ANZAC Voices - new exhibition
ANZAC Voices, the Memorial’s new First World War exhibition, is currently being installed. The exhibition will open this Friday, 29 November 2013 and represents a rare opportunity to view original accounts of the First World War - letters to a sweetheart; a diary account of a hard-fought battle; postcards scrawled in the trenches and battlefields of war.
Everybody’s story is unique – so the challenge in curating ANZAC Voices has been to bring many different views and perspectives together to form a story of the war. Through the exhibition we have sought to reflect the broad experiences of Australians who served - servicemen of all ranks, a nurse and indigenous Australians. It will include the original diaries of Charles Bean – Australia’s Official correspondent throughout the First World War, as well as collections from known personalities– for example the letters of John Simpson Kirkpatrick.
John Croft’s pocket book saved his life on the 25 April 1915. He sent it to his friend Frank Catt for safe keeping along with a detailed description of events of that day. Croft’s warm, chatty letter home now forms part of Australia’s primary sources for understanding how Australians experienced the First World War. His letter and bullet damaged pocket book is part of the Memorial’s historic collection of documents related to the Gallipoli landing which along with other important original accounts of events at the landing will feature in the exhibition.