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January 2003
71th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION OF THE DEATH OF ALBERT JACKA (10/1/83 –17/1/32)
2 pm, Sunday January 19, 2003 – St Kilda General Cemetery,
Corner of Dandenong Road & Hotham St, East St Kilda (enter from Hotham)
The City of Port Phillip will observe the 71th anniversary of the death of Albert Jacka, World War 1 hero and mayor of St Kilda, with a ceremony at St Kilda General Cemetery at 2 pm, this Sunday, January 19.
A catafalque party from 2nd/10th Medium Regiment Royal Australian Artillery will march from the main gates to Jacka’s grave, followed by the Descendants of the 14th Battalion “Jacka’s Mob” Inc. Speakers include Port Phillip mayor, Darren Ray, Ken Jacka on behalf of the Jacka family and Victorian RSL Executive member, Major George Logan RFD.
Major Logan said that Jacka, who died on January 17, 1932, epitomised the Anzac legend.
“Jacka won the Victoria Cross three weeks after the fateful landing at Anzac Cove but he could have equally won this rare award for his later bravery at Pozieres, Bullecourt and Ypres on the Western Front in France. But what really distinguished Jacka was his respect for the quality of a man whether he be his cobber or his enemy. With all that is happening around the world at the moment, we do well to recall that despite the fact that Turk and Australian were on different sides during the Dardenelles campaign, there had grown a great mutual respect for each other,” he said.
Cr Ray said that Jacka has been called Australia’s finest fighting soldier.
“Millions of Australian school children have learned the most famous fact about Albert Jacka – that he was the first Australian in World War 1 to win the Victoria Cross – but there is much more to Jacka than this.
“In part, a true assessment of Jacka’s life has been difficult because he kept only a rudimentary war diary and, as a shy and modest man, did not like talking about his war experiences. He often gave conflicting accounts of his action on 19 May 1915 that won him the VC. Sometimes he got so tired of the questioning, he simply said, ‘I think I lost my nut’.
“The other reason was that others exploited his fame for their own purposes. Prime Minister Billy Hughes tried to lure Jacka home to participate in his recruitment campaign. Jacka refused but his photo nevertheless appeared on a government recruitment poster. Melbourne’s famous SP bookie, John Wren, had offered £500 pounds to the first Australian VC and, in the twenties, he capitalised on Jacka’s heroic status by helping him to set up an electrical retail business,” Cr Ray said.
However, Cr Ray said, the main reason that it’s been so difficult to get a handle on Jacka is the mythologising of Australia official World War 1 historian, C E W Bean.
“For Bean, Jacka was the archetypal Anzac – he represented what became known as the ‘Anzac legend’. For Bean and many others, Jacka was the country boy who had answered his country’s call to arms at the first opportunity. He appeared to be an uncomplicated figure whose heroism was inspired by simple patriotism and the desire to get on with the job. Bean called him Australia’s finest fighting soldier and, during the war, he rose to prominence through constant press reports, the use of his photo during both recruitment campaigns and the war bond drive.
“As historian Ian Banks has observed, the real Jacka was rather more complex: ‘What emerges in the case of Jacka . . . is not the story of a war-monger or an unthinking opportunist but of a gifted and talented man who found in the test of war a certain depth of character which was to fundamentally change the direction and course of his life and was to have a lasting impact on Australian society’,” he said.
Cr Ray said that Jacka consistently rejected the stereotype hero’s role in which he was so often to be cast.
“He did not see his actions as part of any legend. What has become clear is that he would have been awarded more honours and promotion on the battlefields of the Somme had he not dared to criticise his superior officers. He was also a tactician. His report on the use of tanks was noted by General Monash and helped win victory at the Battle of Hamel in June 1918.
“Jacka’s regard for his comrades was one reason he failed to heed Billy Hughes’ request to return to Australia for a recruitment campaign – he didn’t want to desert his mates in the trenches.
“Jacka showed the same compassion as a councillor and mayor of St Kilda during the Great Depression. He was probably the only mayor in Australia at the time who was unemployed for most of his term. As councillor and mayor, Jacka fought, not always successfully, for the rights and dignity of the unemployed.
“In 1930, he persuaded the council to borrow £66,700 for public works to employ the unemployed. However, he later campaigned, unsuccessfully, to use the money raised by the Unemployed Relief Fund to create jobs rather than be doled out as charity. Undeterred, he organised and partook in door-to-door collection of boots and clothes for the destitute.
“Jacka was so exhausted by the end of his term, he did not seek re-election. He rejected John Wren’s offer of a safe Federal Labor seat, saying to E J Rule of his old 14th battalion, ‘No, Eddie, they are not my style; and, if I did accept, they’d say, “Look at Jacka – a failure in business climbs into a safe job as an M.P.”’,” he said.
Cr Ray said that the reason Jacka failed in business was because Wren had retaliated by pulling all his capital out of his electrical business.
“Jacka subsequently got a job as a travelling salesmen for a soap company but his health suddenly collapsed. He died on 71years ago this week at the age of 39. The public response to Jacka’s death was staggering. Having survived both Gallipoli and the Somme, he came to be seen as a martyr to the Great Depression. He had a full military funeral. The Unemployed Association of St Kilda sent a wreath and refused any offer to help pay for it. The service was broadcast over 3UZ,” he said.
The memorial stone on Jack’s grave was laid on May 16, 1932 in the St Kilda General Cemetery and funded by public subscription. The 14th Battalion, of which he was a member, held commemorations here after that until the responsibility for organising these events was taken over by the former St Kilda Council in 1986.
Carmel Shute (author)
CoPP Council Media Officer; Tel: 9209 6163, Fax: 9525 4640.
Darren Ray
Mayor CoPP; Tel: 9527 5364
Chris Waters
President, Descendants of the 14thBattalion 'Jacka’s Mob' Inc
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