Richard Fidler

And there's no doubt that the public face of the Anzacs was very secular.

But then so was the British Army.

Ironically, so was the American Army.

We think of America as that hotbed of, you know, public religiosity.

But no, and the Australians had brought with them from England this reticence to talk about the things that mattered most, at least in public.

And so the good Aussie male was reticent about expressing emotions and deep feelings.

Let's look at the life of this man then, Walter Dexter.

How old was he when he first went to sea?

So he's 14 years old.

His dad has desperately tried to get him a job in a bank.

His two older brothers, much older than him, are at sea and Dexter just wants the adventurous life at sea compared to tallying numbers in a bank.

So how does he get to sea at the age of 14?

Well, he signs a contract as an apprentice sailor.

It would horrify us, the terms today.

His wages were nothing plus washing.

So he had his laundry done.

Yes, that's right.

He had his laundry done.

He was obviously fed and housed on the ship.

In port, he was given somewhere to stay and food, but he received no salary at all.