08 August 2008 by Kerrie Leech.
4 Comments
Collection, From the collection, Personal Stories, First World War, Private Records
Studio portrait of Tom Richards in 1917 (from Gold, mud 'n' guts by Greg Growden).
With Olympics fever upon us, I was prompted to look through the Memorial’s collection to see what material we held on Olympians. One collection in the Private Records area caught my eye. It was created by Lieutenant Thomas James Richards, MC who won a gold medal for rugby at the 1908 London Olympics. Before joining the Army, Richards played rugby first in Queensland, then in South Africa and England. read on
03 June 2008 by Di Rutherford.
4 Comments
Collection, From the collection, Technology
One of my favourite items at the Memorial is a tall steel and iron German camouflage tree from the First World War. During the First World War fake trees were one method used for disguising observation posts on the Western Front. This tree is from Oosttaverne Wood (also sometimes spelt Oostaverne Wood), near Messines in Belgium. We don’t know when the tree was erected in the wood, but it could have been used by the Germans up until 7 June 1917, when the Oosttaverne area was captured by the British during the Battle of Messines.
February 1918. Two Australian officers inspecting a German camouflage tree. The entrance is at the base of the tree. E04548
12 May 2008 by Mal Booth.
1 Comment
Collection, From the collection, Personal Stories, Official records, Private Records, Technology
Forty years ago, in May/June 1968 Australian soldiers fought their largest, most sustained and arguably most hazardous battles of the Vietnam War. Units of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) confronted regimental-sized formations of the North Vietnamese regular army in fierce actions around Fire Support Patrol Bases (FSPB) Coral and Balmoral in what was then known as Bien Hoa province. The location of FSPBs Coral and Balmoral are marked by blue symbols on this satellite map.
Representatives of the units involved in the battles have established the National 40th Coral and Balmoral Anniversary Committee, which is coordinating commemorative events in Canberra and Townsville starting on 12 May 2008. More information can be found on the DVA website.
The first of the battles occurred at FSPB Coral when massed enemy units attacked the base in the early hours of 13 May 1968. Australian units withstood heavy enemy attacks during which a mortar platoon and two gun positions were partly over-run. The Australians drove off the enemy after fierce close-quarter actions. The battle lasted over two hours. The task force suffered 11 killed in action and 28 wounded. In one mortar platoon five soldiers were killed and eight were wounded from a total strength of 18 men. One howitzer and two mortars were damaged. The enemy left 52 dead strewn throughout and around the fire support base.
One of 102 Field Battery’s six 105 mm M2A2 howitzers which was overrun by the enemy and then re-taken by Australian troops. It is shown here on display in the Memorial’s “Conflicts 1945 to today” galleries. REL26769
07 May 2008 by Kathryn Hicks.
4 Comments
From the collection, News, Personal Stories, Private Records
08 April 2008 by Mal Booth.
No comments
From the collection
Slideshare logoLast week I prersented a workshop on digitisation for library managers in Sydney. The slides from that presentation are now available on Slideshare. The presentation may be of some interest to those who would like to know more about why, what and how we create, manage and provide access to our digitised collections.
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!
01 April 2008 by Di Rutherford.
No comments
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 RELAWM00768
13 March 2008 by Pen Roberts.
No comments
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.
12 March 2008 by Kathryn Hicks.
1 Comment
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.
05 March 2008 by Craig Berelle.
No comments
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.”
25 February 2008 by Emma Jones.
No comments
Family history, From the collection, News, Personal Stories, Australian War Memorial, Collection, Devanha, Gallipoli
The three generations: Christine, Natasha and six month old Rose Devanha beside the nameplate on the now one hundred and three year old Devanha lifeboat.
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
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