Blog
Roo De Kanga
29 October 2010 by Justin Powell.
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News
This blog post was written by Justin Powell, a post-graduate student from the Australian National University who briefly worked at the Memorial as an intern in our Miliatary Heraldry and Technology section.
The Memorial’s collection houses a number of First World War trench signs and notice boards. Perhaps the most interesting of these signs came from Peronne which was captured by the Australian troops of the 14th and 15th Brigades on 2 September 1918 as part of the 2nd Division’s assault on Mont St. Quentin. read on
Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Turkey : the Captain White story
20 October 2010 by Amanda Rebbeck.
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Personal Stories
In preparation for the upcoming 100 year anniversaries of the First World War, curatorial sections at the Memorial have begun concentrated cataloguing projects for objects relating to the Great War.
Having taken a particular interest in the Australian Flying Corps after working on the Memorial’s First World War aircraft exhibition – Over the front: the Great War in the air I took great pleasure in researching the war time story of Captain T W White DFC, MID* and his daring escape from a Turklish prisoner of war camp in 1918.
White was born in Hotham, Victoria on 26 April 1888 and at an early age developed an interest in aviation. On 1 August 1914 he was selected for the Australian Flying Corps’ first training course at the Central Flying School, Point Cook where he qualified as a pilot the following year.
Group portrait of instructors and pupils from the first flying training course at the Central Flying School Point Cook. White is standing in the back row; second from the left. A04588Lockheed Hudson – Structural Reference
18 October 2010 by Jamie Croker.
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Collection,Conservation
The damaged rear fuselage section from Hudson A16-128, which crashed during training at Tocumwal, New South Wales, was aquired by the AWM several years ago. This fuselage section contains a large proportion of the structure missing from A16-105 to support the upper gun turret in the fuselage.
A16-128 Rear FuselageSeven years bad luck? Making periscopes on Gallipoli
15 October 2010 by Dianne Rutherford.
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Collection,From the collection, First World War, Gallipoli, Technology
When the Gallipoli campaign quickly bogged down into trench warfare, there were not enough periscopes available to allow Australian and New Zealand soldiers to look over the parapets at ANZAC without being shot.
Luckily the soldiers do not appear to have been superstitious as to fill the gap improvised periscopes were made by breaking shaving mirrors or mirrors taken from transport ships and attaching them at an angle to lengths of wood.
Lockheed Hudson – Where to Start
06 October 2010 by Jamie Croker.
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Collection,Conservation
One of the first steps in the conversion of the Hudson from its post war airline and geo-survey role to its original military configuration, was the removal of all the post war modifications.
The first two photos below are taken inside the cabin of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Hudson on Display in the RNZAF Museum in Christchurch, and they give an idea of what the inside of the cabin should look like .
RNZAF Hudson cabin Forward
RNZAF Hudson cabin AftDiscovering tradition in post-war Japan
06 October 2010 by Pen Roberts.
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News
It all began with a small flower arrangement in a Tokyo shop window.
Norman Sparnon was working for ATIS (Allied Translator and Interpreter Section), part of the US Department of the Army. This was post-war Japan, and Sparnon was witness to the extraordinary transformation of a traditional society being channelled swiftly into a modern democracy.
It was 1949, and Sparnon and Mary, his American wife of one year, had just moved to the suburb of Daikanyama. The florist shop where Sparnon saw the display, was close to their new home. The flower arrangement was in the traditional ikebana style. Something resonated in Sparnon and he immediately asked the owner if she would take him as a student.
“Thereafter, for several months I became the object of considerable interest to numerous Japanese of all ages who would gaze through the shop window at this strange foreign man sitting behind a very small table endeavouring to do ikebana”. (from My Ikebana Journey)
