Blog category - From the collection
Mother’s day message from a crew member of HMAS Sydney
07 May 2008 by Kathryn Hicks.
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From the collection,News,Personal Stories, Private Records
When searching through the Memorial’s Private Records collection this item was found. read on
The Memorial’s Digitisation Programs
08 April 2008 by Mal Booth.
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From the collection
Keep in mind that there are 38 slides, but they were originally used over an entire day, so there is a lot of discussion you are missing. The slides are best read in concert with the Slideshow Transcript that appears at the bottom of the Slideshare screen – a feature often missed by new users. Also, Slideshare appears not to have been able to pick up all of the embedded hyperlinks used in some slides. Again, they are included in the Slideshow Transcript at the bottom of the screen. Happy viewing!
Trench Mortar
01 April 2008 by Dianne Rutherford.
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Collection,From the collection, First World War, Technology
On display in the Memorial’s First World War Gallery is this damaged trench mortar barrel. The explosion that damaged this Stokes 3″ trench mortar barrel in 1918 also sadly killed two young men from the 6th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery.
3″ Stokes Trench Mortar barrel, damaged by a prematurely exploding bomb, 14 June 1918 RELAWM00768A story within an inscription
13 March 2008 by Pen Roberts.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. P01360.001Lucky Charms
11 February 2008 by Amanda Rebbeck.
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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.
