Digger (soldier)

Last updated May 09, 2024

Digger is a military slang term for primarily infantry soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. Evidence of its use has been found in those countries as early as the 1850s, but its current usage in a military context did not become prominent until World War I, when Australian and New Zealand troops began using it on the Western Front around 1916–17. Evolving out of its usage during the war, the term has been linked to the concept of the Anzac legend, but within a wider social context, it is linked to the concept of "egalitarian mateship".^[1]

Origin

Before World War I, the term "digger" was widely used in Australasia to mean a miner,^[2] and also referred to a Kauri gum-digger in New Zealand.^[3] In Australia and New Zealand, the term "digger" has egalitarian connotations from the Victorian Eureka Stockade Rebellion of 1854, and was closely associated with the principles of mateship,^[4] which may have had resonance from earlier use of the term "diggers" as egalitarians. Many Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) were former miners, and at the Battle of Elands River (1900), the Australian defenders earned a reputation as diggers, hastily constructing dugout defences in the hard ground.^[5]^[6]

Following the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, at the start of the Gallipoli Campaign, General Sir Ian Hamilton wrote to General William Birdwood, the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), adding in postscript: "You have got through the difficult business, now you have only to dig, dig, dig, until you are safe."^[7] However, writer Tim Lycett argues that there is no hard evidence to suggest that Hamilton's message is the reason why "digger" was applied to ANZAC troops in general.^[3]

W. H. Downing, in Digger Dialects, a glossary of words and phrases used by Australian personnel during the war, says that digger was first used in 1916 to mean a New Zealand or Australian soldier. It appears to have become popular among New Zealand troops before being adopted by Australians, and was not in wide use amongst soldiers until 1917.^[8]^[3] According to Lycett, Cyril Longmore, the author of the Australian 44th Battalion's official history, recorded the term being used by members of the battalion, in a manner synonymous with the word "cobber", during their time digging trenches while training in the Salisbury Plain Training Area in late 1916, while the 3rd Division prepared to deploy to the Western Front. Using Longmore's book, and letters he published later, Lycett asserts that the term possibly gained prominence following a speech from the 11th Brigade's commander, Brigadier James Cannan, about the digging "prowess" of the 44th Battalion, many of whom had worked in the Western Australian goldfields prior to enlisting.^[9]

Link with the Anzac legend

At the outbreak of World War I, Australia and New Zealand were both relatively "young" nations, with little exposure on the international stage. Deployed to Gallipoli in early 1915, the soldiers of both nations had a chance to prove themselves. Although the Gallipoli campaign resulted in heavy casualties and ultimately ended in withdrawal for the Allies, the campaign became strongly linked with the emergence of national identity in Australia and New Zealand. Through the manner in which the Australian and New Zealand soldiers endured the hardships of battle, the image that has become synonymous with the word "digger" has become linked with the concept of the Anzac legend, embodying the qualities of "endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, and […] mateship".^[10] In Australia, as the nation became more industrialised and urbanised, the term later assumed the qualities previous ascribed to the "bushman", including traits such as "hardiness, democratic spirit, mateship and resourcefulness".^[11]

Usage

While the Australians and New Zealanders would call each other "Digger", the British tended to call the New Zealanders "Kiwis" and Australians "Diggers". The equivalent slang for a British soldier was "Tommy" from Tommy Atkins.^[12]

Sports teams

Between 1998 and 2003, the term was used in the name of a team in the Victorian Football League, the Bendigo Diggers.^[13] This was partly in reference to Bendigo's history as a centre of the gold-mining industry. The team changed its nickname to "Bombers" when it became aligned to Essendon. In 2001, Athletics Australia suggested that it would use "Diggers" as the nickname of the Australian athletics team. The proposal was withdrawn after a public outcry and protest from the Returned and Services League of Australia.^[14]

Related Research Articles

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served". Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day was originally devised to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the Gallipoli campaign, their first engagement in the First World War (1914–1918).

The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Ottoman straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.

The Battle of the Nek was a minor battle that took place on 7 August 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign of World War I. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The name derives from the Afrikaans word for a "mountain pass" but the terrain itself was a perfect bottleneck and easy to defend, as had been proven during an Ottoman attack in June. It connected Australian and New Zealand trenches on the ridge known as "Russell's Top" to the knoll called "Baby 700" on which the Ottoman defenders were entrenched.

The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division and one light horse brigade. The infantry division subsequently fought at Gallipoli between April and December 1915, with a newly raised second division, as well as three light horse brigades, reinforcing the committed units.

The New Zealand and Australian Division was a composite army division raised for service in the First World War under the command of Major General Alexander Godley. Consisting of several mounted and standard infantry brigades from both New Zealand and Australia, it served in the Gallipoli Campaign between April and December 1915.

The Battle of Hill 60 was one of the last major assault of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was launched on 21 August 1915 to coincide with the attack on Scimitar Hill made from the Suvla front by Major-General H. de B. De Lisle's British IX Corps, Frederick Stopford having been replaced in the few days previous. Hill 60 was a low knoll at the northern end of the Sari Bair range which dominated the Suvla landing. Capturing this hill along with Scimitar Hill would have allowed the Anzac and Suvla landings to be securely linked.

The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anzac spirit</span> Concept suggesting Australian and New Zealand soldiers sharing same characteristics

The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers allegedly exemplified on the battlefields of World War I. These perceived qualities include endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, larrikinism, and mateship. According to this concept, the soldiers are perceived to have been innocent and fit, stoical and laconic, irreverent in the face of authority, naturally egalitarian and disdainful of British class differences.

Alexander William Campbell was the final surviving Australian participant of the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War. Campbell joined the Australian Army at the age of 16 in 1915, and served as a stores carrier for two months during the fighting at Gallipoli. He was invalided home and discharged in 1916. He later worked in large number of roles, was twice married and had nine children. He is the great-grandfather of actress, singer and model Ruby Rose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mateship</span> Australian concept of solidarity and fraternity

Mateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. Russel Ward, in The Australian Legend (1958), once saw the concept as central to the Australian people. Mateship derives from mate, meaning friend, commonly used in Australia as an amicable form of address.

The Shrine of Remembrance is located in ANZAC Square, between Ann Street and Adelaide Street, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. With its 'Eternal Flame', the Shrine is a war memorial dedicated to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs).

Unit colour patches are a method of identification used by the Australian Army, used to indicate which unit a soldier belongs to.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Australia during World War I</span>

In Australia, the outbreak of World War I was greeted with considerable enthusiasm. Even before Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, the nation pledged its support alongside other states of the British Empire and almost immediately began preparations to send forces overseas to engage in the conflict. The first campaign that Australians were involved in was in German New Guinea after a hastily raised force known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was dispatched in September 1914 from Australia and seized and held German possessions in the Pacific. At the same time another expeditionary force, initially consisting of 20,000 men and known as the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF), was raised for service overseas.

The Anzac Day match is an annual Australian rules football match between Collingwood and Essendon, two clubs in the Australian Football League, held on Anzac Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Anzacs is a 1985 Australian five-part television miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion (Australia) of the First Australian Imperial Force in 1914, fighting first at Gallipoli in 1915, and then on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Longmore</span>

Roy Longmore was an Australian soldier and centenarian, who after Alec Campbell, was noted as the second last living Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) veteran who saw service in World War I.

Digger slang, also known as ANZAC slang or Australian military slang, is Australian English slang as employed by the various Australian armed forces throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. There have been four major sources of the slang: the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The name Digger slang derives from the cultural stereotype of the Digger in the First World War. Graham Seal AM, Professor of Folklore at Curtin University of Technology, calls the slang Diggerese. It is a combination of an occupational jargon and an in-group argot.

The battle for Baby 700, was an engagement fought during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War, between the forces of the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

The Australian Army was the largest service in the Australian military during World War I. The First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was the Army's main expeditionary force and was formed from 15 August 1914 with an initial strength of 20,000 men, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Meanwhile, the separate, hastily raised 2,000-man Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), landed near Rabaul in German New Guinea on 11 September 1914 and obtained the surrender of the German garrison after ten days; it later provided occupation forces for the duration of the war. In addition, small military forces based on the pre-war Permanent Forces and part-time Citizen Forces were maintained in Australia to defend the country from attack.

References

Citations

↑ Dennis et al 1995, p. 214.
↑ Dennis et al 1995, p. 213.
1 2 3 Lycett, Tim (9 June 2013). "The Genesis of Digger, page 1". Inside History Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Eurkea Stockade". Australian Federal Government. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ Coulthard-Clark 1998, pp. 84–85.
↑ "The Siege of Elands River Post South Africa" (PDF). Armour (460). Royal Australian Armoured Corps Association (New South Wales Branch): 1, 3–6. December 2010.
↑ Moorehead 1997, p. 130.
↑ Ramson et al 1990.
↑ Lycett, Tim (9 June 2013). "The Genesis of Digger, page 2". Inside History Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "The ANZAC Spirit". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Bushman and digger". Forging the Nation: Federation – The First 20 Years. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ Payne, David (28 December 2008). "The Australian And New Zealand Army Corps on the Western Front in the Great War". The Western Front Association. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ Devaney 2008, pp. 35–36.
↑ "Australian PM enters Diggers row". BBC Sport. 3 August 2001. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

Bibliography

Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1998). Where Australians Fought: An Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles (1st ed.). St Leonards, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-611-2.
Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin; Connor, John (1995). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (1st ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553227-9.
Devaney, John (2008). The Full Points Footy Encyclopedia of Australian Football Clubs. Vol. 1. Lincoln, United Kingdom: Full Points Publications. ISBN 9780955689703.
Moorehead, Alan (1997). Gallipoli. Wadsworth Military History Series. Wadsworth. ISBN 9781853266751.
Ramson, W. S.; Downing, W. H.; Arthur, J. R. (1990). W. H. Downing's Digger Dialects. Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553233-3.