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Wednesday 30th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
30 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.
‘We returned to our camp at 7am and enjoyed a swim in the breakers which were coming fast and heavy, it is not often there are any decent waves here to get amongst. All the landing stages were more or less damaged by the rough sea that has been running all day and everything moveable was thrown high and dry up on the beach. A seaplane flew over about 7am. At about 9pm a thunder storm passed over but we got very little rain, a good fall of rain now would be welcome as we are depending on the water from the boats for our supply, the holes in the gullies are all dry and there is no water other than that in our vicinity except salt sea water.’
Tuesday 29th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
29 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. Two stretcher bearers carrying a wounded man from a dressing station run by C Section, 7th Australian Field Ambulance, in Chailak Dere, to the casualty clearing station on the beach at Anzac Cove. C02422
‘Headquarters report that the demonstration here yesterday was very successful and thanks to all those who took part in it. We suffered a number of casualties but not what we expected. All day a constant rumble of heavy artillery action could be heard from Helles. At about 11pm a heavy dust storm sprang up and made things extremely uncomfortable for us at Clarkes Gully station where we were on duty. When the storm started an outburst of heavy rifle fire broke out but it did not last for long. A progress was made by the Allies at Helles yesterday and they advanced their lines up to 1000 yards in place.’
Monday 28th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
28 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. Whilst in action against the Turks at Anzac, a gun of Hughes' Battery was damaged by a Turkish shell. G01061
‘At about 9am a fleet of minesweepers and half a dozen T.B.D’s steamed across from Imbros towards the Cape, followed by a light cruiser, a balloon ship and more T.B.D’s. At about 10am a terrific bombardment commenced down the Cape and continued throughout the day, the cruiser and a number of destroyers shelled the enemy from positions between Kaba Tepe and the Cape and the Monitor Humber from a position off Imbros and directed by the captive balloon, shelled the enemy positions on Achi Baba. An enemy aeroplane put in an appearance about 11.30am and again later at about 3pm. It attempted to destroy the captive balloon on the Ark Royal, but after 3 bombs failed to hit their mark he gave up and returned to the enemy lines. At about 1pm our infantry made a bluff attack from our right flank in order to assist our troops at Helles where a big offensive has been commenced. By making a demonstration here it prevents the enemy sending any troops from here to reinforce his troops down south. At about 5pm our troops retired into their trenches and things got rather quiet again, after being extremely lively during the afternoon. The Light Horse took a prominent part in the operations today. One of our mates Pte W Summers* was killed by a bullet in the head and another named Strout was rather badly wounded in the leg. At about 9pm when it was fairly dark a party of us went along to the barricade on our right flank to get some wounded in along the beach, the enemy sent up two star shells while we were at it and made us feel rather uncomfortable as they light the place up like day for about 15 seconds.’
*Private Summers along with the over 102,000 Australian men and women who died while serving for Australia can be found on the Roll of Honour found in the commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial. Summers is located on panel number 184.
For the classroom: Go to http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/roll_of_honour/ and see if you can find anyone with the same last name as you or came from the same town.
Sunday 27th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
27 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. A gun position of the Highes Battery in the front line at ANZAC. J06134
‘Feeling very much off colour and was relieved of duty for the day. About 6pm an outburst of rifle and machine gun fire followed by heavy fire from both our artillery and the enemys took place and continued for about an hour. A seaplane flew very low over Kaba Tepe and dropped 4 bombs in quick succession at about 6am. The new howitzers fired a few shells today, they make a peculiar whistling sound going through the air, quite a different sound to the high velocity shells from the field guns.’
*Over time Herbert was able to identify the difference in weaponry through sound alone.
For the classroom: Close your eyes and see how many sounds you can identify in your classroom.
Saturday 26th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
26 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.
‘Things have been extremely quiet. Reported sick this morning with a heavy cold and extremely sore throat which has been troubling me now for some days. The L.H.F. Ambulance are leaving for Lemnos and we took over the dressing station from them today. Every third morning we have to turn out at 7am for half an hours physical drill, it is by no means a popular innovation. The 5inch howitzers were hauled after sunset into positions prepared for them in Clarkes Gully, it was heavy and strenuous work hauling them up the slopes of these hills but many willing hands managed the job alright. These howitzers fire a 50 pound lidite shell.’
For the classroom: Why would they be using men to pull the artillery up the hill instead of horses or mules?
Friday 25th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
25 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. The balloon ship "HECLA". H16476
‘An aeroplane passed over here at about 11am but it was hard to distinguish who it belonged to. The distinguishing mark on our planes is a red, white and blue circle on each wing. The enemy is the same as the Germans, a black cross. At about 3pm the Lord Nelson accompanied by a balloon ship, and escorted by T.B.D’s took up position about midway between Imbros and Kaba Tepe point and from there fired broadside after broadside at the enemy away inland towards Maidos, the balloon from the balloon ship directed her fire. The enemy field guns began firing at the battleship but she took no notice of them, they could be seen flashing on the high ridge in front of our right flank. At about 4.30pm when the Lord Nelson and other boats steamed off, great columns of dense smoke could be seen rising away to the south-east towards Maidos. An enemy aeroplane flew over our lines at about 5pm and set a bundle of papers loose but the wind carried them all into enemy territory.’
For the classroom: List the advantages and disadvantages of using an observation balloon instead of an aeroplane.
Thursday 24th June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
24 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. View of No 1 Casualty Clearing Station (CSS) taken about 4 weeks after the landing. A01500
‘The 5th Battery, City of Glasgow R.F.A came ashore this afternoon with their 5inch howitzers. After sunset they hauled them round into Victoria Gully just below our camp. Bill Rogers, one of the mates was rather badly wounded by Shrapnel this afternoon near the C.C. Station. At about 6pm both our artillery and the enemys got very active, the enemy have not troubled us from the direction of Kaba Tepe again today, though a gun from that direction has been firing at the minesweepers and T.B.D’s throughout the day.’
These boots are made for walking… too!
23 June 2010 by Dianne Rutherford.
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Collection,From the collection,New acquisitions, Heraldry, Second World War
Version 1 and 2 right bootsLate last year the Memorial received a pair of Second World War escape and evasion (E&E) boots as part of a donation. We already held two pairs of 1943 Pattern E&E boots in the collection which were designed so that if an airman baled out or crash landed over enemy territory, he could cut away the suede upper with a concealed knife. This would turn his boots into ‘civilian’ style shoes to help him evade capture by the Germans. Neither pair held by the Memorial had their original knife (they often get separated from the boots), so I hoped this new pair might.
Wednesday 23rd June 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds
23 June 2010 by Janice Farrer.
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Diary of an ANZAC
Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.Soldiers on the beach at Anzac Cove. Some of the men are attending to daily duties while others are resting on the sand or swimming. P02647.026
‘A large seaplane was flying around here at about 9am. There were a large number of us swimming at the cove at about 3pm when the enemy began to shell the beach from the direction of Anafata. We wasted no time in getting out and taking cover in the heaps of stores along the beach, but there were six casualties before everyone got out. Our artillery has been shelling the Olive Grove off and on during the day, the enemy have been quiet from that direction, their guns have not fired a shot. A report today states that two enemy aeroplanes flew over our positions at Helles this morning and one was forces down in our lines and captured.’
For the classroom: What advantages are there to capturing an enemy behind your own lines?
Observations of a Film and Sound accessions officer…
22 June 2010 by Kassandra Hobbs.
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From the collection,New acquisitions
The many donations to the Australian War Memorial’s National Collection come in all shapes and sizes as well as conditions. Many collections are treasured family objects that are passed on through generations which represent stories of family members who were involved in Australia’s military commitments. Others are rescued from disposal centres or found in op shops and deposited to the Memorial from strangers who have no knowledge of the person the collection relates to. As interesting as these stories are, I often notice the varied packaging in which these objects, whether treasured or found, arrive at the Memorial.
In 2005, SBS Radio hosted a program called ‘Migrant Memories- Australian at War’ which includes interviews with children about their experiences growing up in a theatre of war. The interviews were donated to the Memorial by SBS Radio in a presentation to the Director in 2005. The CD’s came in specially designed presentation cases in an ornate box, pictured below.
Another example from the Memorial’s Sound Collection is a set of recorded letters which Peter Winter sent to and from his family whilst serving in South Vietnam with 7RAR as a 2nd Lieutenant from February 1970 to March 1971. These sound tape reels were sent to the Memorial in boxes ranging from original sound tape reel boxes to Aspirin boxes. Sometimes, the packaging of items tells a whole story of its own and shows what was available at the time of sending objects home to the family.
Recorded letter from Peter Winter S03725A recent acquisition for our Vietnam recorded letter collection is from Bryan O’Donnell who donated a sound reel recorded letter which was sent to Australia during his time of service in a purpose made sound reel postage case. Bryan served with 5RAR as a Private in the Infantry Corps and was stationed in South Vietnam from May 1966 to May 1967. He tells his parents about his duties and that he is taking many slides to send home.
Recorded letter from Bryan O'Donnell S04858Whilst the sound recordings of the National Collection at the Memorial are important in commemorating the sacrifice of Australians who have died in war as well as the experiences of those who returned home to us, the packaging the recordings arrive at the Memorial sometimes have an interesting story too, like these three examples. As we move into the digital world, the sound section is continually receiving digitally recorded material making the original boxes increasingly rare and interesting object to receive.
