Anzac Day, Brisbane, Australia: Triumphalism, mourning and politics in interwar commemoration.

This article proceeds through a case study of commemorative rhetoric in a British settler state, Australia, and in a provincial capital, Brisbane, whose dominant commemorative group, the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC), had claims to have invented the national memorial rituals for the principal day of remembrance. It briefly surveys the broader Australian commemorative background, then explores the control of Anzac Day in Brisbane, focusing on accommodations and alliances between political, civil and religious leaders and the principal returned soldiers' organization, the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) on the ADCC, in Anzac Day activities, and in Anzac Day rhetoric. The article suggests that the theme of 'triumphalism' has been underplayed in analysis of interwar commemorative rhetoric in Australia, and that cooperation, accommodation and alliance were more typical of interwar commemoration than contest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]