To celebrate the arrival of ‘Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and beyond,’ teachers passionate about art are being invited to participate in a special learning day in Canberra.

This one day program also includes an opportunity to explore collections in two of the National Capital’s premier institutions – The Australian War Memorial and the National Portrait Gallery.

The meet-up will be in the form of a projection onto – or within – the participating institution’s building at night (or suitable day-time location) using a slideshow of content from the Commons on Flickr accounts curated by the community.

There are over 400 images in the set, and they are an amazing selection.  There are sad photos, funny ones, cute ones, one that make you think, ones that you will not expect.  Some are in colour, many are black and white.  Some show ordinary people doing ordinary things, some will make you gasp.  They demonstrate not only the differences between the collections from which they are drawn, but also the things that are the same, the common ground. 

Here at the Australian War Memorial, the images will projected on the large screen in our orientation gallery over the weekend.  The Powerhouse Museum and the State Library of New South Wales are joining forces in Sydney, and the State Libraryof Queensland is also taking part. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, the meet-up is on at George Eastman House, State Library and Archives of Florida, the Oregon State University Archives ,  Brooklyn Museum and the New York Public Library and the Swedish National Heritage Board

Read more about the Commons on Flickr, see the Memorial’s images on the Commons, or read more about the Common Ground event in the Collections Australia Network blog.

Update:  If you missed the event, you can still see the images in this slide show on Flickr Commons and read the Common Ground wrap-up on the indicommons blog.

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Those who regularly read the AWM blog might remember the Valentine’s Day blog post about a mysterious love letter from a young French woman to her soldier sweetheart.

This letter, and the mystery that surrounds it, created lots of interest. With the help of an enthusiastic member of the public, and her wonderfully helpful relative in France, we have since found a few more details about Marthe and her letter.

Marthe and her family were evacuated from Armentières, on the French/Belgian border, to Saint-Sulpice-Les-Feuilles during the First World War. Armentières was destroyed during the war and rebuilt afterwards.

It was in Saint-Sulpice-Les-Feuilles that Marthe met her sweetheart. However, the identity of Marthe’s sweetheart and his fate remain a mystery. The two never married as he rejoined his battalion and never came back to her. Marthe’s nephew heard the story from his father but the family cannot recall his name after all these years. However, enquires continue and I’ll do another blog post if any more information turns up.

Marthe’s letter will be on public display as part of the Memorial’s Of Love and War exhibition opening in December.

The Australian War Memorial will join other institutions, including the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum, for the worldwide exhibition Common Ground.

 Voting for Common Ground closes on 16 September, so now is the last chance to vote for photographs, including those shared on Flickr by the Australian War Memorial.

 Voting is open to everyone with a Flickr account, for all images from Commons on Flickr. The most ‘favourited’ images, as voted by the public, will be simultaneously projected around the world by participating institutions on the weekend of 2 and 3 October.

 The Australian War Memorial is pleased to be participating, with the projection screening in the Orientation Gallery on 2 and 3 October.

 Vote now for the Australian War Memorial at http://commonground.eastmanhouse.org/ 

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Further information:
http://www.awm.gov.au/flickrcommons/meetup.asp

http://www.flickr.com/groups/flickrcommons

9 September 2009

Today I was out at our Conservation and Storage Annex showing journalists through Big Things In Store to get the word out about the event this Sunday.

WIN Television filming the artillery collection

The team has done a great job moving objects and creating walkways ready for Sunday so visitors can get a closer look at our Big Things. This year, will be a special chance to see the Dingo Scout Car’s components, because the different parts are spread out in the workshop ready for the conservators to start their work.

A view of some the aircraft on display

My personal favourite this time would have to be our robot. Known as “Jeffery the Robot” after its inventor, this small remote-controlled robot is a protoype that never made it to production. It was designed to deliver small charges to destroy the enemy’s barbed wire and bunkers without endangering troops.

The team has been busy preparing, so if you’re still unsure of what to do with Dad on Sunday, head out to Big Things In Store.

Big Things In Store
Australian War Memorial Conservation and Storage Annex
Callan Street, Mitchell ACT

12pm – 4pm.
Entry by donation.

Closed flat footwear is required for entry. No large bags, tripods, monopods.

P.s. Did you know the Australian War Memorial is on facebook, flickr and twitter! Don’t forget to share your photos from Big Things In Store with us.

The Western Front was epitomised by the brute force of men against machine and each other. Tens of thousands were lost in the maelstrom of war. In the horror, friendships were forged that endured even through death. This is the story of one such friendship…

Wally Brown was a grocer. He did not necessarily want to be a grocer but neither did he want to follow in the footsteps of his father as a miller. The small Tasmanian community of New Norfolk, into which he was born in 1885, was a progressive ‘postal, telegraphic and money order township’. The town boasted the New Norfolk Literary Institution complete with a library of some 1200 volumes and a ‘very fine and well built lunatic asylum’. Progressive it might have been, but at 26 years of age Brown had itchy feet. In 1911 he left New Norfolk for the bustling lifestyle of Petersham in Sydney.

Walter 'Wally' Brown ART09490

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On the 19^th November 1941, Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney II was lost, with all hands, off the coast of Western Australia after engaging with the German raider HSK Kormoran. The discovery in March 2008 of the final resting place of the Sydney and the Kormoran attracted much attention. Understandably, there has been much discussion over the circumstances surrounding the loss of the Sydney; however the story of the Kormoran’s Commander, Theodor Anton Detmers, and that of his crew, continued long after the battle. Almost a week after the sinking of the Kormoran, Detmers was picked up in a lifeboat along with other crewmen. Brought to Australia as a prisoner of war, he and several of his countrymen were detained in Dhurringile Prison Camp, Victoria. It was not long before the Commander and his countrymen had formulated a plan to escape their fortress using a hand-drawn map of Australia’s east coast, now held by the Australian War Memorial.

Group portrait of German Officer prisoners of war (POWs) interned at Dhurringile. Detmers is in the front row, third from left. 030185_05

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The 31^st of July 2009 will mark the end of Operation CATALYST. CATALYST began on the 20^th of March 2003 and defined the role of the Australian Defence Force in assisting multinational forces in the stabilization and security of Iraq. It also involved ADF support in the implementation of the country’s recovery programs.

Boatswains Mates, HMAS Parramatta, 2009

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That terrible track which is now known as the Kokoda Trail.
George Johnston, New Guinea diary, 1943

In recent years, many hours have been wasted and much ink has been spilt debating whether the foot route across the Owen Stanley Range, in Papua New Guinea, should be called the “Kokoda Trail” or the “Kokoda Track”. Both terms were used interchangeably during the war, and at the time they were not considered to be mutually exclusive. Now, though, as Kokoda takes on an ever-increasing prominence in Australia’s military pantheon, second only to Gallipoli in the nation’s sentiment, the “track” versus “trail” debate has become an impassioned, and at times almost belligerent, argument. Supporters of “Kokoda Track” object to the use of the word “trail” on the grounds that it is considered to be an American word, whereas “track” is strongly associated with the language of the Australian bush. Those who favour “trail” are quick to point out that the “Kokoda Trail” is the title of the army’s battle honour and the name gazetted for the route by the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government.

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