Traditions that are not continually refreshed become quaint and irrelevant and eventually die. The Anzac tradition has waxed and waned over a century; there is no guarantee that its current high profile will persist. Yet a rebooted Anzac could be a key part of Australia's future. There are five ways this might happen.

1. End Anzac hyperbole. Many Australians overstate the importance of war in the forming of our "national character." The "soul" of our nation does not reside at the Australian War Memorial, any more than it resides at Bondi Beach or the MCG. It is everywhere Australians are. There are many more Australian stories than the one written in the sand at Anzac Cove. Nor did Australians acquire through Anzac a large Aussie dose of what are actually universal human qualities. Mateship, for example, is essentially the same concept as the American "have your back," the French fraternite, and the socialist "brotherhood of man."

Water carrying duty: Men of the Australian 6th Battery at Gallipoli. Credit:Phillip Schuler, Australian War Memorial

The Anzac commemoration industry also overstates the Australian contribution to our wars. We provided, for example, only 5 per cent of the troops engaged in the Gallipoli campaign (both sides) and the same proportion of casualties. Themes about young Australian men being superb fighters sacrificed far from home in "other people's wars" by "donkey generals" are comforting but ultimately maudlin and misleading. Sentiment gets in the way of understanding why wars happen and how they can be prevented.

2. Keep Anzac in its proper place. Australian military men and women may adopt Anzac as a corporate talisman ("the Anzac tradition of arms"). Politicians, however, should be encouraged to leave it alone. The historian Peter Cochrane has said that while we need a better balance between our military and democratic past in our national memory, "we'll never get that from the drum-beaters who know the political mileage to be extracted from the slouch hat." Ridicule and contempt are appropriate weapons against politicians of both sides who wrap themselves in the flag and emote over military involvements that they or their predecessors have supported for geopolitical reasons. Meanwhile, commercial shysters seeking to make a buck from peddling Anzac merchandise should be happily let go out of business. Boycotts should flourish.