Blog category - Collection

Victoria Cross records and ephemera

03 February 2012 by Craig Berelle. No comments
Collection Highlights,News

Documents supporting the award of the Victoria Cross are now on display at the Reading Room of the Australian War Memorial. The display is arranged to show three themes associated with Australia’s highest award for gallantry. These include official records produced leading to the award of the Victoria Cross; the ceremony of the award, which includes VC memorials and reunions; and items of commemoration, which are often autographed, such as invitations and correspondence between VC recipients, their communities and clubs.

The sovereign traditionally reserves the right to make the award in person, at a ceremony called an investiture. The Governor-General of Australia invested Trp Mark Donaldson with the Victoria Cross for Australia in 2009, and Cpl Benjamin Roberts-Smith in 2011. The programs of their investiture are displayed. The sovereign may honour recipients of the award with memorials and services. On display are tickets and programs of the VC Centenary, held in London in 1954. In 1992 Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a display at Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building. The three living Australian VC recipients at the time autographed the souvenir program.

Australia has a tradition of exhibiting the achievements of its VC recipients. A popular way of doing this is through commemorative issues of everyday products, such envelopes, stamps, and even cigarette cards. Recipients were also given first-class rail travel or memberships of clubs by a grateful nation. Acts of commemoration helped perpetuate the memory of those who died performing the actions for which they received the VC.  On occasions where VC recipients gathered for a journey or reunion, menu cards and theatre programs were often autographed, exchanged or presented to the host.

It’s Dan’s Life.

30 January 2012 by Daniel McGlinchey. No comments
Collection,New acquisitions,News

As a duty curator in the Military Heraldry and Technology section, you discover some unexpected stories when items are donated to the Memorial. One such story was that of Sergeant Daniel Gallogly of the 6^th Field Company Engineers and the embroidered souvenir from Egypt that he purchased in 1916.

 The souvenir was found recently at the 5th Combat Engineer Regiment’s facilities but nothing was known about how it had come to be there. The souvenir was originally purple, representing the engineer’s colour patch but has faded significantly. The only clue to its history was embroidered on the souvenir, ‘6th Field Coy Eng, 1916, 2nd Division, Souvenir of Egypt, To Mimmie from Dan’. A search of the nominal roll of the 6th Field Company Engineers from the First World War revealed only one Daniel who had served in the unit. Confirmation was found in a letter written by Miss Mary ‘Mimmie’ McMahon in Daniel Gallogly’s service record.

 Gallogly was born in Darlington, Durham, England in 1883 and arrived in Brisbane on the ship SS Perthshire on 28 June 1909. At the start of the First World War he was living in Toowoomba, Queensland, working as a bricklaying contractor. He enlisted on 24 July 1915, aged thirty two. Four months later the 6th Field Company Engineers embarked at Sydney on board HMAT A40 Ceramic.

 The unit arrived in Egypt on 18 December and started training at Ferry Post. In the first three months of 1916 unit life consisted of training and surveying of railway lines and the Australian trench systems east of the Suez Canal. These were reinforced in case of any Turkish attack. Gallogly gained promotion to second corporal and in March Australian troops started to make their way to the Western Front in France.

 6th Field Company engineers arrived in Marseilles on 26 March 1916 and were training at Warne north of Paris by the end of the month. With a promotion to sergeant, Gallogly and his unit were introduced to trench life on the Western Front in the Fleurbaix sector in April. They surveyed the trenches and constructed everything from observation posts to detention enclosures. The next few months followed a similar pattern, with the unit moving to Messines sector in mid June. At the beginning of July they were moved south in preparation to Australia’s contribution to the Somme Offensive.

 As part of the Somme offensive of 1916 Australian troops of the 1st Division attacked the village of Pozieres, France between 23rd and 27th of July. The division took heavy casualties before being relieved by the 2nd Division. On 29 July, the division began its attack. Gallogly and his unit were consolidating positions taken by the 28th Battalion and constructing a medical dressing station when he was wounded. According to his service records he sustained multiple shrapnel and gunshot wounds to his face, back and right foot.

By the beginning of January 1917 Gallogly had recovered sufficiently from his wounds to attend a rifle course in Sidmouth, Devon, England. He attained a first class qualification and passed Lewis gun training with a ‘fair knowledge’ of the weapon. After spending the next seven months in a training battalion he was deemed unfit for front line duties and returned to Australia in August.

In Gallogly’s service record, Mary ‘Mimmie’ McMahon wrote in September 1917 to the Officer in Charge of the Base Records in Melbourne to know when she could expect him home. He was discharged by the end of November 1917. Mimmie and Daniel reunited and were married on the 16 January 1918 in Queensland. They had three children Vincent, Felix and Kathleen.

After the war Gallogly continued his building work and constructed buildings around Queensland, though this was not without problems as his industrial dispute with the United Operative Brick- layers’ Society of Queensland (Toowoomba branch) would suggest. Some of the buildings he built were the Harrison Home, Toowoomba, St James’s Catholic Church and school at Coorparoo in 1925, the Marist Brothers’ Monastery at Rosalie in the late 1920s. His tender for the erection of the Commonwealth Bank in Gympie was accepted in 1927.

 The Depression years affected Gallogly’s business and a newspaper article in the The Brisbane Courier suggests that he was declared bankrupt in 1931. The Second World War was not kind to the Gallogly family. Mary died in 1940 and the eldest son, Vincent, was killed while serving as a flight Sergeant in Bomber Command’s 103 Squadron RAF on 23 June 1942 over Germany.

The electoral roll of 1943 has the surviving family living in the Brisbane suburb of Albion, with Daniel listed as a public servant. He appears to have lived at this address until 1963. His date of death is unknown but he was buried in Nudgee cemetery, Brisbane, along with his wife and two of his children, Felix and his daughter Kathleen who died in 2008.

From the limited information provided by the donor of the souvenir, the Memorial through the use of digitised records, has discovered Daniel Gallogly’s story and recounted it. His narrative just one of the many that are uncovered by the Memorial during its work to remember the Australians who have served for this country.

Lockheed Hudson – Turret Structure Trial Fit

23 January 2012 by Jamie Croker. No comments
Collection,Conservation

After months of work treating and reproducing induvidual pieces, the complex structure which supports the Boulton Paul turret has been trial fitted.  It was great to see all the seperate items come together.  These parts, after final undercoating, will now be rivetted into the airframe permanately.  Rear fuselage skins can then be rolled, and the Boulton Paul turret fitted.

Stinking Farm Trench Sign

06 December 2011 by Dianne Rutherford. 3 Comments
Collection,From the collection, Battles, First World War, Heraldry, Western Front

My name is Romy Turner. I am a work experience student from Canberra Girls Grammar School at the Memorial for this week. As part of my work experience I had to research an item, a trench sign, from the Memorial’s collection.

The trench sign ‘To Stinking Farm & Currie Ave’ was collected during the First World War by Lieutenant Colonel John Basil St. Vincent Welch, whilst he was serving as part of the 13^thField Ambulance in Belgium. Welch arrived in Marseilles on 13 July 1916 as a member of the Australian Field Ambulance. He was appointed the commanding officer of the 13^thField Ambulance and was stationed around the village of Messines, which would be the site of the Battle of Messines 11 months later. Stationed at Kandahar Farm, Welch assisted in this battle, tending to the wounded as they came back from the front and organising the transportation of the men further back the line to the field hospitals. read on

Hospital Tent at Rest Gully Gallipoli

02 December 2011 by Dianne Rutherford. 2 Comments
Collection,From the collection, First World War, Gallipoli, Gallipoli Mission, Heraldry, hospital

My name’s Sean Limn, and I’ve been doing work experience at the War Memorial for the past week. One of my tasks whilst at the Memorial was to research a collection item, a piece of an old tent found at Gallipoli in 1919. The tent piece was found at Rest Gully, and is from a hospital tent left during the evacuation in December 1915. The tent was left behind as part of the ruse  to prevent the Turks from realising that an evacuation was taking place.

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Lockheed Hudson – Boulton Paul Turret Build

02 December 2011 by Jamie Croker. 1 Comment
Collection,Conservation

The Boulton Paul Turret was the first of the major componemts to undergo restoration, with work commencing in late 2009 on a large pile of turret pieces.  Over an eight month period, the parts were individually treated, and the turret slowly took shape.  The frame is a complex assembly, with literally hundreds of small brackets, all rivited together to make up the cupola, or frame.

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In the collection: Conflict T-shirts

25 November 2011 by Sue Ducker. No comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,From the collection,News

The Australian War Memorial holds T-shirts from the numerous Peace Keeping missions in which Australians have served. A usually inexpensive and useful type of souvenir, the T-shirts are often humorous and visually creative. They are an example of how soldiers have adapted a civilian item of clothing to a deployment context.

The Memorial is interested in making contact with anyone who contributed to the designs printed on the three T-shirts below.  If you can provide more information on these items please contact sue.ducker@awm.gov.au.

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MOvember MOtivation

23 November 2011 by Lauren Hewitt. No comments
From the collection,News

We know that some of you out there are neglecting your razors in the name of raising money for a good cause, even some of the good men here at the War Memorial have put their hand up to cultivate magnificent moustaches. So we thought we’d bring you some MOtivational photos from our archives, to show you that competitive MO growing has been going on for decades!

During the Second World War, naval ships such as the HMAS Perth and Shropshire held beard growing competitions. Above, a champion beard grower, Able Bodied Seaman Cooper, shows off his award winning crop aboard the Perth; and on the Shropshire, Able Seaman Evans has his beard trimmed by fellow champion growers.

In other forces, where beards were perhaps not allowed, we start to see some imaginative moustache examples. This one below is an example of one of the longest, grown in Japan in 1946.

During the Korean War, soldiers took great pride in the cultivation of their moustaches, waxing them especially for the occasion of having their portraits taken. Official Photographer, Phillip J Hobson, took a series of portraits of men and their moustaches.

Private Moore, seen below receiving a haircut from a Korean barber, worries about the fate of his moustache, which, when waxed, is an impressive 6 inches from tip to tip.

Happy Mo growing!

The Australian Army and farming in the Northern Territory

17 November 2011 by Theresa Cronk. No comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,From the collection,New acquisitions

When we think of fertile faming lands, the Northern Territory is generally not the first place that springs to mind. Yet it was here, during the Second World War, that the Australian Army established the 1 and 2 Farm Company as part of the Australian Army Service Corps.

On 11 September 1940, approval was given by the Minster for Army to acquire land. An area of 107 acres was purchased at Adelaide River. The land was only partly cleared and the farm commenced with a small area of 2 ½ acres in 1940. The Adelaide River Farm Section became the 1 Australian Farm Company. A small garden at Wycliffe Well ushered in the 2 Australian Farm Company in January 1942. Towards the end of 1942, approval was given to establish a further 7 farms at Adelaide River, Hayes Creek, Katherine and Mataranka.

So, why did the Army decide to set up farms in the Northern Territory?

Firstly, these areas were known for deficiency diseases caused by inadequate vitamin intake and there were concerns for the health of troops. During May 1939, the Chief Medical Officer advised that up to 25% of personnel at the Northern Territory garrisons had been on sick parade on one day. Dengue fever was also rife. It was recommended that fresh fruit and vegetables could assist in reducing the occurrence of these diseases.

This revealed the second problem which was the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. At the time, the policy was to purchase food supplies from civilian contractors. In the Northern Territory, local production of fresh vegetables and fruit could not even sustain the local population. An influx of 40 000 troops and their dietary requirements needed to be met another way.

Thirdly, there were transport problems. Fresh vegetables forwarded from Adelaide had to endure a train journey of 3 or 4 days to Alice Springs. This was followed by 4 days or longer of transportation via trucks for distribution to areas around Darwin. During this time, 50% of the food stuffs were lost through the natural deterioration of food. The remaining 50% was edible but had lost most of its nutritional value and appeal.

 The priority was on the production of salad and leafy vegetables. This included tomatoes, beans, cabbages, lettuce, silver beet, cucumbers, beetroot, marrows and pumpkins. Root vegetables had a lower priority. One problem that also had to be overcome was the way in which to cook certain vegetables that not been seen before. It was only after the practice of boiling sweet potatoes ceased that this vegetable joined the ranks.

The first commanding officer was Captain Henderson who depended on convalescent patients from the nearby camp hospital for labour to plant vegetables. During this time, watering was conducted by channel irrigation from shower overflow and manually with a bucket brigade of volunteers.

The struggle for farm labour and equipment continued under the command of Lieutenant Nielson in March 1941. The tide began to turn with the arrival of Warrant Officer Campbell on 23 May 1941. Campbell obtained additional labour from 2/40 Infantry Battalion who detached platoons for a week or so to clear 30 acres. An irrigation scheme was also established and men from a nearby RAE unit supervised the construction of a 20 000 gallon iron tank.

By November 1941, the war establishment for a Farm Section AASC was approved and the personnel rose to 1 officer and 54 other ranks. Lieutenant Campbell was sent to a training camp in Brisbane to select suitable farmers and these men were sent to Wycliffe Well. Central Australia also had several unit gardens and one of these was located at Elliot. One soldier reported that they had to keep raising the height of the brush fence that they constructed around this garden. The problem was not with local wildlife, but people interested in seeing what was behind the fence. It was hoped that the higher the fence got, the less inclined people would be to climb over and have a look.

During 1944 and 1945, a 16 acre area at Katherine was developed as an experimental farm by army personnel with agriculture specialist qualifications. The work that they did helped establish what varieties of fruit and vegetables were likely to be successful. This work was largely based on recommendations from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research after a visit in September and October 1944. This also called for further training for Major Campbell, Captain Kjar and Lieutenant Scott-Young to study modern methods in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and the vegetable research station in Canberra.

It is unclear what happened to the farms after the end of the war. A report, written shortly after the end of the Second World War, indicates that there were discussions during 1944 and 1945 about the future of the army farms once the Northern Territory returned to civilian control.  Unit war diaries exist for 1 Australian Farming Company until the 6 August 1946 when Captain J C MacDonald moved to 7 Military District. By this time the posted strength for 1 Australian Farm Company had been reduced to 1 officer and 1 other rank.

References:

AWM52 10/26/2 August 1940 to July 1945. 1 Farm Company Summary of Farm Activity

AWM54 337/7/5 [Farms and Gardens - Farming Units:] Inspection report on 1 Australian Farm Coy, Australian Army Service Corps, Northern Territory by Lieutenant N A M Kjar, August 1943

AWM54 337/7/12 Part 1. [Farms and Gardens - Farming Units:] Data relating to Australian Army Service Corps, Farm Coy project and associated farm activities (1939-1945)

AWM54 351/1/3 [Food - General:] History of nutrition in Australian Army. Nutrition and food, requirements and catering. System of dieting. Rationing of hospital patients.

AWM254 [317] Army Farms AASC [Australian Army Service Corps report, photographs and newspaper clippings relating to 1 Australian Farm Company in the Northern Territory, 5 Australian Farm Company in Queensland, 3 Australian Farm Company in New Guinea, and 9 Australian Farm Company in New South Wales]

The Iconic Changi Quilts

16 November 2011 by Sue Ducker. No comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,News

The Memorial is interested in making contact with the relatives or contributors to the famous Changi quilts.  If you can provide more information about the women who made these quilts please contact sue.ducker@awm.gov.au. 

When Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, 400 women and children were interned. The quilts were the idea of Mrs Ethel Mulvaney. Supposedly made for the wounded in Changi hospitals, the quilts were actually meant to relieve boredom, to boost morale, and to pass information to other camps. Three quilts were made, one each for the Red Cross organisations of Britain, Australia and Japan. 

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