Blog category - Family history
ANZAC Day at Gallipoli – Simpson Prize 2011
25 April 2011 by Stuart Baines.
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Battlefield Tours,Family history, ANZAC Day, Gallipoli, Simpson Prize 2011
Wreath ordeley dutiesThe day started for us with a midnight wake up call. We needed to allow plenty of time to beat the traffic and certainly to get as close as we can to the service. When you consider that our hotel is the closets hotel to the dawn service and that we are only about 8 kms away, you can start to imagine how hard it is to get people into the site for this commemoration. So it was a heart starter coffee and on the bus by 1 am and the anticipation from the students was palpable. They certainly recognised the significance of what they were about to do. I think they were all excited before hand as well because despite our best advice of when to sleep, it went unheeded and they played poll and Backgammon right up until it was time to go. They are paying for it now though as most of them practically fell asleep in their lunch.
Arriving at the service we went through the usual security checks and then it was on to our reserved seating. We knew we had a long wait and we rugged up, got some sleeping bags and wore half our suitcases at once. Four hours in the cold before the service was to start so we didn’t want to be under dressed. I didn’t have a sleeping bag and Lauren lost hers somewhere (turns out it was on the bus) but Chelsea was kind enough to unzip hers and share. I think they made a psychological difference more than a physical barrier from the cold. All around the centre of the site was a sea of long coloured sleeping bags and the backpackers cocooned inside them. Oddly enough it made me crave snake lollies. The big screens showed snippets of documentaries about the campaign and the Air force band played some nice tunes. As the morning went on it grew colder and colder and activity had to happen to take our mind off it. We walked down around the food stalls and smelled the beautiful BBQ’d meats and coffee and looked at the market stalls. It was all you would probably expect, t-shirts, jackets, blankets and the food was mainly kebabs, hot chips, skewers etc. On the boards of more than one food van, under the high priced food list was a dish called “Observation”. Despite our best efforts we still don’t know what observation was and if it was tasty but it was 10 Turkish Lira and some sort of obscurely miss translated food.
The service was beautiful and very solemn. The crowd were in the spirit of the occasion and it looked to be a good size crowd. We sat at the front of the seated section and watched the dignitaries walk along next to our stand to make their entrance. All the speeches were great and as seems to be the case the last post moved many to tears. Just as the light started to gently wash over us and as quickly as it had all begun it was over and those thousands of visitors shuffled out quietly to the sound of waves lapping at the shore of the beach.
We then started our long trek up the artillery road to the Lone Pine service. This service would have special meaning for all the Simpson Prize kids as they would play and active and very important role in the service. They were to act as the wreath orderlies. What an exceptional job they did. They had been well drilled by Andrew and I and I am sure that the organisers were a little shocked, but pleasantly so, that the students knew exactly what they were doing. This ceremony kicks off mid morning and is a different kind of ceremony. IT is much more relaxed and in some ways the relaxed and more intimate commemoration touched a few of the students more than the dawn. The Fanatics were there and very well behaved and good to see their numbers still good for this important day. At the end of the service the students lay their own wreath and to me it seemed like a very fitting way to mark the end of the day and cap of their experience.
WWI letters & diaries at the Memorial.
18 April 2011 by Sue Jamesion.
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Collection,Family history,News,Personal Stories, Commemoration, First World War, Private Records, WWI Centenary
As the Memorial gears up for WWI Centenary commemorations, AWM cataloguer & indexer, Sue Jamesion, begins work on a diary from 1914, 3DRL/6061One such project involves the re-cataloguing and in-depth indexing of the Memorial’s remarkable Private Records collection from WWI.
The AWM holds over 5,000 personal records from the First World War, mainly letters and diaries written by Australian men and women on active service. While earlier cataloguing for these personal records provided an index of such things as the unit with which the collection’s maker served (e.g. 8th Light Horse Regiment), and the places in which he served (e.g. Gallipoli), the new standard of Private Records cataloguing involves far more detailed description. Many more subject headings (like ‘mud’, ‘camels’, ‘prisoners of war’ and so on) have been added to the online catalogue record of individual collections, as well as biographical information about the collection’s ‘maker’ – information previously only available on a paper file. To get an idea of what I mean, take a peek at 2DRL/0481 – (papers of Lt John Alexander Raws & Lt Robert Goldthorpe Raws, both of the 23rd Battalion, AIF.)
As a family historian myself, I feel the most exciting aspect of this project is identifying individuals named in letters and diaries. I record the name of every person mentioned in each collection, even if the reference is only very brief. This ensures these names are made ‘searchable’ on the Memorial’s online catalogue.
It’s wonderful what these references can bring to light. Take for example the case of 1120 Private Leonard Arthur Thomas Beggs of the 22nd Battalion…from his official war service record, he would appear to have been less than a model soldier – but just look what his commanding officer had to say about him in a letter home from Gallipoli.
“[N]ot forgetting Beggs, a terrier of a chap, will do anything. Put up entanglements under fire, work…on sandbags at night, scout round for provisions for us at the beach, my word he’s the one to find the illicit canteens…He’s a real scout and will do anything to oblige us”. –
1DRL/0554 (papers of Captain Louis Carl Roth, MC, 2 Pioneer Battalion & formerly of 22 Infantry Battalion, AIF)
Close Shaves
03 March 2011 by Andrew Currey.
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Collection,Collection Highlights,Family history,From the collection,Personal Stories
“I had a very close shave…”
(Pte C H Lester, 1 October 1917)
As many soldiers will testify, war can be as much about luck as it is about training and equipment. Luck can take many forms, such as being in the right place at the right time, and the closely related not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The men listed below are a few examples of these places and the sometimes very short distance between them. read on
RAAF Biographical Files from the Second World War
17 September 2010 by Jessie Webb.
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Family history,From the collection,Personal Stories
At the outbreak of the Second World War, there were some 450 Australians serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF) on short-term commissions. Once the Empire Air Training Scheme got underway, thousands more Australians arrived in Britain. Many of them were posted to Royal Air Force squadrons, even though they were members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
As these Australians were serving with the RAF, many of the important records usually used to research someone’s service, such as squadron records, are held in Britain rather than Australia. This can make it difficult if you are based in Australia to trace an individual’s career using archival records.
Fortunately, in 1943 RAAF Overseas Headquarters began to compile biographical files of some of its personnel serving in Britain. Their purpose was to collect historical information on Australians serving in the RAAF, RAF and Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who achieved distinction, and they were to be used by the RAAF Historical Records Section. These records are now held at the Australian War Memorial in the archival series AWM65. The files include a basic survey that collects the airman’s personal information and details of operations, decorations, previous service experience and sometimes details of squadrons and aircraft. The records can also include press releases and newspaper cuttings, debriefs, transcripts of interviews and any form of publicity such as Air Ministry or RAAF bulletins, scripts of BBC “Calling Australia” broadcasts and newspaper reports.
One particularly interesting file is about Charles Gordon Chaloner Olive (AWM65 4018). Gordon Olive was a civil engineering cadet in Brisbane when he joined the RAAF. He trained at Point Cook and took up a short service commission in the RAF in 1937. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Olive was a Flying Officer in 65 Squadron. He became one of the small number of Australian pilots who participated in both the evacuation at Dunkirk and, later, the Battle of Britain.
Is there an overall index to colonial defence personnel pre 1900?
01 September 2010 by Liz Holcombe.
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Collection,Family history
Today, 1 September, is Ask a Curator day on Twitter. One of the first questions we had was this one:
Q: Is there an overall index to colonial defence personnel pre 1900 either for each state or together?
The answer is, not really, but there are some starting places. Because there is too much information to put on Twitter, we have written a blog post to list these sources.
There are a some books:
Donohoe, James Hugh, 1941-; The British Army in Australia 1788-1870 : index of personnel. J S Shaw North, 1996.
Donohoe, James Hugh, 1941-; The British Army in Australia : index of personnel: v. 1. 1788-1820. J. Donohoe, 1993.
Statham, Pamela, 1944-; Jenkins, Sarah.; Booker, John, 1941-; Cox and Co.; A Colonial regiment : new sources relating to the New South Wales Corps, 1789-1810. P. Statham, c1992. (NOTES: Bibliography: p. 387-389. Includes a biographical listing of every soldier who served in the NSW Corps from 1790 to 1800 (called the Register) as compiled from various sources by Sarah Jenkins, and a transcription of a book of accounts detailing the financial transactions of the. orps with its Army Agent in London from 1800 to 1805 (entitled the Ledger), introduced and transcribed by John Booker. )
(try this quick search in Trove for more)
And there are some records:
AWM1 Pre-Federation and Commonwealth records contains some nominal rolls. (This record is listed on the National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch database, but you would need to come here to the Memorial to see it.)
National Archives of Australia Fact sheet 134 – Colonial defence personnel records held in Melbourne
The Memorial has nominal rolls for pre-1900 conflicts:
We also have indices to 19th century NSW Corps service personnel in hardcopy in PR86/062: (though the link to reference images from that page is currently broken – we are working on it).
Thanks to Jennie Norberry and Jessie Webb, who work in our Research Centre, for this information.
Private Leonard Granrott in the battle at Messines
19 April 2010 by Robyn Van Dyk.
3 Comments
Family history,News,Personal Stories
In the lead up to Anzac Day on 25 April, the thoughts of many Australians often turn to members of their own family who served during the First World War. The Australian War Memorial’s databases hold a rich source of detail for families who may want to learn more about the service of their relative.
I was asked recently by ABC radio about what can be found online and in the Memorial’s collections to help tell us the story of someone’s military history. I was given the name Private Leonard Granrott to use as an example. The following story has been pieced togther from Private Granrott’s personal service record, the published unit history of the 38th Battalion and the Memorial’s online collections. The links to the online source material thoughout this story represent only a small cross section of the Memorial’s total online collections.
Matchbox that saved Leonard's lifeThe story of Private Leonard Granrott:
Private Leonard Granrott was 25 years of age and working as a painter in Brunswick, Victoria when he enlisted on 8 March, 1916. He was to serve with the 38 Infantry Battalion which was a Victorian unit. Although Granrott was from Melbourne the 38th was very much a country unit with its heart in the Australian bush. The men trained at the Epsom racecourse at Bendigo and Leonard would have practiced jumping in and out of trenches there and slept in one of the many white tents pitched under the gum trees.
The girl on the badge
03 June 2009 by Paul Taylor.
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Collection,Family history,From the collection,New acquisitions,Personal Stories
A donation came to my desk in the days following Anzac Day that caught my attention. It was a maroon and white identification badge that featured the image of a young girl, her name, an I.D. number and the words, ‘C.S.I.R. Radiophysics Division’
Fortunately the depositor of the badge provided details of the original owner and I was soon speaking to Valerie Briggs who at 79 years of age still possessed all of the enthusiasm and intelligence that I saw in the eyes of the girl on the badge.
Valerie Briggs' identification badge. REL40008Ludwig Marx – A unique Australian’s story
19 May 2009 by Mike Kelly.
4 Comments
Collection,Family history,From the collection,Personal Stories
As an assistant curator at the Australian War Memorial, I deal with many personal stories of Australians and other nations during war time. One story has really inspired me lately, that of Ludwig Marx. I had an email from his granddaughter recently about his service medals we hold in the collection. As I read the catalogue records, the brief description “served German Army in the First World War, Imprisoned at Dachau” grabbed me. I wanted to know more about Ludwig, not only to assist me in re-cataloguing his medal group, but to know more about his life and what led him from Germany to Australia. My research, with the assistance of Ludwig’s granddaughter, has uncovered the story of his incredible journey to Australia.
Ludwig Marx was born on 19 January 1892 at Krefeld, near Dusseldorf in Germany. As a young man, he worked in his father’s real estate and mortgage broking business. He learned how the property market worked and assisted his father in making the business successful.
Ludwig Marx, Tilsit, Russia c1916 (photograph courtesy of Lindy Stockwell, Geoff and Warwick Marx) Happy Valentine’s Day from ‘The Love Controller’!
12 February 2009 by Alexandra Orr.
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Collection,Family history,From the collection,New acquisitions,News,Personal Stories, First World War, Postcard, sweetheart, Valentine's Day
As with other special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays, having to spend Valentine’s Day apart from loved ones would have been sad and distressing for many serving men and women, and for those at home eagerly awaiting the safe return of their sweethearts and friends.
Fortunately, there is little that can stand in the way of love and many people overcame distance and time to send messages of love and admiration, not only for Valentine’s Day, but throughout the course of wartime.
Postcards were an easy method of expressing such thoughts and feelings. Popular at any time, a variety of designs have been created since their invention in order to send that special message to that special someone.
Many Australian servicemen and women were able to take advantage of this market, particularly during the First World War, and some very interesting examples are held in the Australian War Memorial’s collection.
RC08136 Love Ration Card“Any little news I can get”
27 October 2008 by Jessie Webb.
7 Comments
Collection,Family history,From the collection,Personal Stories, First World War, Official records, Research material, Roll of Honour
In the Research Centre, we receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to know how and where their relatives died in the First World War. Finding out this information can be a difficult task. Quite often families know no more than that their relative died on a particular date in a particular country, and they’d like to know if we can help them narrow that down.
With the advent of the Internet and the progress of digitisation programs at the Memorial and the National Archives of Australia, more and more material relating to the First World War is becoming available online. First World War service records, an increasing number of unit war diaries, and the Official History edited by Charles Bean are now available to anyone with an Internet connection.
With such a variety of sources, it can be hard to know quite where to start. Say, for example, that we wanted to find out about the death of Private Clifford Davies Williams, who died on 1 October, 1917. What would our first step be?
The Memorial’s Roll of Honour provides a good starting point. It typically gives information about where an individual was from, when they were killed, what unit they served with, and where they are buried or commemorated. It also shows where the individual is commemorated on the Memorial’s physical Roll of Honour, for those who wish to visit the Memorial to pay their respects.
