Our installation is almost complete now and we will open tonight. This week a few of us have done a lot of media interviews, so it looks to be attracting a good deal of attention already.

We released some edited film footage taken by Harry Chase for Lowell Thomas during his short stay with Lawrence and the Arabs in 1918. It was provided by the Imperial War Museum as it comes from their collection. You can view this footage and read a press report on the ABC’s website here.

An interesting thing about this footage is that Lawrence appears to be wearing a black “aba” (a long, loose sleeveless outer garment of aba or fine silk worn by Bedouin Arabs). You can see one of his abas in the exhibition and this one now belongs to the Memorial. I think it is beautifully displayed, for the first time in our history, along with an “agal” (a cord that secures a headdress). Both were given to the Memorial by the widow of artist Stuart Reid, who’s work is featured in the exhibition.

Lawrence aba belonging to the Memorial

Lawrence agal belonging to the Memorial