Look! Jerusalem!

Sunday, 8 December 2019 8:45 AM

"Our feet have been standing
  Within your gates, O Jerusalem" - Psalm 122.2

The names of Sir Ross Smith and Sir Keith Smith are synonymous with aviation. Remembered in the main by an older generation, these WWI flying aces have been celebrated in many ways, in film, books, countless geographic names across the country, commemorative coins and other objects. A documentary screened on Sunday night (8th on SBS), "The Greatest Air Race", is narrated by Australia's first man to enter space, the astronaut Andy Thomas.

Not a celebration of war, but recollection of a largely forgotten 1919 Air Race that captured Thomas' imagination as a boy, the story also brings to mind the deeds of the Australian Flying Corp. (AFC), formed in Palestine 1916-18. The Smith brother's were both famous airmen, Keith Smith with the RAF and Ross Smith, a Squadron leader (1 Squadron AFC) with the distinction of piloting the celebrated Lawrence of Arabia in his many actions in Arabia that culminated in Allied victory in the Middle East. The story of these two aircraft pioneers and their epic post-war journey is remarkable, as also their involvement as airmen in the Desert Warfare, Ross Smith in particular. The Air Flying Corp. - precursor of the RAAF - hastily formed in 1916 from mostly volunteer Light Horse Infantrymen, was tasked with providing air support for the mounted Regiments as they advanced across the Desert. A major Allied objective was reached In September 1917 when Jerusalem City was entered and secured, ending centuries of Islamic occupation.

Commanding a regiment of Light Horse troopers in the days before the final march on the City, Colonel A.C.Olden DSO., could only observe a derelict backwater. "It was at Soba", he wrote in 1932, "about six miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies, but considerably further than that in actual distance to be traversed, that we were afforded a first distant view of the Holy City. The Sheikh - or headman - of Soba approached our troops and, with a profound Arabic salutation, indicated a desire to be on friendly terms with the ''Ingleesi". Beckoning our men to follow, the Sheikh led the way to the summit of the hill on which the village stands, and, pointing eastward, exclaimed ecstatically 'shouf El Kuds' (Look! .Jerusalem!).#

In the Middle Ages, "traditional Christian 'mappae mundi' placed Jerusalem at the centre of the world", and for different reasons the Holy City again became a centre of attention in the 20th Century (and still is) with hopes of unifying the Arab World. Briefly, following the Allied victory in 1919, it may have appeared possible, a hope that was dashed in 1947 with the post WWII settlement.

Sadly, a prophetic voice from the Middle Ages rings true; Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), that erudite man of Letters, courtier, raconteur and poet ("father of English Poetry"), opined that achievement of "reunification in the Middle East is impossible".¥ Nothing seems to have happened since to prove otherwise, yet, "Reconciliation" it might be said is on-going, in a manner, by tourists of "every Nation" who still "stream to Zion".

Look! Jerusalem!

#'The Holy City', a story by Colonel A.C. Olden, DSO, from 'The Listening Post' of 1932 - quoted in 'The RSL Book of World War I' - Edited by John Gatfield with Richard Landels. Harper Collins, 2016. ¥ "Chaucer, A European Life" p .411 - Marion Turner: Princeton 2019