Hi meerkat ... Aussie penal colony 'stain' or 'cringe' due to our so-called convict beginnings needed a number of 'symbols' as we struggled up the ladder towards that of a nation state ... Gallipoli was our 'blooding' (horrible as it sounds...) as a support expeditionary force in our own name.
Other national symbols are the contruction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House and so on ...
Haven't been to Gallipoli but have toured the Al Alamein War Cemetary and Museum ... over 20,000 war graves there and ... another awful symbol.
