ANZAC or Anzac?

[Mike Cecil]

Gents,

I've been following a rather emotional and at times acrimonious thread on another forum about the term ANZAC ... or is it Anzac? Of course, we know that it was an acronym - like Qantas - but what is the 'proper' way to write it these days: ANZAC or Anzac?

As a former employee of the AWM, the use of the word 'ANZAC' in caps was, during my time there, insisted on by the then-Director (Gower). It was the convention we all had to use, much to the annoyance of the AWM's editor who considered the normal English convention was the more applicable. I didn't object to the use of ANZAC, in much the same way as I saw no reason to object to always using 'First World War', and 'Second World War' rather than 'World War 1' or 'World War 2', etc.

I've just had a quick look at the NLA's Trove, and the first use of the word 'Anzac/ANZAC' in newspapers was in quotes from the report to the Minister for Defence from Sir Ian Hamilton. This report was widely quoted, ostensibly verbatim, in newspapers in June 1915. The text includes '...I received information from Anzac that enemy reinforcements had been seen...'. Already a word, it seems, by that early stage.

Also in the June 1915 newspapers were 'on site' reports from CEW Bean (the 'father' of the AWM, and who went on to write the First World War Official History), again quoted verbatim, in which he states '...at no time during the fighting in what is now known as Anzac Bay ...'.

Bean continued to use this 'proper word' convention post-war in the official history, Volume 2: The Story of Anzac. While headings are all caps, the word 'Anzac' within the text and in map and image captions is in upper and lower case, ie used as a proper word.

I've also looked at The Oxford Companion to Aust Military History (1995) by Dennis, Grey, Morris and Prior, and they use 'Anzac' in all text, and 'ANZAC' in headings (they use caps in all headings, so nothing implied by that).

I've also noticed, when reading some back issues of 'Army, The Soldiers' Newspaper', that they consistently use 'Anzac' in both text and headings, for example, Feb 27 2014, page 11:'New Anzac Coin' (apparently the Australian Mint uses the upper/lower case convention, too); and Feb 13, 2014, page 5: 'Anzac ballot to be drawn'. All abbreviations and acronyms appearing in Army elsewhere are in caps and defined at first use, so the use of the form 'Anzac' as a proper word is deliberate.

Yet one clearly irritated respondent stated bluntly that "I am also for my sins, a trained AFP [Aust Federal Police] Assistant Ceremonial and Protocol Offr, which also recognises the writing of the hallowed acronym in upper case, it will as far as I am concerned, be ever thus." (So when have the AFP ever been in step with the public??)

And another: "..A note I included in response to a recent request from a parliamentarian: "Congratulations on referring to ANZAC, rather than Anzac; the meaning of ANZAC deserves to be preserved and one way of doing this is to maintain the acronym as such (who can remember what Radar or Laser stood [for] after they became words, rather than acronyms?)".

I note that posts on the subject on this forum mostly use the term 'Anzac': is this indicative of the broader community's perception?

Reasoned thoughts on ANZAC or Anzac, please gentlemen, and I would welcome such from our overseas contributors as well......

Mike C