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Clip description
In this track, 'World War 2’, narrator Jack Thompson gives an overview of the involvement of Australian armed forces in the Second World War. The music is 'Mars Reprise’ from Holst’s orchestral suite 'The Planets’. Also featured is an extract from Prime Minister Menzies’s declaration of war speech of 3 September 1939, and sound effects supplied by the Australian War Memorial.
Curator’s notes
Soon after the opening words the music begins and the undertone behind the narration sets a dramatic and ominous atmosphere. The brass gradually builds and suggests a marching army that is growing in numbers and strength and a conflict that is inevitable.
The mix of the music with sound effects from the collection of the Australian War Memorial effectively intensifies the oppressive mood as the sound of jackboots marching in time with the music segues into an extract of a speech by Adolf Hitler. We soon hear the voice of Australian Prime Minister Menzies from his national radio broadcast in September 1939, when he informs the nation that Great Britain has declared war on Germany and so Australia is also at war.
The words ‘for the first time in white history, Australia came under direct attack’ reflect the changed perspective on Australian history that entered the mainstream following the Mabo High Court case which overturned the concept of terra nullius. It serves as a pertinent example of how our perception and interpretation of historical events changes over time (see Mabo: An Address to the Nation, 1993).
British composer Gustav Holst wrote the orchestral suite 'The Planets’ between 1914 and 1916. It was first performed in 1920, by the London Symphony Orchestra. 'Mars, the Bringer of War’ is the first movement. This music may remind film fans of composer John Williams’s 'Imperial March’, which he wrote for Star Wars (1977). Williams references the work of a number of famous composers in his soundtracks.
