Gone. Just like that. Sixty thousand young blokes who had mums and dads, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunties, girlfriends, wives, kids, mates. Sixty thousand men out of an Australian population that counted less than five million.

In three years time on April 25, Australia and New Zealand will commemorate 100 years since the first Anzacs jumped ashore on some remote sliver of beach in a flung-flung region of Turkey – the first Anzac Day.

Yesterday it emerged the government had commissioned research that claimed the commemoration would be a “double-edged sword” and a “potential area of divisiveness” because of multiculturalism. The report states commemorations should be “culturally sensitive and inclusive”.

This isn’t political correctness gone mad, as someone in the office lift sputtered to me in high dudgeon. It’s common sense.

Anzac Day is not a day for jingoism, or sabre-rattling, nor is it a day that should offend anyone.

It is a day for reflection and, even for a brief moment, it’s a time to try and comprehend the terrible tragedy that goes hand in hand with war. As the report suggested, it is a day that should be inclusive of all Australians.

I know about this report – I have read it many times. I was on the National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary charged with presenting a report to the Prime Minister on how Australians could commemorate both the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli, and for a four-year program commencing in 2014 which would commemorate the service of all Australians over the past century. The six of us faced a vast blank canvas. Yet one thing was clear: The commemoration of the centenary of Anzac Day will probably be the most significant commemorative day we will see in our lifetimes.

To assist our progress, a report was commissioned, part of which utilised focus groups. Normally when I hear the term focus group my eyes tend to glaze over, however I attended several gatherings where I sat behind a one-way mirror watching people from various demographics discuss their experience or knowledge of Anzac Day. Or not.

While many – particularly young people – gave remarkably positive and constructive feedback, some of the responses beggared belief in their total lack of knowledge of Anzac Day.

At times this was harrowing to watch, as everyday mums and dads were clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable admitting they felt some sort of guilt at not being able to explain Anzac Day to their children or grandchildren. An indigenous Australian described Anzac Day as “a party to which ‘we (Aborigines) weren’t invited”.

 

Responses like these were some of the most useful feedback of all. Was the report valuable? Absolutely. One of the key recommendations put forward by the commission was for a national education program that could walk every Australian through our remarkable and unique military history, which has shaped the nation into what it is today.

The new Anzac Centenary Advisory Board, headed by former chief of defence Angus Houston, has begun to put into place the foundations for all this. It will be a big task and will prove both moving and exciting for all Australians. However, the over-riding concern will be to acknowledge those Australians who never came home.

We only have one chance to get it right for the centenary of Anzac Day. We owe it to them.

 

Warren Brown is The Daily Telegraph’s cartoonist and a member of the Anzac Centernary Ceremonial and Commemmorative Taskforce