Bearcage Films - The Digger (2011)
The chronicle of Australia's soldiers from then till now is full of heroism, humour, mateship and larrikinism. It has bred perhaps the most enduring Australian icon the digger. This is his story.
Through a sequence of pivotal battles we tell the story of the Digger, the legend, the myth and the truth. The emergence of a type of fighting man with an international reputation as non-conformist, disrespectful, loose of discipline and unparalleled as a shock troop or as a soldier able to function on his own initiative.
Archive, re-enactment, expert commentary and visits to the worldwide scenes of the chosen events combine with selected first person accounts, by ordinary soldiers, to chart the emergence of a national icon.
Battle Camp in Far North Queensland was the scene of a pitched battle during the frontier wars when those firing their Schneider rifles at the attacking Aboriginals were not yet soldiers, or even Australians.
In South Africa they had become soldiers but were still not Australians when they fought the Boers. At the Siege of Elands River they wrote the story of the first heroic action into the long record of Australia's military achievements.
Gallipoli may be where popular legend has it that Australia grew to nationhood, but her young men became hardened and redoubtable soldiers diggers on the Western Front, where they were blooded at a place called Fromelles.
Only twenty-five years later the legend of the digger grew almost to maturity in the Pacific War, in battles such as Milne Bay.
The greatest international honour ever paid to Australian fighting soldiers, the American Presidential Citation, was awarded for action in the Korean War, at the Battle of Kapyong.
Less than a hundred years separate Battle Camp from Long Tan in Vietnam. Less than half a century divides that battle from the image which brings our history of the digger up to date East Timor, the professional, international soldier acting wholly under Australian command.
This is a story full of high drama, diverse landscape, terrible and funny stories and fascinating characters. At its core is one of the central elements of Australias cultural identity, The Digger.
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