All Blog Posts (10)

Letters from Aboriginal men who served Australia during the First World War are extremely rare.

But as the history of Aboriginal military service during the Great War is given greater attention, their firsthand accounts illustrate better than anything the sacrifice and the emotional cost of war.

The letters and postcards, some held privately, tell a moving, if laconic, story tinged with longing, gallows humour, bravado and sadness.…

Leonard Broadhurst is my Great Uncle, I have his birth certificate and to the best of my and other family members knowledge, he only had 1 christian name, Leonard. Birth Certificate shows only Leonard.   Uncle Len was born 2 Feb 1894.  The 3 brothers, all moved their birth dates by 1 yr so that the youngest (Bert) could enlist and the brothers would not attract undue attention due to age discrepancies.  I am also intrigued as to where the information about injury to the knee was sourced? …

Hi to everyone,

A Memorial Service to honour the supreme sacrifice of Harry Cressy, 54th Battalion, and 23 1st A.I.F. soldiers who are memorialised or should be memorialised at Sandgate Cemetery, will take place on the 19th July 2016.

I am looking for a guest speaker to give a short history of the Battle of Fromelles. Two other guest speakers will talk about Harry's life and service and also read extracts from his diary.

Please email me at garwood@live.com.au if you…

Hi everyone,

I am wanting to say that I am so pleased to have found this site. The battle of Fromelles was particularly poignant for my family on both sides. We lost two boys, William WASS "54th Battalion" and Richard Yardy "53rd Battalion" during this operation.

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From what I understand William Wass was an Englishman, a veteran of both the Boer War and Boxer Rebellion. William was a relative of my Great Grandfather and came to Australia following the Boer War with the…

I'm so proud to be a member and I hope my students who are involved in the project with St Mary's College in Sydney will benefit from this wonderful opportunity

Private John Turner is my great uncle i never really knew about him until they identify him. My grandmother never spoke about her brother to me or my father. She said it was to hard to talk about him and his brother who died in WW1. Sadly she passed away without knowing what ever happened to her brother he was the only ever found. I have photos of him and he lives on through my daughter she has his eyes and has the same look on her face as well.

http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781742536361/fromelles-final-chapter

I am a nephew of Raymond Holstein Pflaum. My Mother was the youngest of the family of 14 children. Three of her brothers went to the war, Theodor, Raymond and Elliott (Tab) and only Tab returned home. Raymond was killed on the 19th July 1916 at Fromelles at age 19 and Theo was killed in the Somme in 1917 age 22. My Mother was ony 11 years old when Ray died.

My Grandfather and Grandmother and family were advised by the Army that Ray had been taken as P.O.W. and died on 24…