air.
GULLETT: About time isn't it? It only took us some 12,000 years since civilization started.
MURDOCH: Professor Gullett in closing, who's mainly to blame for leaving the Light Horse out in the desert. Looking back over that period, a lot of the problem must be poor leadersip from the top, don't you think? No feel for what the country was really about, it's potential, what it had achieved. Not just the Light Horse but pioneers of Movies, Aviation... the advantage, the potential all fritted away...
GULLETT: Yes, some really poor Prime Ministers when you look through the list. Especially Menzies and the Menzies clone, Howard.
They let the main focus go on Gallipoli, a defeat...
Always kowtowing to the Imperial Powers...
If the situation is going to change we have to educate the public. That means a big turnaround, starting with what we teach our children about our history in schools. And trying to get newspapers to check their own archives instead of a Holywood movie, when talking about history.
+++
[Interview 10]
PRIME MINISTER
[ 91, Prime Minister John Howard - '1996 - '2016 ]
MURDOCH: Now back to interviews from the past. An exerpt of an interview with a Prime Minister.
Viewers should note, Australia didn't become a Republic with a President until this PM died.
Mr. Howard, you are the Prime Minister that got Australia involved in the Arab War starting in '2003. The quagmire dragged out for some 13 years until, like the earlier Vietnam War, it ended in a stalemate.
Australia lost 25,000 dead and 5 times that wounded, mamed, disfigured, suicides, untold damage to families...
Do you feel anything at all, any remorse, any guilt - the carnage - young Australians that had no chance to experience life. And you're now 91...
HOWARD: We'll fight them in the air, we'll fight them on the beaches...
MURDOCH: Ah, Mr Howard you weren't the British Prime Minister.
HOWARD: I will never surrender.
[ HOWARD is carried, chair and all, off the set ]
+++
[Interview 11]
PRVT. SARAH FARMER
[19, a young Australian soldier / Draftee in the Arab Wars of '2003-'2016.
Australian combat soldiers are now comprised equally of males and females.
Scene: A Vet hospital - SARAH is clearly 'damaged' for life, in wheel chair. ]
MURDOCH: You were among the first batch of combat females Drafted into the Arab War. In '2004 you got wounded. Tell us your story.
SARAH: I grew up on a farm near Byron Bay. I miss the life I had so much, my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend now, because of all this [looking down at the wheel chair]. Anyway the war wasn't going too well and the Americans wanted more troops from Australia. So the Prime Minister, John Howard, rammed through legislation to bring in the Draft.
When we went through training I don't think there was one Draftee that was the child of someone rich or a politician - somehow they get deferrals or jobs in Army administration in Canberra, we call 'em "REMF"s.
MURDOCH: How did you get wounded?
SARAH: I did all I could to stay out of trouble. I didn't want to kill another human being, anyway. I was 'short', just 35 days and a wake-up to go, when boom! Our platoon was hit by an American missile - typical 'snafu' over there. I was the only survivor, if you call this surviving. None of them made it to 20.
And even if they'd lived longer - the credit for great things Australian soldiers do always goes to the "star countries" in a Hollywood movie, and Diggers are just forgotten, even by the Australian public.
MURDOCH: What are the conditons like for a Vet?
SARAH: People have to realize one thing - the moment your number comes up in the Draft - you and your family are ratshit ...Finished. You may as well jump off the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 'Cause even if you make it back in some manner of speaking, you can never have a normal life again. And there's not enough money allocated to Veteran Affairs - the Establishment won't allow money to be spent on post-war disorders - none of 'their' kids went. There are vets who have been trying to get compensation since the bloody Vietnam War 50 years ago!
+++
[Interview 12]
TARA
[ 13, school girl - Year 7 student in '2009 ]
MURDOCH: What's it like to be a kid in '2009 during this war with the Arabs, that's been going for some 6 years now?
TARA: It's not much fun.
MURDOCH: What's your understanding of the war, why has Australia sent soldiers over there.
TARA: Well, my brother was Drafted. He was smart though. He said it was a bunch of crap. A war brought on by the dirty dealings of the Imperial Powers in the Middle East. And that it's bad karma to be bombing the 'cradle of Civilization' - they invented the wheel, writing, chemistry, arabic numbers. "I mean, shit, where would the West be without the 'ones and zeros' - how could they even build a computer", he would say...
So anyway, he saw what was coming, the Draft ... that the Prime Mininster, Howard would, 'kowtow', he called it, to the Americans and British - introduce 'Conscription' - so he went to live in Japan.
The way things are going I would probably join him, except for ... for my Mother and little sister... You see my father ...he worked for KXOL ... anyway, he just happened to be there that day ... that day they blew up the, the...
[TARA breaks down, drops head, clasping it with his hands as we have projected newspaper graphics about Howard's Draft and then an obliterated Sydney Opera House. ]
[THE END]
[Music: The Cure's "Homesick" from the 'Disintegration' album]
* * *
Australians of Arabia...
...& Lawrence: '1918
...& the WTC Bombing: '2001
...& the Arab War '2003 - '2016
...& Conscription: "Bush II, Blair & Howard want your blood!"
The Play
Copyright © '2002 Peter Hogan
(Based on monograph: "Australians of Arabia ...& Lawrence"
Copyright © '1997 Peter Hogan ISBN: 0-646-34870-1)
NOTES
* "Billjim"
A name apparently given to the ALH
by Norman Lindsay in his comic strip of the time --
every second male was named either Bill or Jim!
Their horses were called "Walers" because they
were a special breed from New South Wales.
** "the year 12,118CT"
'Citizens of the World' now use an international year counter - rather than the AD christian religious one - CT counts the years from the beginning of Civilization, from the end of the last Ice Age.
Refer: http://www.kxol.com.au/ct.htm
FURTHER READING / SOURCES FOR GRAPHICS
- Richard Aldington, Lawrence L’Imposteur ('1955)
- Charles Doyle, Richard Aldington, A Biography ('1989)
- H.S. Gullett, Official History of Australia in the War of '1914-'1918 - Sinai and Palestine, Vol. VII ('1923)
- Alec J. Hill, Chauvel of the Light Horse : a biography of General Sir Harry Chauvel ('1978)
- Lawrence James, The Golden Warrior - The Life & Legend of Lawrence of Arabia ('1995)
- Ian Jones, The Australian Light Horse ('1987)
- T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom - A Triumph ('1926)
- William T. Massey, Allenby’s Final Triumph ('1920)
- Elyne Mitchell: Light Horse; Chauvel Country: the story of a great Australian pioneering family ('1978)
- Arthur Olden, Westralian Cavalry - 10th Light Horse Regiment in the Great War 1914-1918 ('1921)
- Viscount Percival Wavell, Allenby: Soldier and Statesman ('1946)
- Australian War Memorial Archives
- Newsaper Archives
- Good encyclopedias
Photos / Graphics:
The Maps
Capture of Damascus
Entering Damascus
Lowell Thomas - the mythmaker
L'Imposteur cf. Legitimate
Billjim Liberators
Death of a Billjim
Original Monograph Front Cover ('1997)
| |
|
