Commemorative Display — august 2014

2

overviewTo mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War (194-1918), the Australian National Museum of Education mounted a commemorative display, offering insights into the ways in which schools and State Departments of Education responded to the War.

This exhibition, curated by Dr Geoffrey Burkhardt, aims to reflect the ways in which the school sector reacted to events as they were progressively revealed to the Australian public. Naturally, the Gallipoli Campaign evoked a very emotive response, not only from schools and teachers but also in the homes of school-aged children.

sChools, stuDents anD WorlD War ia Commemorative Display

3

The publications, artefacts and school ephemera exhibited in this display give examples of these responses and reactions to the social awareness among the students, families and schools.

Over time, as the War’s scale and duration became apparent, war-related pictorial material began to take a more important role in the publications of Education Departments.

Also, the type of pictorial and textual material that school children might have been aware of in their own homes became important in sensitising school children to the seriousness and drama of a nation at war.

sChools, stuDents anD WorlD War ia Commemorative Display

4

5

6

Published Newspaper Casualty Lists. Familiar to most school students was lists the Roll of Honour of Australian soldiers killed in action.

Casualty Lists. Former students of Fort Street Boys High School published in the The Fortian Magazine of Fort Street High School, November 1916. (On loan from private collection)

7

maps

Map of Central Europe, of the type used in school classrooms during the 1914 -1918 period and later.

Source: The History of the Great European War, ed. W. Knight (ANME Collection)

8

Map of the Gallipoli Peninsula and Dardanelles, theatre of the ANZAC campaign in 1915. Source: The History of the Great European War, ed. W. Knight (ANME Collection)

9

The Australian Soldiers’ Gift Book. A popular reference familiar to school children in their homes and in their school libraries. (Private Collection)

10

‘AUSSIE’ The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, A magazine that would have been familiar in the homes of school students in 1918. (On loan from private collection)

11

Recruitment Advertising. School students would have been familiar with the many army recruitment posters and newspaper advertisements.

12

The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War, Part 82, 14th March 1916. Found in some school libraries and local public libraries during World War I. (Private Collection)

13

The War Pictorial Magazine, July 1917, a periodical familiar to school students in school libraries and their homes. (Private Collection)

14

The Kia ora Coo-ee, The Magazine for the ANZACS in the Middle East 1918. Facsimile of the original magazine, which would have been familiar in the homes of many school students.

15

Stereoscopic Viewer, and Stereoscopic Image Card. A stereoscope was a device for viewing photos as three-dimensional images.

The stereoscope displayed is one of a cheaper type manufactured between 1900 and 1910, which was often to be found in school classrooms during the Great War. The stereoscopic view card photos displayed depict Allied trenches on a Western Front battlefield and i a Gallipoli Landing 1915. (Private collection)

16

The ANZAC Book, Written and Illustrated in Gallipoli by the men of Anzac. Facsimile of the 1st edition which was published in 1916. The original edition was one of the most popular books on the Anzac campaigns during the War and copies were common in homes and school libraries. Third edition published by the UNSW Press in 2010 with a facsimile of the 1916 edition. (Private Collection)

17

The Great War Victory Medallion, Issued to all Australian School Children in 1919, which carries the wording “Victory, the Triumph of Liberty and Justice” (ANME Collection)

Commemorative Events Enamelled Badges, including Australia Day 1915, Gallipoli Day 1919, Navy Day 1918, Australian Comforts Fund 1918, Peace Badge 1919 and Poppy Day. Badges of this type were popular with school students and their parents. (Private Collection)

19

Queensland School Readers. ‘The Eve of Anzac’, from chapter on WWI, History for Sixth and Seventh Grades (ANME Collection).

Gallipoli Stories in School Readers, 'The Man With the Donkey', South Australian History Reader, Grade IV, 1938. (ANME Collection)

20

School Text Book Chapter on the Great War, Philip’s Home Study Series, History, 6th Class, by T.H.Ransley, pp. 40-48. (ANME Collection)

21

Commonwealth School Paper, Empire Day Issue, May 1915. For primary school grades V and VI, this contained articles on the Australian Light Horse and other War related stories. This publication was later replaced in NSW by the School Magazine, published by the NSW Department of Education for all NSW government primary schools. (Private collection)

22

Patriotic souvenir crockery. Examples of crockery produced during the War years. First World War Empire Day Plates, 24th May 1917. (Private Collection)

23

Sheet Music from the period of the Great War, including popular songs reflecting the experience of war and the birth of the Anzac tradition and Australian nationalism.

24

Poetry From the Trenches “The Anzacs” Dedicated to the ANZACS, by Private H.W. Morris, 12th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade AIF.

Australian Poetry about the First World War, Leon Gellert’s Songs of a Campaign, Angus & Robertson, 1st edition, 1917. Leon Gellert was a South Australian school teacher before enlisting. Some of his poems were taught to students in Australian schools during the Great War.

26

Schooling, Service and the Great War: A Resource for Secondary Schools, Year 9 Australian Curriculum, published by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 2014. (ANME Collection)

27

school memorialsSchool Honour Boards and Honour Roll Monuments listing those ex-students of the school who enlisted in the Australian Forces during the First World War are found in almost all Australian schools, primary and secondary which existed during the 1914-1918 period.

Great War Honour Rolls were most commonly erected on wooden panels displayed in the foyer or assembly halls of larger schools, or on the classroom walls of one-teacher rural schools. In some cases, there was a memorial column or memorial gates.

Many centenary and jubilee histories of schools included chapters recognizing the contribution of their ex-students to the armed services during the First World War.

The Gunnedah Public School Roll of Honour is located on the eastern wall of the former Gunnedah Public School (now Carinya Christian School. (Photograph, Grace Turner)

28

The Rosewarne Public School Memorial was originally located in the locality of Rosewarne but has since been renovated and removed to a site near Anzac Park in Gunnedah. (Photograph, Grace Turner)

29