Beyond Stardom
Two lives brought to book highlight
the gulf between celebrity and heroism
By
DANIEL WILLIAMS
Dawn fraser
is back where she seems happiest: in the spotlight. Not that
she'd been out of it for long. Nearly four decades after her
swimming career ended, Fraser was ubiquitous during the Sydney
Olympics-running with the Olympic torch, chatting with the
big shots. As she tells it, she feared her fellow Australians
might think she was a god. So she penned her autobiography
to set them straight. "I've tried to show people," she explained,
"that Dawn Fraser is a human being like the other great icons
of this country of ours." For the right to publish Dawn: One
Hell of a Life, Hodder Headline Australia paid her more than
$A400,000.
Nancy Wake
is in the spotlight, too, although-values being what they
are-hers is not as bright as Fraser's. Only a dozen years
before a teenaged Fraser received her first gold medal at
the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Wake's death-defying efforts
in occupied France in World War II were nearing a triumphant
climax. Born in Wellington, raised in Sydney, married to a
Frenchman and known to the Gestapo as the "White Mouse," the
elusive Wake was a courier of messages and equipment for the
French Resistance, once cycling 400 km through German checkpoints
in 72 hours. She was also involved in raids on German strongholds;
she killed one soldier with a karate chop and tossed grenades
into Gestapo headquarters at Montluçon. Wake, 88, lives today
in a rented apartment on the New South Wales north coast.
When Sydney journalist Peter FitzSimons last year persuaded
HarperCollins to publish Nancy Wake-A Biography of Our Greatest
War Heroine, he and Wake split a $A15,000 advance.
The cliché
that sport is a substitute for war no longer cuts it. A substitute
is something we settle for despite knowing it to be inferior.
In Australia, sports people are the greatest warriors. Spectators
are mixed up, brainwashed by relentless sports advertising
that trades on the jargon of war. The upcoming series of cricket
Tests in England is, they're told, "The Battle for the Ashes."
And in case the spiritual link between Steve Waugh's men and
killed-in-action Australian soldiers was still a little fuzzy,
the cricketers stopped off at Gallipoli en route to the Old
Dart to don slouch hats and re-create a famous (some thought
sacred) World War I photograph.
FitzSimons
is a former Test rugby player who says his proudest moment
was when a New Zealand national coach declared the Australian
had "waged a one-man war against the All Blacks." In his career,
he adds, "I of course came up against a lot of very tough
men, but it goes without saying that nothing any of us have
faced on a mere sporting field took anything remotely approaching
the courage that genuine warriors like Wake displayed on a
daily basis."
Strangely,
for many people, that doesn't go without saying. These are
comfortable, complacent times. Australians have never seen
their great landmarks reduced to rubble; few have ever been
in battle. Consequently, the terrors of war are, for most,
unimaginable. It is simpler to grasp the lesser bravery of
the batsman who stands firm against the demon quickie, or
the footballer who puts his shoulder in front of the bigger
man. Even swimmers can be heroic, according to a breathless
media-Fraser is still described as such whenever she overcomes
life's setbacks. Youthful athletes are hyped by agents; past
greats are propelled by nostalgia. There seems little room
in Australians' attention or affection for an old lady who
long ago fought for freedom on foreign soil.
Wake's public
appearance in Sydney last week was a jarring reminder that
people who leave normal lives to face and inflict death are
never the same again. "I rejoice in the fact I killed them
[Germans]," she said at the book's launch, "and I'm sorry
I didn't kill more."
A hard man
like Steve Waugh would never say such a thing about his sporting
enemies-but his enemies are not armed. Wake's enemies beat
Jews in front of her eyes; they shot at her, and they tortured
and killed her husband Henri Fiocca. Even so, to speak of
rejoicing in killing is unpalatable in Australia today. Wake's
enduring fury makes one uncomfortable, and a night in front
of the football suddenly sounds good. There is no crime in
relishing the synthetic battles of sport, but until Australians
know and value people like Nancy Wake, they could perhaps
be more restrained in their praise of heroes who are midgets
by comparison.
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June 25, 2001 | No. 25
COVER
STORY
How
It All Ends
If you are still trying to wrap your mind around how the universe began-with
that Big Bang that created everything out of nothing-wait until you find
out what is coming at the other end of the space-time continuum
TRAVELERS
ADVISORY...
PACIFIC
BEAT: Aboriginal leader accused; coral corralled...
PACIFIC
OSERVED: Fraser vs. Wake...
THE
ARTS
TELEVISION: Stealthy product placements are
making ads the stars of the show...
CINEMA: Shrek's adventures in animation
MUSIC: Another hot album by Air
BOOKS: Un-endearing Indira Gandhi
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