Blog category - Collection
A story within an inscription
13 March 2008 by Pen Roberts.
No comments
Collection,From the collection, Books
Found at a Canberra book fair, was a beautiful yet worn, leather bound, gold-embossed volume. The inside inscription reads, ‘From Civilian Library Changi Camp 1942-1945.’
While the words “Changi Camp” are familiar to many Australians, “Civilian Library” might bring some surprise. Further inscriptions, two date stamps and pencilled date ranges, confirm the book’s use as a library book. “P188″ is probably a collection number.
What do 70,000 images equal?
12 March 2008 by Kathryn Hicks.
1 Comment
Collection,From the collection,News, Official records
The Official Records series AWM 95! A three year project consisting of 47 shelves, 234 boxes and 2575 files. AWM 95s are the Commanders’ Diaries of the Australian Army ranging from 1948 to 1975, covering the Malayan Emergency, Malay Peninsula and the Vietnam War. Most diaries consist of a cover with an index, a daily narrative of events, and annexes. The AWM 95 series is the latest digitisation project to be completed by the Australian War Memorial.
How an overnight storm threw up a relic of our first VC winner
05 March 2008 by Craig Berelle.
No comments
Collection,From the collection,Personal Stories, First World War
It was 10 March 1919, and readers of the London Daily Mail were asked to help solve a wartime puzzle.
Appearing on page three, the appeal read “A newspaper correspondent, who has sent his address to the Editor of the Daily Mail, seeks a claimant for a Red Cross armlet, which he says he found in November 1915 on beach at ANZAC Bay, and which is marked: R. Howse, Col. : A.D.M.S., Australian Division.”
More than just a lifeboat
25 February 2008 by Emma Jones.
2 Comments
Family history,From the collection,News,Personal Stories, Australian War Memorial, Collection, Devanha, Gallipoli
Recent visitors to the AWM Treloar Conservation Annex at Mitchell, ACT, introduced through Richard Cruise, Acting Visitor Services Manager, reinforced the sometimes incredible connections that descendants of service personnel have with the relics in the collection.
Arthur Cecil Claude James embarked for Australia in 1914 to visit his elder married sister in Melbourne. He decided to enlist in the Australian Army in January 1915, was posted to Gallipoli, and sailed on HMAT Wiltshire in April of that year.
Arthur suffered various health problems while serving on Gallipoli and his ‘death’ was reported in the Melbourne Age, the article saying ‘he died with a smile on his face’. The family still has the original newspaper cutting. read on
No wedding glamour for Clarice
19 February 2008 by Janette Condon.
No comments
Collection,From the collection,Personal Stories, First World War
Mention is sometimes made of personal events in the war diaries of the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF), currently being digitised by the Research Centre. Of all the activities of members of the First Light Horse Brigade at Gallipoli, one of the more unusual was the wedding of Sergeant Ernest Alfred Lawrence to his bride Clarice Jessie Daley on 21 October 1915 on the Greek island of Lemnos.
Clarice and Ernest leaving the tent in which they were married through an arch of drawn bayonets. P01360.001Smokin’ Aces
15 February 2008 by Alexandra Orr.
No comments
Collection,New acquisitions, Ephemera
It seems one of the most expedient weapons deployed personnel can have these days is a deck of cards. Yes, you read correctly. A common form of ephemera coming into the Memorial from those involved in recent conflicts like Iraq, are playing cards, which have been produced by Australia and the United States to reach beyond mere entertainment value into the realm of Intelligence.
Zif’s sketchbook
11 February 2008 by Yasmin Green.
No comments
New acquisitions, Art
A sketchbook of humorous pre-First World War caricatures has recently been acquired by the Australian War Memorial. Members of the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), located at Queenscliff, Victoria, are depicted in this work dating from 1909-1910. Referred to as the “budget” of the regiment and located in what once appeared to be an accounting book, the works were created by an anonymous artist using the name “Zif”. read on
Lucky Charms
11 February 2008 by Amanda Rebbeck.
15 Comments
Aircraft 1914 - 1918,Collection,From the collection, Heraldry
It is not unusual for servicemen and women to carry with them good luck charms while on overseas service. However one particularly superstitious serviceman was Aircraft Mechanic 2nd Class Henry James Marston, of No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (AFC). Marston wore a wrist chain with an identity tag and three lucky charms – a boomerang, a black cat and a doll.
2AM Henry J Marston’s aluminium identity disc and three good luck charms affixed to a brass wrist chain. REL33983The boomerang entitled ‘I Go To Return’ is an obvious choice, and may have been bought by or given to Marston before leaving Australia. The choice of the “lucky” black cat is similarly obvious. The silver FUMSUP charm (a play on “thumb’s up”), was a popular motif in Britain during the First World War and also appeared on souvenir china and postcards. The head appears to be made of wood “touch wood” and has a four leaf clover impressed into it. The tiny glass eyes often seen in other examples are missing. Marston’s mother’s details and address are engraved on the reverse of the identity disc.
Sock it to ‘em
07 February 2008 by Jennie Norberry.
2 Comments
Collection, Ephemera
It’s one of those questions that doesn’t get asked everyday, but when it is, the enquirer doesn’t usually have to finish their question before we can help them. They usually start with
“I don’t know if you can help me, I was in the World War 1 section and noticed a knitting pattern for…”
At this point I can jump in with:
“Knitting two socks at once.”
Who Killed the Red Baron?
06 February 2008 by Amanda Rebbeck.
10 Comments
Aircraft 1914 - 1918,Collection, Private Records, The Red Baron
A posthumous photograph of Captain Baron Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron). A03158I came across a number of first and second hand accounts of the death of Baron von Richthofen whilst I was examining various Private Record Collections in the Memorial’s Research Centre. They made for interesting reading since the events of 21 April 1918 have long been the subject of many enthusiastic debates in the history of the First World War. I have reproduced below for interest some extracts of the letters, diaries and memoirs I read. They have all been written by Australian Flying Corps personnel and describe their recollections of what happened the day the Red Baron flew his last mission. read on
