Today I was informed of another related blog, being maintained by an archaeology project team in Jordan: The Great Arab Revolt Project. I’ve also provided a link to the project’s home page on our links page. The blog contains some great images of the areas covered by the Arab Revolt in Jordan and also some interesting insights that the team has gained from their digs such as this one from a post on 6 November:

. . . Ottoman defensive tactics during the First World War were sophisticated and likely to have been effective. The stereotype of a corrupt and incompetent army seems increasingly less likely on the evidence of modern conflict archaeology.

Hittite horse & riderWe are just now finalising the exhibition catalogue for printing and I have some time to do more posts about the exhibition. So, Hittite horse & riderhere is a brief post to let you know a little more about some of the items we are bring out from the collection of the Warden and Fellows of All Souls College in Oxford.

T.E. Lawrence was a Research Fellow of the College from 1919 to 1926. He tried living there during 1919 and 1920, but had also spent time writing in London. He gave up his rooms at Oxford in 1922.

The people at All Souls have been very helpful and generous. I met with the Bursar, Thomas Seaman in the middle of 2006 and he was very understanding as I arrived at Oxford very late in the day after catching the wrong train back to central London from The National Archives in Kew. We didn’t have much time to chat, but he was really helpful and agreed to facilitate our request for these loans: read on

A colleague here has recently alerted me to this online clip of the charge at Beersheba as recreated for the film Forty Thousand Horsemen. You can view a three minute clip here courtesy of the new site australianscreen. We will be screening the whole film at 2 pm on 8 December 2007 in our Telstra Theatre, introduced by Susanne Chauvel Carlsson, Toowoomba author and daughter of Australian pioneer film maker, Charles Chauvel.

By now you’ll probably have noticed that the blog has a new look. Adam Bell is responsible for that. He is our web developer. The design features elements of the exhibition design that have been developed by our designers, Jesse and Nicki, from Arketype in Adelaide.

I’m a tad biased but I think they’ve picked up some of my odd ideas really well and there are some really wonderful design elements that reflect and highlight some of the key features of the exhibition: the written word; textiles; the environment; the twin historical stories; and the culture of the Middle East.

We have a few interesting public talks and a film screening before the end of the year. Here is all the information you’ll need. The Telstra Theatre is inside the Memorial, on the lower ground floor.

27 November 2007, 10.30-11.30 am, Telstra Theatre

Author Talk: James Barr
James Barr’s book about Lawrence and the Arab revolt, Setting the Desert on Fire: TE Lawrence and Britain’s secret war in Arabia 1916-18, was published in Britain in paperback this year. He will discuss travelling extensively in the Middle East and delving into the archives in London to do his research.
Free, booking not required

7 December 2007, 3:00 pm, Telstra Theatre

Curator talk: Dr Norma Aubertin-Potter, Senior Librarian, Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford, UK
Join us for a 40-minute talk from Norma Aubertin-Potter, who will provide a fascinating insight into T.E.Lawrence’s time at All Souls College, and into the items from the All Souls collection borrowed for our exhibition.
Free, booking not required

read on

Wartime Cover #40The Memorial’s regularly published magazine Wartime has a cover story and major feature on our exhibition in the Wartime current issue (#40). We have four articles in this issue:

• Nigel Steel addresses the liberation of Damascus from the Turks in October 1918. Credit has mostly been given to Feisal’s Arabs and Lawrence was responsible for this claim as that is what he said in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Nigel points out the entry of the 10th Light Horse Regiment at first light on 1 October 1918 in his article, “The sword in their midst”.
• Robyn Van Dyk has two articles: “Creating a legend”, about the contribution to the legend of the Light Horse made by the pen of Ion Idriess; and “Horsemen of the air”, about the light horsemen who swapped saddles for cockpits and joined the Australian Flying Corps during the war.
• I have an article that explores the differences between Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel and Lieutenant Colonel T.E. Lawrence. As I researched this exhibition, my admiration for both men grew enormously. I found it strange that they didn’t see eye-to-eye when they met in Damascus and have suggested a few reasons.

The magazine contains some good images of Lawrence, Chauvel and the Light Horse. You can purchase it at the Memorial, in newsagents around Australia and also via our website on this page.

The battle of Beersheba took place on 31 October 1917 as part of the wider British offensive collectively known as the third Battle of Gaza. The final phase of this all day battle was the famous mounted charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade. Commencing at dusk, members of the brigade stormed through the Turkish defences and seized the strategic town of Beersheba. The capture of Beersheba enabled British Empire forces to break the Ottoman line near Gaza on 7 November and advance into Palestine.British and Turkish lines prior to Allenby’s attack on Gaza October, 1917.

The mounted troops spent the summer of 1917 after the second battle of Gaza in constant reconnaissance and in preparation for the offensive to come. The Turkish forces held the line from Gaza near the coast to Beersheba, about 46 kilometres to its south-east. The Allied forces held the line of the Wadi Ghuzzer from its mouth to El Gamly on the East. The positions were not continuous trench lines but rather a succession of strong posts. Both sides kept their strength in front of the city of Gaza.

Allenby, Chauvel, Chetwode & HRH The Duke of ConnaughtThe newly arrived British commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Sir Edmund Allenby used plans prepared by Lieutenant General Sir Phillip Chetwode. The plan was to attack Beersheba by using mounted troops from the east whilst the infantry attacked Beersheba from the south west. The preparation also involved persuading the Turkish forces that the offensive would again be against Gaza. Chetwode was in command the 20th Corps and the Desert Mounted Corps was under Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel. read on

September was a really busy month for us. We all had to meet deadlines for text, get the initial design concepts endorsed by management and write essays for magazines and our catalogue. So, just in case you are interested in what has gone on so far, here is a pretty comprehensive listing of the process and a few images we have taken along the way.

Several senior staff from the Memorial viewed the IWM Lawrence of Arabia: The life, the legend exhibition in London.

An informal approach was made to the IWM for their assistance and cooperation. (They replied favourably.)

Light Horse weapons and a lanceA curator (Mal) and assistant curator (Robyn) were appointed, and the exhibition team formed.

A concept paper (with an audience segmentation summary) was developed, and the project manager (Susie) developed a draft budget and the development schedule (I was glad that I didn’t have to do that!). read on

Well, at least something we were not allowed to borrow . . .

We did want to bring one of Lawrence’s Arab daggers out to show in our exhibition. Two were displayed by the IWM: a gold dagger made for Lawrence in Mecca in 1917 that is now owned by All Souls College, Oxford; and a silver-gilt dagger now owned by Lord and Lady Kennet. I thought that it would be best to try for both and my first negotiation was in London at the home of Lord and Lady Kennet. We didn’t get the dagger, but I have the Kennet’s permission to tell you this story, which is pretty interesting, at least from my perspective.

Disk on the Kennet’s homeI was told on the phone by Lord Kennet that I could not have the dagger but was invited to evening drinks with him and Lady Kennet and walked up there, across Hyde Park from my ’summer residence’ in South Kensington. Ha! When I approached the house I noticed one of those blue historic site disks mounted on the house. They live in the former home of Sir James Barrie.

read on

In this post I will begin to cover my second trip to London in late June 2006 to negotiateEmir Feisal and bodyguard heading northwards to Wejh loans from the UK, mostly for the Lawrence side of our exhibition. It really was a great priviledge to be able to do this and to return to London so soon after my quick visit over Easter to see the IWM’s Lawrence exhibition. Museum’s are not made of money and this trip was made possible because my colleagues here in Art and Travelling Exhibitions, Lola Wilkins and Jude Savage, generously allowed for me to travel as their courier, bringing our art works in Shared Experience back from their London show.

Before packing up Shared Experience, I had almost two weeks to race around, negotiating loans from various collections in and around London. So, on to my stories about loan negotiations and at last, some interesting facts about the items we will be bringing out to Australia for the first and maybe the only time. read on