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The wild west was a rush to cop the land left vacant by the genocidal slaughter of it's previous owners. Perhaps in that respect, there is some overlap. But real riches were a potential reward.
The Australian land grab had all of those features. However, it had far fewer of the traumatised veterans of war that have been romanticised as putting the "Wild" in the Wild West.
I do find it ironic that the only way you can feel that this war is a vicious, brutal thing doing serious damage to the soldiers who fight it is to argue that it is thereby unique.
War is always a vicious brutal thing that does serious damage to the soldiers who fight it. The intensity and duration that help determine how many end up how badly damaged are matters of degree ... it is always a meat grinder, and the people that pursue it for their political or other ambitions are always brutal butchers. Utsukushikereba sore de ii
I believe there are public records detailing the appearance of bushrangers even into the early years of the 20th century, but I'm not sure about that.
it had far fewer of the traumatized veterans of war that have been romanticised as putting the "Wild" in the Wild West.
This's what I mean. How can you seriously compare people voluntarily settling on land freed for distribution to them by the slaughter of it's previous inhabitants with the young man in this account? It's a complex issue, yes-- were the settlers driven to such theft by greed and racism? Then they are more accurately compared to the oil companies as players, because they wanted the land/oil. Or were they escaping an intolerable situation in the East? Responding to massive propaganda and subsidies intended to lure them into populating an area that was recently (almost) conquered? Following a personal dream? A combination, likely.
Why was he there? Read Helen's comment above. She nails it.
What was his reward?
I made no such statement, directly or by implication, nor do I hold that view. The point of the diary was not about the evils of war, (a point in no need of debate) but about the invisible nature of it's victims- the victims on both sides. This time, in particular. My comment points out the great differences between the warriors you site and this young man.
NOW is unique in the fact that the victims on both sides have been largely disappeared, and very few people give a damn. In fact---it's a lot more "comfortable" that way. The genocide of the heathen redskin was a "necessary" event in our "Winning of the West". Howard Zinn is one of the few to try to tell it from the real victim's perspective.
"A People's History of the United States". Useful talking follows experience, the more experience the better. Talking that precedes experience is known as bullshit.
