Private Tudor Roberts wrote in September 1917 from France that: “the name Digger came from the (British) Tommies who think we Australians are all miners or cowboys.” Charles Bean, the Australian Official War Historian writing of the mid 1917 period, said: “It was at this stage that Australian soldiers came to be known, ...
'Digger' was a colloquial name applied to Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) personnel that developed during the war (although the term was already applied to miners back in Australia and New Zealand).
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, who hastily constructed dugout defences in the hard ground.
Digger became the general mode of address for Australian and New Zealand soldiers although its usage disappeared for the latter troops, who became known simply as Kiwi's. Australian soldiers in World War One soon adopted the term with great pride and continue to do so.
After New Zealanders objected to the colonial catch-all of 'Australasia', the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps became the official name, quickly shortened to ANZAC. But their informal name was the Diggers. The first specialised use of digger in Australian English dates back to the 1850s gold rush in Victoria.
And the German learned to fear Australians, because they were reckless, ruthless - and revengeful. During the Third Battle of Ypres, autumn 1917, the ANZAC's (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) met the Germans on high ground, in front of Polygon Wood.
The 'man with the donkey'
John Simpson was a stretcher-bearer in the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance. He came ashore during the Anzac landing of 25 April 1915 and was killed less than 3 weeks later.
On an edgier note, pineapple is also military slang for a bomb or hand grenade, especially those of a fragmentation type that resemble a pineapple in appearence.
“Aussie” (meaning both Australia and an Australian) was first recorded during the Great War. “ANZAC” was created in 1915 and became seminal to Australian identity, while “cobber”, “digger”, “dinkum”, “mate” and even “bloody” all received new life and meaning in the Australian lexicon through the Great War experience.
Digger became the general mode of address for Australian and New Zealand soldiers although its usage disappeared for the latter troops, who became known simply as Kiwi's. Australian soldiers in World War One soon adopted the term with great pride and continue to do so.
Digger, any of a group of agrarian communists who flourished in England in 1649–50 and were led by Gerrard Winstanley (q.v.) and William Everard. In April 1649 about 20 poor men assembled at St. George's Hill, Surrey, and began to cultivate the common land.
The Diggers coined various slogans that worked their way into the counterculture and even into the larger society — "Do your own thing" and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" being the most recognizable.
Bean, the Australian Official World War One historian, wrote, "For most British Commanders, the Australian was the bad boy of the Imperial family". The Australians were said to be less concerned with the formality of hierarchy and orders, especially with British officers.
Bogan (/ˈboʊɡən/ BOHG-ən) is Australian and New Zealand slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated.
Bulldust is colloquial term used as a euphemism for "bullshit", meaning nonsense or rubbish; that someone is lying. The slang term has also been in use in South Africa since the 1920s.
Why are members of the RAF called crabs? Simply because they do a drill that requires them to move sideways and diagonally, making them look like a crab.
Operation Canuck, January 1945 operation in Northern Italy. Operation Cold Comfort, February 1945 failed SAS raid on railway targets near Verona.
Its first mission, in February 1965, was to quell insurgencies on Borneo. The SASR fought in the Vietnam War (1954–75), where its members earned the nickname ma rung (“phantoms of the jungle”) for their stealthy maneuvers.
The Phonetic Alphabet is used widely in military maritime communications. The phonetic alphabet, a system set up in which each letter of the alphabet has a word equivalent to avoid mistaking letters that sound alike, such as B (Bravo) and D (Delta) or F (Foxtrot) and S (Sierra).
Members Have an Unusual Nickname. Within the wardroom (the commissioned officers' dining area aboard a warship), Navy Supply Corps officers are colloquially called “pork chops.” Not lamb chops or veal chops.
James Charles Martin (3 January 1901 – 25 October 1915) was the youngest Australian known to have died in World War I. He was only 14 years and nine months old when he succumbed to typhoid during the Gallipoli campaign.
The 11th Battalion, from Western Australia, came ashore south of Anzac Cove, on the beach beneath the slopes leading down from Ari Burnu Point. Among the first to fall was Captain William Annear, 11th Battalion, of Subiaco, Western Australia.