Shell-Shocked: Australia After Armistice, an exhibition at the National Archives of Australia, has been opened by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

The exhibition contains a selection of war records about the end of World War I, and how the Australian community dealt with the war’s after-effects.

Rudd mused on “what it is about ANZAC … which so moves the Australian mind and plumbs the depths of the Australian soul?” The answer is made up of many things, Rudd said, including the “grand narrative” of nations which resort to war.” But in Australia’s case, “it is the sheer dimension of the sign up”.

This is the text of Kevin Rudd’s Address at the National Archives:

What is it about this extraordinary conflict which so animates the Australian mind and so animates the Australian soul? We are all shaped by our own experiences and I am no different to anyone else in this room. [Read more…]