Highlights
- Many Arab Australians served during WWI, some were killed in action, some wounded and some were prisoners of war
- Community members call for more awareness of the Lebanese Australian contribution to the Anzac legacy
- Egypt was the starting point for the Anzacs during WWI, says journalist Hani Al-Turk
The landing began at dawn.
Like thousands of his fellow soldiers on April 25, 1915, Sergeant Walter Abotomey was in unchartered waters.
More than 15,000 kilometres away from home, on the Gallipoli peninsula, he was writing a history he might not read.
Sergeant Abotomey, an Australian of Lebanese heritage, was one of many Arab Australians who served in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) during World War I.
Anzacs landing in Gallipoli Source: Joseph McBride
"Arab Australians are at the heart of Anzac," asserts Hani Al-Turk, a veteran Palestinian journalist from Yafa who says he spans two cultures, Australian and Arab.
"Their role was essential, in both World War I and World War II."
Their feats live on in Australia's war records, but most Arab migrants may not be aware of the place of Arab Australians in history, Mr Al-Turk says.
"After their initial defeat in Gallipoli, the Anzacs fought the Turks again in Beersheba, Palestine, and triumphed.
"They beat Lawrence of Arabia and the British forces to Syria and Lebanon, capturing 40,000 Turkish soldiers."
‘There is not enough awareness about this’
Laura Aoun, a second-generation Lebanese Australian, has been active in her community in Canberra and Sydney for years.
"I admire how Australia commemorates its soldiers who lost their lives in battle," Ms Aoun says, admitting that both she and her family have never attended an Anzac commemoration.
"For me and my family, it was just a public holiday. We didn't feel the need to celebrate it." 
Laura Aoun Source: Supplied
The reason, she asserts, is that she knows little about the contributions of Lebanese immigrants to the Australian armed forces.
“There is not enough awareness about this and it's good to shed some light as this reinforces the sense of Lebanese Australians of being part of that history."
As a child, Ms Aoun recalls that she felt Anzac Day was an event “mostly for elderly Australians” who took part in dawn services.
"They may have friends who lost their lives in those battles," she recalls of her initial thoughts.
But her family watched the Anzac Day parade which was broadcast live on TV.
"We knew it was a serious day, but for many, it was just a long weekend."
Patriotism in the face of adversity
During World War I, contributing to the war effort by serving in the AIF was a significant way for Lebanese Australians to demonstrate their loyalty and commitment to the country their parents and grandparents had chosen as their home, says Lebanese Australian historian Dr Anne Monsour, who is president of the Australian Lebanese Historical Society.
"This willingness to join the Australian Armed Forces was all the more remarkable,” Dr Monsour says, adding that Lebanese migrants in Australia at the time “faced extensive and racially-based legislative discrimination including exclusion from naturalisation”. 
Dr Anne Monsour Source: Supplied
Dr Monsour offers the case of Abdo Mabardi, a resident of Australia since 1895, but was refused naturalisation in 1904 and 1911, yet his two sons, George and Robert still served in the AIF.
It began in Cairo
Egypt was the starting point for the Anzacs during WWI, says Mr Al-Turk.
The Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo was the headquarters of the Australian and New Zealand forces in the lead up to the Battle of Gallipoli.
"It was there that two Australian officers made a rubber stamp with the name ANZAC, short for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, because it was too long to use on documents and cargo", Mr Al-Turk says.
The name Anzac originated in Cairo.
A few days later, on the morning of 25 April, the Anzacs moved to seize the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies, aiming to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and an ally of Germany. 
Hani Al-Turk Source: Supplied
The Anzacs faced fierce resistance from the Turks, and their plan to drive Turkey out of the war faltered.
Over the next eight months, more than 8,000 Anzac soldiers had lost their lives.
"The seawater in Gallipoli turned red because of the blood," Mr Al-Turk adds.
Ethical dilemma
Daniel Nour is a young Egyptian Australian journalist and writer. His father immigrated to Australia after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in search of a safer future.
As a second-generation Arab immigrant, Mr Nour has his own view of the Anzacs.
"I do have a sense of Australia because it took my parents in and gave them, and by extension me and my siblings, a far better life than would have ever been possible in Egypt.”
Daniel Nour Source: Supplied
Mr Nour was born in Sydney but remains deeply attached to his Egyptian heritage.
The importance of Anzac Day to him stems from the shared history between Australia and Egypt.
"Anzac and Egyptian armies fought together during WWI. They were part of the Allies of 18 countries that arrived in Egypt during 1914 and 1915 to train and start the great invasion to liberate Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq from the occupation of the Ottoman Empire - that's according to historian Ashraf Sabri.
“There was great cooperation between Egypt and Australia."
That does not stop him from being anti-war.
"I think war is generally wrong and problematic, but I think both my parents and I recognise that there was patriotism and duty at play in the sacrifice of young men who lost their lives in wars halfway across the world." 
Anzac Day Dawn Service remembers all Australians who have served and died in war and on operational service. Source: Australian War Memorial
At dawn, the landing began
While serving at Gallipoli, Sergeant Walter Abotomey was evacuated due to influenza.
In August 1916 he served in France with the 61st Battalion and was wounded in action in October 1917.
That same year he was selected to serve in a special force established to reorganise resistance to enemy advances in Mesopotamia and Persia.
He returned to Australia in March 1919 but was suffering from tuberculosis.
On 1 October 1920, he died at the age of 27.
"Of the five members of the Abotomey family who were ‘of military age’, four enlisted,” Dr Monsour says.
"During World War II, many descendants of the early Lebanese immigrants and also Lebanese Australians born in Lebanon served in the Australian Armed Forces, again showing the depth of their allegiance."
