Here are some images of the exhibition. We haven’t got the professional photos yet, so these are just my snaps. They’ll be good enough to give you a look at most of the features we have on display. (I still need to add a couple that I seem to have missed when I took these, so check back sometime in January 2008.)

Main entrance showcase

The two films - “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Forty Thousand Horsemen”

The two books: “Seven pillars of wisdom” & “The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914–1918″

This initial feature recognises what most people may know about the legends of both Lawrence and the Light Horse. Above you can see: the entrance showcase containing a full light horseman’s uniform, saddle and kit alongside a set of T.E. Lawrence’s robes and headdress from All Souls College in Oxford; a feature on the two legendary films, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Forty Thousand Horsemen (1941); and the two early histories, Henry Gullett’s The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914-1918 (1923) and T.E. Lawrence’s Seven pillars of wisdom (1926). The DVD screen shows both original feature film trailers and there is a mirror under Seven pillars of wisdom so that the binding by Roger de Coverly & Sons is visible. Beyond this we explore the history behind the legends. read on

At last we have James Barr’s talk available as an audio file that you can listen to here, while browsing some of his 28 photos or after downloading it using the link below. Thanks again to James for his time and his generosity with these photos. Now go out and buy his book Setting the desert on fire!

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Download the MP3 audio file (13.9MB)

Map

Damascus Damascus

Azrak tower

Hejaz railway

read on

Well, the exhibition is now open and my feet have barely hit the ground since. When things slow down I’ll post some images and information about the opening, but currently I am still spending about 3-4 hours a day running tours as the exhibition seems pretty popular so far. Don’t panic! It is open until 25 May 2008.

As many of you will have read, Jeremy Wilson came out to the opening of the exhibition and presented a public talk on the Lawrence and taking of Akaba on 9 December in the Memorial’s Telstra Theatre. This visit was sponsored very generously by the British High Commission in Canberra.  While he was here Jeremy also recorded a long interview with Phillip Adams on his Late Night Live show on the ABC’s Radio National. This show went to air late on Wednesday night, 12 December 2008. It was replayed from 4-5 pm the following afternoon and was also available as a podcast on the ABC’s website. (It looks like this podcast is now no longer available from the ABC. Updated by MMB 16 January 2008)

Four Australian squadrons flew operationally. No.1 Squadron AFC had a unique role, serving in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Its airmen undertook reconnaissance and bombing and were often drawn into aerial combat. Lieutenant Frank McNamara won the Victoria Cross for rescuing a downed comrade under fire; it was the first to an Australian airman. read on

Trainees, instructors and staff for the Australian Flying Corps first flying training course which began 17 August 1914. They are pictured in front of a BE2A aircraft in a hangar at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, Victoria. P00731.003

Some Australian pilots qualified at courses at Point Cook, Victoria, and at Richmond, New South Wales; however, from 1917, most were trained in England. It took about 8 months to produce a pilot, commencing with classes in practical work and theory before handling aircraft. read on

The bold exploits of the fighter pilots caught the attention of the public. Aerial duels fought by young men in the clear skies satisfied the heroic notion of warfare; something that the bloody trench fighting could no longer do. Each nation had its air heroes, although many of them had only short lives. Those who destroyed five enemy aircraft were referred to as ‘aces’. The greatest of these, of any side, was the German, Manfred von Richthofen, who shot down 80 opponents. The top British ‘ace’ was Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock.

Portrait of Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Jastas 2, 11 and JGI. A04803

Australian airmen served overseas from the earliest days of the First World War. Two pilots were sent to New Guinea in 1914, but were not needed. The following year a group, to become known as the Mesopotamian half-flight, went to the Middle East and were absorbed into the Royal Flying Corps. Here, in a disastrous campaign for the British against the Turks, the Australian Flying Corps suffered its first casualties and some of the men were taken prisoner.

Two unidentified members of the Mesopotamia Half Flight seated in a Maurice Farman Shorthorn aircraft in 1916. A04136

Reconnaissance was once the role of the cavalry. In the First World War, aircraft being able to get above and well behind the enemy’s lines, could do it so much better. This role was further enhanced by aerial photography. Observers in aircraft could also direct artillery fire onto targets. Soon armed single-seater fighter-scouts were hunting the reconnaissance planes, and it became necessary to protect them.

A Williamson aerial reconaissance camera attached to the side of an aircraft c.1917. P02163.014

From 1915 nations were racing to produce the best aircraft and weapons to dominate the skies. In one early break-through, mechanical synchronisation of machine-guns enabled pilots to fire through the propeller arc. By 1917 fighters were operating in teams or large formations. Some larger planes including the twin-engined Handley Page 0/400, were also developed to drop bombs; civilians in Paris, London, and several Germans towns were among those to experience this emerging form of warfare. The dominance of the air by one or other side shifted as improved machines became available in quantity.

A Handley-Page 0/400 aircraft with some Bristol Fighter machines at the aerodrome of the Australian Flying Corps. B02114

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

On 21 February 1919 Captain Edgar J. McCloughry wrote a review of his experiences in France whilst serving with No. 4 Squadron AFC. This review, in the form of a thirteen page letter, covered the period from June-September 1918 and was written in response to a request from the Officer in Command of the Australian War Records Section. It is rare to come across a document such as this; there are only a handful held amongst the approximately one hundred Australian Flying Corps Private Record Collections stored in the Australian War Memorial’s Research Centre. I have reproduced it below at it was written in 1919 by Captain McCloughry. read on