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Charles Bean

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Revisiting the battlefield.
Several months after the savage fighting of July - August 1916 at Pozières, C.E.W. Bean, then an Australian war correspondent, returned to retrace the battle. He was accompanied by the artist Will Dyson and the English poet John Masefield. On this occasion Bean collected the first relics for what eventually became the Australian War Memorial.

Collection Item C172159

Accession Number: ART07545

George Lambert
Charles E W Bean
painting 1924

Historian with a mission

Born in Australia but raised in Britain, Charles Bean returned south in 1904, aged 25, and became a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald. One of his first tasks was to cover the visit of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 he was sent to western New South Wales to write about the wool industry. Rural Australia inspired Bean: he believed that the distinctive virtues and values and the true national type were being generated there.

In 1914 Bean was nominated by the Australian Journalists' Association to accompany the AIF as official war correspondent, and he joined the troops on Gallipoli and the Western Front. After the war he was appointed to write the official history of Australia's participation. He set up the Australian War Records Section and conceived the idea of the Australian War Memorial, to be built in Canberra.

Tall, thin, and steeped in Victorian values, Bean was an admirer of the Australian rural worker and ordinary soldiers. His writing was remarkable for its coverage of individuals and small groups, sometimes from the lowest military level; many of them were what he sometimes called "plain Australians".

Charles Bean cannot be credited with creating the Anzac legend on his own, but he made an immense contribution to it through his despatches, in The Anzac book, and in the 12 volumes of the Official history of Australia in the war of 1914-18.

Collection Item C169704

Accession Number: ART02225

Will Dyson First World War official war artist
Going over the old ground with B … , Pozières
charcoal, brush and ink and ink wash
drawn in France 1917.

Last updated: 5 December 2019

Explore the Collection

Explore the Collection

Our collection contains a wealth of material to help you research and find your connection with the wartime experiences of the brave men and women who served in Australia’s military forces.

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Donations & Bequests

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

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The placesofpride

Places of Pride

Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia.

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Visit the Australian War Memorial

Visit the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is open for visitors as we work to expand our galleries. All visitors require a free timed ticket to enter the Memorial Galleries and attend the Last Post Ceremony.

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TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS

The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
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The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent
Campbell ACT 2612
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The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

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In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony,

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