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The Kia ora coo-ee : the magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East, 1918

Foreword

Foreword.

To all the sons of Australia and New Zealand whose blood has made sacred the scarred hillsides of Gallipoli, and enriched its barren soil, to all those sons whose cognomen, ANZAC, has become synonymous for bravery in all its most unselfish display, 'and whose silent forms lie reposing in this land and beyond, in that other where Christianity was cradled—Peace.

Language can add nothing to their fadeless laurels. Blessed Be Their Memory.

Coo-Ee.

To all the brave sons from the smiling lands of Australia, and from that glittering pearl set in the Southern Pacific Ocean,—New Zealand.

Kia-Ora.

The idea which has resulted in the sending forth of this messenger to the sons of the Antipodes, at present fighting in many parts of the world, has, through the efforts of a few whose names will be honoured, at last been crystallised. The idea was conceived of enthusiasm, and born out of depth of character, and for these very reasons, the success of the publication is assured. To present to those loved ones far away a reflection, however slight of the conditions and strange surroundings in which their sons live is one which stirs the imagination. To preserve also for time incidents, strange, bizarre, pathetic and historical is laudable. Time has a strange freakish way of playing pranks with the memory. Incidents by oft repetition become like old ships, covered with barnacles, and a glance between the covers of an old friend, such as this will doubtless prove itself to be, will at once clear be-fogged minds. But the feature of the whole thing will be the better understanding which will ensue between the sons of Australia and their brothers from New Zealand. That is the cardinal point towards which the compass of the ship has been set, and the helmsman has been heavily armed, so that buccaneers and salvage hunters will have short notice. There have been occasions in the past when relations between the two far-flung points of the Empire in the Pacific have been anything but pacific. That, as in most other things, has arisen from a crude misunderstanding of things in general and of each other in particular.

The last has disappeared. The former will disappear in due time. The latter result was achieved by that most intense and binding of all compacts—blood. Blood stands for something. The shedding of it means the nadir of hate and the zenith of love.

Anzacs

Coo-ee

Kia-Ora—beautiful expression, given with a heart throb. What better wish could the brain of man conceive or his heart feel than Kia-Ora. To all the sons of the Antipodes who have cemented their brotherhood with blood, whose daring and unselfishness have made their banners scintillate, hear the strange blending of the familar note:
Coo-Ee! Kia-Ora!

And so brave gentleman all, I hand you a cheerful salutation materialised in
The Kia-Ora Coo-Ee."