Anzacs in the Middle East

“And lonely lonely lonely
are the hearts of men;
the waves the waves the waves
break, forever break,
against the stone in our breasts” – Ian Mudie

A waterside worker had this to say about a ‘stunt’ in the campaign to defeat Rommel when he fought at Toobruk: “On patrol (in North Africa), there was a full blood aboriginal, Paddy Walsh. The Germans trapped the patrol and took everyone prisoner, bar Paddy, who, because of his colour, was scorned as a trophy by the German white supremacists. Paddy came back unharmed. Later, after the war, when in Cairns, Paddy met an army mate, Bluey Lees. They went into the Cairns RSL, where Paddy was refused service. Bluey Lees went to town verbally on the barman, the RSL, and racists in general. Bluey, like myself, was a waterside worker after the war.” War can make you feel and understand that there is a humanity above racial and national conflict”. – Phil O’Brien and Bernie Dowling, Towards Peace, a workers journey  published by SHAPE (Social history of Australia publishing enterprise).

During the “famous” Battle of Beersheba (charge of the light brigade) ANZACs massacred up to 100 local Palestinian tribesmen. This was ostensibly a revenge attack for the killing of a New Zealand Trooper. However there was no evidence linking the village of Surafend massacre (Arabic: مجزرة صرفند‎) with the death of the trooper.

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Turnbull–Netanyahu (2017 Beersheba Centenary Narrative)

At the 2017 centenary of the Battle of Beersheba near Surafend, Australian and Israeli leaders celebrated the ANZAC role in the crushing of the Ottomans.

• This was a celebration of the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba that established British military occupation of Palestine.
• Emphasis on courage, sacrifice, and military achievement, not their premeditated murder of Palestinian villagers.
• Framing Beersheba as part of shared historical memory in the Negev region between the Zionists and the representative of a colonial settler state

There was no recognition that

• ANZAC troops participated in the modern historical theft of land belonging to  Palestinians
• No mention of Anzac Massacre at Surafend and another village

In contrast General Allenby called the Anzacs who carried out the massacre “cowards and murderers“ and would have nothing further to do with them.

None of this story is recounted in the numerous commemorations of the Battle of Beersheba by Australian war historians or by people who visit the site of the “famous” ‘battle of the light brigade’.

Allenby’s march

Ian Curr
25 April 2026