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The Home Front: Australia during the First World War | National Museum of Australia (nma.gov.au)

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The Home Front explored the pride, sorrow, passion, wonder and joy experienced by Australians far from the battlefields of the First World War. Through personal stories, this exhibition looked at life on the Australian home front, and explored people's choices, opportunities and challenges in a time of heightened emotions.

The Home Front was on show at the National Museum of Australia from 3 April until 11 October 2015.

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The Home Front: Australia during the First World War

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The Home Front explored the pride, sorrow, passion, wonder and joy experienced by Australians far from the battlefields of the First World War. Through personal stories, this exhibition looked at life on the Australian home front, and explored people's choices, opportunities and challenges in a time of heightened emotions.

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Home | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)

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The Memorial's Digitisation Project aims to digitise collection items at risk of deterioration, including paper records, film, audio, and images. This process will help to preserve the original items and enable the collection to be more accessible to researchers in future.

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The Memorial's Digitisation Project aims to digitise collection items at risk of deterioration, including paper records, film, audio, and images. This process will help to preserve the original items and enable the collection to be more accessible to researchers in future.

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Australians and wartime experience in World War I - Anzac Portal (dva.gov.au)

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send.php (bgs.vic.edu.au)

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Roles of Australian women in World War I - Anzac Portal (dva.gov.au)

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Women at home

Wartime offered some opportunities for women to expand their roles, but only in a limited way. For example, not until did many women take on military service jobs that men usually did.

Volunteering in Australia

In World War I, many Australian women on the home front took on voluntary comfort and fundraising roles to support the troops overseas.

Women's organisations that were active during the war included:

Australian Women's National League

Australian Red Cross

Country Women's Association

Voluntary Aid Detachment

Australian Women's Service Corps

Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Melbourne woman, Vera Deakin, set up the Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau. The organisation tried to get information to the families of servicemen who either:

had been killed

were listed as missing

were wounded

had been taken prisoner.

Creating change

Disharmony often developed when women on the home front took on roles that involved:

These types of activism could divide a local community or groups within the community.

Pro-war activism and patriotism

Some women believed patriotism required them to urge men to enlist. Other women who had no desire to force men into service reacted badly to these campaigns.

Anti-war activism and pacifism

Some women's organisations campaigned against the war and military conscription. For example, the Women's Peace Army was formed in 1915 by 2 Melbourne women:

Women overseas

Women have always played a significant role as nurses in wartime. In the South African (Second Boer) War and World War I, the main service roles open to women were:

nurse

medical support worker, such as blood transfusionists and masseuses (medical therapists)

voluntary aid detachment (VAD).

Civilian nurses and teachers often paid their own way to volunteer overseas in the South African War and World War I.

Red Cross nurses, known as 'Bluebirds' due to their uniforms, served in military hospitals in France during the war.

Canteens were set up for Australian troops in Egypt by Australian women. Among those who volunteered were:

Military service and nursing

World War I records show that:

2,139 women served in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)

130 women worked with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service in the British Army

423 women served in hospitals in Australia.

Nurses in the AANS were expected to be single or widowed. Although, some married women got through the recruiting check. If a nurse married during her period of service, she was no longer able to serve in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

Of those AANS nurses who served overseas for whom we have details:

seven were aged under 21

1,184 were 21 to 30

947 were 31 to 40

91 were older than 40.

Some Australian nurses paid their own way to be involved in medical service during the war. Some served in non-profit organisations, such as the British Red Cross Society.

While working in the casualty clearing stations in France, seven nurses from the AANS were awarded the Military Medal for bravery and service under fire:

Sister Dorothy Cawood

Sister Clara Deacon

Staff Nurse Mary Jane Derrer

Staff Nurse Alice Ross-King

Sister in Charge Alicia Kelly

Staff Nurse Rachael Pratt

Sister Pearl Corkhill.

Of all the women who served in the AANS during the war, 23 died from illness or wounds.

We have records of one Australian woman who spent time as a prisoner of war.

Ethel Gillingham was a trained nurse from western Victoria. In England at the outbreak of war, Gillingham joined the British Red Cross Society. In April 1915, Gillingham went with her unit to a hospital in Vrnjatchka Banja, Serbia. When the town fell to Austrian troops on 10 November 1915, she was captured. Along with the rest of her unit, Gillingham was released unharmed. She safely reached Belgrade in February 1916.

Impact of wartime employment

Non-Indigenous women had been able to vote at federal elections and to stand for federal Parliament since 1902, and vote in state elections since 1911. But when war broke out in 1914, most Australian women were unpaid homemakers, whether they married or not. Fewer than one in five females worked. Generally, they were employed in traditionally female roles, as factory workers and domestic servants.

Australian Census data for 1911 and 1921 shows the broad impact of the war on the female workforce, although both surveys excluded First Nations Australians. At the time, a breadwinner was usually the sole income earner for a family or household. A dependant was either a spouse, sibling or child supported by a breadwinner.

The data shows the:

proportion of females in the population grew slightly (48% in 1911 compared to 49% in 1921)

proportion of female breadwinners dropped slightly (18% in 1911 compared to 17% in 1921)

proportion of female dependants grew slightly (81% in 1911 compared to 83% in 1921).

After the war, most Australians who identified as female remained dependent on a breadwinner, either as a child, an adult who could not work, or an adult in the unpaid role of married or unmarried 'homemaker'.

However, a deeper look at the Census data reveals that the proportion of women working in some types of jobs grew significantly. The recognition of women's wartime roles likely helped expand the types of work available to Australian women after the war.

There were large increases in the number of women working in:

commercial roles (mainly merchants and dealers; textiles and clothing; and food, drinks, tobacco and pharmaceuticals)

professional roles (mainly teaching, health care, charities and religious orders)

transport and communication roles (mainly telephone service and railways).

Technological advances after the war, such as the widespread adoption of telegraph stations, wireless radio broadcasting and telephone services, continued to open more occupations for women.

Commemoration of women

During the war, the Australian Government Department of Defence issued a commemorative Female Relative Badge. It was awarded to the nearest female relative (mother, wife) of sailors, soldiers, airmen, nurses and masseuses.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Australia developed the that had begun in 1915 (and that we still observe today). The Anzac legend became an important element in Australia's remembrance of the war and its national identity. However, the war was fought by men, so the legend was based on the behaviour of Australian men. At that time, the role of women was commemorated in a much smaller way, with a focus on nursing.

You can visit 2 national memorials to female service personnel at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

In the Hall of Memory, you can see 15 stained glass windows. Each window captures a personal, social or service quality displayed by Australians during wartime. One window featuring a nurse was dedicated to the service women of World War I. She represents all those who have shown dedication to their patients and a commitment to caring for the sick and wounded during the war.

Also in the Hall of Memory is a mosaic of the Women's Services, which was dedicated to the Australian service women of World War II.

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Roles of Australian women in World War I

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Many Australian women took on different roles during World War I but the impact on their employment status was short lived

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The Anzac legend - Anzac Portal (dva.gov.au)

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Origins of 'Anzac'

The term 'ANZAC' was first used in 1915, as an acronym to describe the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in army reports. The two corps were part of the British-commanded Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, which fought against the Ottoman Empire at Gallipoli in 1915.

There are different stories about who first used the 'Anzac' term. General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the British forces in the Dardanelles, claimed responsibility for the acronym in the book Crusading at Anzac AD 1915. Hamilton said he:

omitted the five full stops and brazenly coined the word "Anzac"

Commander of the Australians and New Zealanders on Gallipoli, General Sir William Birdwood, also claimed credit for the term. In his introduction to The Anzac Book, first published in 1916, Birdwood wrote:

When I took over the command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in Egypt a year ago, I was asked to select a telegraphic code address for my Army Corps, and then adopted the word "Anzac."

Later on, when we had effected our landing here in April last, I was asked by General Headquarters to suggest a name for the beach where we had made good our first precarious footing, and then asked that this might be recorded as "Anzac Cove", a name which the bravery of our men has now made historical, while it will remain a geographical landmark for all time.

[General Sir William Birdwood, The Anzac Book, 1916, ix]

Australia's official war historian, Charles Bean, attributed 'Anzac' to a British clerk in Birdwood's Cairo headquarters.

One day early in 1915 Major C.M. Wagstaff, then junior member of the "operations" section of Birdwood's staff, walked into the General Staff office and mentioned to the clerks that a convenient word was wanted as a code name for the Corps. The clerks had noticed the big initials on the cases outside their room: A. & N. Z. A. C.; and a rubber stamp for registering correspondence had also been cut with the same initials. When Wagstaff mentioned the need of a code word, one of the clerks (according to most accounts Lieutenant A.T. White, an English Army Service Corps man, who for a time was superintending clerk on the corps headquarters) suggested: "How about ANZAC?" Major Wagstaff proposed the word to the general, who approved of it and "Anzac" thereupon became the code name of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It was, however, some time before the code word came into general use, and at the Landing many men in the divisions had not yet heard of it.

[CEW Bean, The story of Anzac: the official history of Australia in the war of 1914-1918, vol.1, pp124-125]

'Anzac' has been used ever since. Its use is protected under Australian law.

The first Anzacs

... whatever happens Australia is a part of the Empire right to the full. Remember that when the Empire is at war so is Australia at war. That being so, you will see how grave is the situation. I want to make it quite clear that all our resources in Australia are in the Empire, and for the Empire, and for the preservation and the security of the Empire.

[Prime Minister Sir Joseph Cook, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August 1914, p21]

Australia had a population of less than 5 million in 1914. By the end of the war, 416,809 people had enlisted to serve in the armed forces. Of those:

330,000 served overseas

more than 60,000 were killed

156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner

Jenny Macleod, in Gallipoli, said of all the countries in the British Empire who sent men to fight, Australia had the highest proportion of deaths.

But, who were those first Anzacs? And why did they enlist?

Australia was quick to join Britain's war against Germany. Men from around the country rushed to join up. Some travelled thousands of kilometres and even travelled on foot for the chance to enlist.

Bill Gammage, in his book The Broken Years, said popular writers and schools encouraged Australians' national pride and loyalty to the British Empire. Many Australians saw themselves as:

... 'independent Australian Britons', defenders of the white race in the Pacific, volunteers to die in the defence of the ideals they had chosen.

[Bill Gammage, The Broken Years, 1982]

Foreign ties

When the United Kingdom declared war with Germany in 1914, Australia was expected to follow.

At the time, Australia's cultural ties with Britain were strong. According to Joan Beaumont, in her book Broken Nation, some half a million Australians were born in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland. Even more had British parents or grandparents. To most Australians, or at least those whose voices dominated public discourse, Britain represented 'all that was best in culture, architecture, education and political and legal institutions'.

There were other reasons Australia joined Britain in war. Beaumont said London was still largely responsible for Imperial foreign policy. This meant Australia made few decisions about international policy.

Australia also relied on the British Empire for its defence. Australia had a small population and lengthy island borders, with some protection from the Royal Australian Navy.

The Australian Government was mindful of the German territory of New Guinea to the north and Japan's growing influence in the region.

Government decisions were also shaped by a legally enshrined White Australia policy.

First Australian Imperial Force

The Australian Government began recruiting men for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1914, soon after war had been declared.

Australians were aware of the developing political tensions in Europe. Many were concerned about Germany's aggression and its invasion of Belgium. But, the men enlisted for a variety of reasons:

adventure

better pay

duty to Country, King and Empire

joining with friends

personal reasons

social pressure

unemployment

World War I recruitment posters showed an ideal soldier as fit, strong and Anglo-Australian. The earliest recruits had to meet strict enlistment standards. Even a tooth that needed filling, flat feet or bunions were cause for rejection from the AIF in 1914-15. (Enlistment requirements relaxed as the war progressed and casualty numbers rose.)

Those who first embarked for Europe were among the country's fittest and strongest men. This was an image reinforced by war correspondents Charles Bean and Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett in their accounts of the Gallipoli landing in 1915. The image was also reinforced by the Anzac soldiers themselves.

Image of the Anzac soldier

A stereotypical image of the Anzac soldier emerged from the Gallipoli Campaign:

He was tough, inventive and loyal to his mates and to officers who had proven themselves, but sometimes undisciplined when not fighting.

He was chivalrous, gallant, a good fighter but not a good parade-ground soldier.

He was brave, able to endure discomfort with a grin, casual about dangers, accepting of the possible consequences of combat, good-natured, humorous, irreverent towards officers who insisted on military discipline.

He thought himself better than the soldiers of most other nations and considered himself to be democratic and egalitarian.

Images the Anzacs presented of themselves

Much of what we know of the Anzacs comes from:

diaries

letters

newspaper reports

other publications and anthologies

In late 1915, Charles Bean began collecting items for a yearbook. Australians who served on Gallipoli contributed:

The Anzac Book was published after the evacuation of Gallipoli. It sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia in the first 12 months.

Inspired by the men of Gallipoli, renowned poet AB 'Banjo' Paterson wrote We're all Australians Now in 1915. Paterson's ode to the Anzacs is still popular at school ceremonies for Anzac Day.

Another Australian poet, CJ Dennis, published the anthology The Moods of Ginger Mick in 1916. More than 40,000 copies were sold in 6 months.

People who remained in Australia during the early stages of the war formed new perspectives on the Gallipoli Campaign from texts such as these. Newspaper reports also helped create the image of the Anzacs.

The Anzac newspaper men

Three war correspondents played a major role in creating the Anzac legend:

Charles Edwin Woodrow (CEW) Bean, Australia's official war correspondent for the Anzac campaign

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, English war correspondent

Phillip Schuler, Melbourne Age correspondent

Phillip Schuler

One day, it illustrates the spirit of the Turkish army, a Turkish officer was seen directing the erection of some overhead cover down a communication trench behind this position. A burst of shell had warned him that he was observed, and bullets from machine guns played round him. He paid little attention, and went on with the directing of his job. When complete it was blown down, and continued to be blown down as fast as it was constructed, until the Turks had to give it up in despair. That brave officer directing the operations, was killed.

[Phillip Schuler, Australia in Arms, April 1916]

Phillip Schuler was a respected journalist and photographer for the Melbourne Age newspaper. Schuler spent only 3 months on Gallipoli. He died 2 years later in Belgium while serving in the AIF. But he left behind:

Schuler's words and images acknowledge the courage of both Australians and Turks on Gallipoli. In the preface to Australia in Arms, Schuler also recognised the role played by other allied forces in the campaign. This, and the sheer breadth of the Gallipoli experience that he recorded, provides both humanity and authenticity to the Anzac legend.

Finally, I am most anxious to remove, at the outset, any suggestion that might be gained from this narrative that the Australians alone were the outstanding heroes of the Dardanelles campaign. When the history of the British forces - the magnificent 29th Division, the Lowland Division, and the Yeomanry - comes to be recorded, and the story of the French participation in the assault of Achi Baba told, it will be seen that, glorious as has been the name won by the Australians, heroically as they fought, proudly and surely as they held all they gained, they played a part in this "Great Adventure," and it is of that part that I have written because it was the only one of which I had full knowledge.

[Phillip Schuler, Australia in Arms, 1916]

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, an English journalist, was first to report the events of the Gallipoli landing in Australian newspapers. In doing so, he laid the foundations for the Anzac legend.

Ashmead-Bartlett's report was published in Australia on 8 May 1915. His fulsome praise of Australian sons, brothers and husbands was welcomed by an Australian public waiting anxiously at home for news. That these comments came from a British writer, writing about Australians for both a British and Australian audience, was the icing on the cake for a dominion nation keen to prove itself to Britain.

Ashmead-Bartlett described the Australian soldiers' steady nerves as they waited to land. He praised their practical skills and fitness in language not out of place in an adventure story.

Here was a tough proposition to tackle in the darkness, but those colonials were practical above all else and went about it in a practical way. They stopped a few minutes to pull themselves together, get rid of their packs, and charge their rifle magazines. Then this race of athletes proceeded to scale the cliff without responding to the enemy's fire. They lost some men, but didn't worry, and in less than a quarter of an hour the Turks were out of their second position, and either bayoneted or fleeing.

[Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Ashmead-Bartlett's Story, Saturday 8 May 1915, p13]

In emotive language, Bartlett also praised the courage of wounded Australians:

The courage displayed by these wounded Australians will never be forgotten. Hastily placed in trawlers and lighters' boats, they were towed to the ships. In spite of their sufferings they cheered the ship from which they had set out in the morning. In fact, I have never seen anything like these wounded Australians in war before. Though many were shot to bits, without hope of recovery, their cheers resounded throughout the night. You could see in the midst of the mass of suffering humanity arms waving in greeting to the crews of the warships. They were happy because they knew they had been tried for the first time and had not been found wanting.

[Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett's Story, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 1915, p13]

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett became increasingly critical of the Gallipoli Campaign as it dragged on.

Charles Bean

The only memorial which could be worthy of them was the bare and uncoloured story of their part in the war.

[Charles Bean, quoted in B Nairn and G Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, p227]

Of the three newsmen, Charles Bean was most influential in creating the Anzac legend. He was the only correspondent on Gallipoli for the whole campaign, and he spent the next 3 years with Anzac troops in France. His 226 notebooks from his wartime experience formed the basis of Australia's official history of the war, which Bean worked on as author and editor for 23 years. Bean was also instrumental in the creation of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Like all writers, Bean was influenced by his background. Born in Bathurst but educated in England, Bean had travelled and reported on rural and outback New South Wales in 1908 and 1909. His influences included:

the ideals of the British Empire

Colonial and Australian literature that celebrated 'the bush' and its values of mateship, hard work and social equality

personal respect for those living and working in the Australian bush

Bean's public writings did not always reflect all realities of life on Gallipoli. He was influenced by his own ideals and beliefs, by what he thought the public wanted to read, the opinions of his closest friends who were officers in the AIF, and sometimes by army and political leaders.

But there is little doubt how much Bean admired and respected the Anzacs serving on Gallipoli and along the Western Front in Europe. His integrity, honesty, and bravery were equally respected by Australian soldiers. Bean is rightly remembered for his important role as one of Australia's finest historians and writers.

Other Anzacs

While the AIF was an overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon force, there were in its ranks some men not of British heritage. There was, in fact, some cultural diversity within the AIF in World War I. Among the first 'Anzacs' were Indigenous Australians, Australians of German descent, and Asian Australians. Soldiers in the AIF came from other countries as well.

Those who were not Anglo-Australian did not always experience the mateship and 'fair go' associated with the Anzac spirit. Experiences varied. But, many had to overcome prejudice and discrimination, if not during their war service, afterwards, or during the enlistment process.

Indigenous Diggers

Some 1000 Indigenous Australians are thought to have served in the AIF, on Gallipoli and the Western Front.

When war broke out, First Australians were prevented from enlisting by the Defence Act 1903. These conditions were amended in 1917, with the 1917 Military Order 200(2). This made it easier for Indigenous people to join up. But their enlistment was still determined by individual recruitment officers.

Records suggest Indigenous service men received equal treatment during the war. Many were recognised for their bravery. But, despite their sacrifice and service, Indigenous soldiers returned to a country that did not recognise them as citizens. Not only were they denied war pensions or soldier settlement grants, but they were also subject to discriminatory laws and regulations that dictated all parts of their lives.

German Anzacs

Some 34,000 German-born people lived in Australia in the pre-war years. Many more were second and third-generation German Australians. Germans were some of the first Europeans to arrive after colonisation. They lived, worked, and owned farms and businesses throughout Australia.

Australia's Germans faced a tide of prejudice and ill-feeling when the war against Germany was declared in 1914. Bill Gammage wrote:

Australian Germans were beaten up, spat on, dismissed from jobs, expelled from clubs and associations, abused for attendance at church, and refused service at stores and theatres. Their homes were stoned, their property destroyed, their children forced to leave school. The law, the courts, the trade unions, and the universities discriminated against them, and they had to drink the loyal toast or sing the anthem or salute the flag at the beck of any malevolent patriot. They changed their names, left districts which had sheltered them for years, attempted by generous donations to purchase acceptance. Every action provoked greater mistrust, and harder penalties. Worse was to come for citizens of German blood in Australia.

[Bill Gammage, The Broken Years, 1974]

Within this context, an estimated 18,000 German-Australian soldiers enlisted in the AIF in World War I. They were among the first Anzacs to land on Gallipoli. They also served throughout the war in some of the bloodiest fighting on the Western Front.

German Anzacs enlisted for many reasons, sometimes Anglicising their details to do so. John Williams, in German Anzacs and the First World War said many were motivated by a strong loyalty to the country in which they had made their homes. They saw themselves as 'Australians'. Some also hoped their overseas service would save their families from internment as enemy aliens.

Asian Anzacs

Indian and Chinese Australians were also among the Anzacs of the First World War. Despite racially-restrictive enlistment policies, there are stories of Asian Australians so determined to join up that they tried to enlist many times, walked hundreds of kilometres, or changed their names.

An estimated 500 Chinese-Australians served in World War I, and 19 won medals for bravery. One was Gallipoli sniper, Billy Sing. Sing killed 200 enemy soldiers and was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal.

At least 12 Australians of Indian descent enlisted in the AIF. None are known to have served in the Gallipoli Campaign, but they did serve on the Western Front.

Some were older soldiers, so determined to serve they did not let their age get in the way. For example, Private Nain Singh Sailani, from Perth, was 43 when he enlisted in 1916. Private Sarn Singh, from Adelaide, was 33.

Indian-born, Sarn Singh, was a South Australian farmer. He was one of 12 known Indian-Australian Anzacs

Some 1600 Indian and Sikh troops also fought alongside the Anzacs. Peter Stanley studied Anzac diaries and letters in his book Die in Battle, Do Not Despair. He discovered how highly Australians and New Zealanders regarded their Indian mates.
Find out about:
Other battlefronts and the Anzac legend

Gallipoli may be central to the Anzac legend, but where else did Australians serve in World War I?

Australian service men and women were involved in:

Australians on the Western Front

The Western Front was the most important battleground of World War I. This stretch of land ran 700km through France and Belgium.

Australians fought in all major campaigns on the Western Front. They suffered the highest casualty rate of British dominion armies.

Of the 295,000 Australians who fought on the Western Front:

46,000 died

130,000 were wounded

18,000 have no known grave

Life in the trenches was dangerous and difficult. Australians suffered horrendous physical and mental wounds, the long-term effects of gas attacks, and had uncomfortable living conditions where survival from day to day could not be guaranteed.

At the very short Battle of Fromelles in July 1916, for example, Australia suffered over 5500 casualties in one night.

Battle of Pozieres 1916

A longer action, the Battle of Pozieres, took place in the Somme offensive between 23 July and 3 September.

Some 23,000 Australians from the 1st, 2nd and 4th AIF Divisions were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner - 6500 Australian soldiers died. Five Australians were awarded Victoria Crosses at Pozieres.

Charles Bean described Pozieres as:

... more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.

[Charles Bean, Australian official First World War historian]

Villers-Bretonneux 1918

Perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war - the successful counter-attack by night across unknown and difficult ground, at a few hours' notice, by the Australian soldier.

[Brigadier-General George Grogan, 23rd British Brigade]

This school building is the gift of the schoolchildren of Victoria, Australia, to the children Villers-Bretonneux as a proof of their love and good will towards France. Twelve hundred Australian soldiers, the fathers and brothers of these children, gave their lives in the heroic recapture of this town from the invader on 24th April 1918 and are buried near this spot. May the memory of great sacrifices in a common cause keep France and Australia together forever in bonds of friendship and mutual esteem.

[School plaque, Villers-Bretonneux]

On the third anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in April 1918, a battle at Villers-Bretonneux in northern France marked the end of the German advance on Amiens on this part of the Western Front.

Fighting was brutal. Australians from the 13th and 15th Infantry Brigades and British troops fought the Germans at close quarters with small arms, bayonets and other weapons. They eventually recaptured the French town, to the gratitude of the French people who lived there.

All Australian soldiers who served on the Western Front are commemorated at the Australian National Memorial, located in Villers-Bretonneux.

A plaque and the words:

N'oublions jamais l'Australie [Let us never forget Australia]

remind students in the local school of the role played by Australian soldiers in freeing their village.
Engage more with this topic:
Australia's homefront and the Anzac legend

There is more to the Anzac legend than just those who served. More Australians stayed home than went to war, including 70% of men between the ages of 18 and 60. According to Joan Beaumont, the home front carried an equally great burden for Australia's war effort.

They did not fight, but they accepted casualties on a scale that would be unthinkable today. Many thousands of them mobilised their resources - labour, money, emotional energy, and organisational and practical skills - to assist the war effort. Many more endured economic dislocation and a reduced standard of living. Most critically, whatever the terrible cost, the majority of Australians supported the war, believing that the cause for which their men were fighting was just.

[Joan Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, 2015]

Australians at home displayed their own resilience as they waited for news of loved ones serving overseas. To help with the war effort, many people:

volunteered in hospitals

raised money for Australian soldiers and war-torn countries

knitted and made comforts for Australian soldiers

packed parcels for soldiers

wrote letters to soldiers

Women and the Anzac legend

The original Anzac legend focused on men. But Australian women in World War I also had important roles in the war.

Some Australian women served overseas as:

nurses

medical support roles

voluntary aid detachments (VADs)

Many women at home volunteered and raised money for charities.

Turkish view of the Anzac legend

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

[Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Anzac Parade, Canberra]

Access to Turkish archives and other sources has helped contemporary Western historians better understand Türkiye's perspective of the Gallipoli Campaign.

'Çanakkale Savasi', as the Gallipoli Campaign is known to the Turks, is recognised for its part in shaping Turkish national identity.

The Ottoman Empire, as Türkiye was known in 1915, entered the war as a German ally on 5 November 1914. Its Dardanelles campaign began in February and March 1915, when Ottoman mines successfully deterred a British and French naval assault.

Allied forces returned to Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April. By the time the last Allied troops finally withdrew in January 1916, both sides had suffered more than half a million casualties. Some 85,000 Ottoman soldiers died, almost double that of the losses suffered by British Empire and French forces.

Gammage said Australians and Turkish soldiers shared a mutual respect for each others' bravery, particularly as the campaign continued.

But, Harvey Broadbent, in Defending Gallipoli: The Turkish Story, suggests that the defeat on Gallipoli was partly due to allied planners misjudging the Ottomans' skills, experience, and willingness to fight for their country.

Thousands of Turks visit the battlegrounds of Gallipoli each year. Türkiye commemorates Çanakkale Naval Victory Day on 18 March.

The Anzac legend today

What these men did nothing can alter now. The good and the bad, the greatness and smallness of their story will stand. Whatever of glory it contains nothing now can lessen. It rises, as it will always rise, above the mists of ages, a monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession for ever.

[Charles Bean, Official History of World War I, p1096]

The Anzac legend has evolved over the years to be one that is more inclusive than the past. But, Anzac Day still unites and divides Australians, as the country continues to debate its history and notions of national identity.
Explore some of these different viewpoints:
Using sources to learn more about the Anzac legend

Historians and education specialists at the Department of Veterans' Affairs produce many resources for those wanting to further explore the Anzac legend. The Anzac Portal has almost 2000 resources, including oral histories. Many are curriculum-aligned. These include excerpts of and reference to primary and secondary sources.

Primary schools will find a range of resources covering the various perspectives and experiences of war. If you are looking for the best resources for primary school students, the Department of Veterans' Affairs is an excellent starting point.

Students in high school are also well-catered for. Explore teaching resources for Year 9 history and Year 10 Australian History Curriculum materials.

Modern technology now makes researching Australians at war, much easier to do from home or the classroom. Many records are digitalised or easily searchable online.

The Australian War Memorial collection holds source material, including:

artefacts

art works

diaries and manuscripts

heraldry

posters

photographs

sound and film archival material

Visitors can also read online digital copies of the official wartime histories.

Schools can borrow a range of Memorial Boxes, containing a theme or conflict-specific collection of historical objects.

Most state libraries also have relevant sources. For example, the NSW State Library has a collection of maps of the Western Front that are worth exploring.

The University of Melbourne is home to some 2000 archeological records from the Gallipoli Peninsula. You can search the Anzac Gallipoli Archeological Database for examples of different types of artefacts.

Charles Bean's first Gallipoli volume, The Anzac Book, is now in the public domain. You can get a copy from the University of Queensland's Digital Collections.

Ongoing research continues into the changing perspectives of the Anzac legend and impact of World War I. Philippa Scarlett, at Indigenous Histories, for example, gives voice to the contribution of Australia's Indigenous Anzacs.

To learn more about the Turkish perspective, listen to interviews with Turkish Australians.

The Gallipoli experience has also been widely explored through:

These can also be analysed critically along with primary texts and sources.

Sources

'GRAVE SITUATION', The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August 1914: p21. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15526835

'Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett's Story', The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 1915, p13. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15587076

'The Glory Of It', The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 1915, p12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15587257

Australian War Memorial, 2019. Charles Bean: History of the Australian War Memorial, last updated 29 March 2019. https://www.awm.gov.au/about/organisation/history/charles-bean

Australian War Memorial, 2020. First World War 1914-18. Memorial articles, last updated 28 August 2020. https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/atwar/first-world-war

Australian War Memorial, 2020. Gallipoli: a Turkish view. Exhibition. Last updated 21 February 2020. https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/gallipoli

Australian War Memorial, 2020. Pozières: 1916 Classroom Resource, last updated 7 April 2020. https://www.awm.gov.au/learn/schools/resources/1916/pozieres

Australian War Memorial. 2010. The Anzac Book. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/945230317

Bean, CEW. 1942. The Story of Anzac: the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, vol.1, pp124-125 http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11745892

Beaumont, Joan. 2015. Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1050530826

Broadbent, Harvey. 2015. Defending Gallipoli: the Turkish Story. Melbourne University Press, Carlton. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/890011950

Cameron, David W. 2007. 25 April 1915: The Day the Anzac legend was Born. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/528874001

Cameron, David Wayne. 2013. Shadows of Anzac: An Intimate History of Gallipoli. Big Sky Publishing, Newport. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/822214649

Gammage, Bill. 1982. The Broken Years. Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/458488019

Macleod, Jenny. 2015. Gallipoli. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/915351111

Nairn, B and G Serle (eds). 1979. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, p227

Nairn, Bede, and Geoffrey Serle. 1979. Australian dictionary of biography. 1891-1939. A-Ch Vol. 7 Vol. 7. Melbourne University Press, Carlton. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/59254745

Paterson, AB. 1915. We're All Australians Now.

Pegram, Aaron, 2018. Victory at Villers-Bretonneux: Anzac Day Breakfast Address 2018, Australian War Memorial, Canberra. https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/speeches/anzacday2018breakfast

Reynolds, Henry and Marilyn Lake, 2010. What's Wrong With Anzac?: The Militarisation of Australian History. University of NSW Press, Sydney, p173 http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/652654260

Roberts, Chris. 2015. The Landing at Anzac, 1915. Army History Unit, Sydney. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/972720267

Scarlett, Philippa, 2015. Aboriginal Service in the First World War: Identity, Recognition and the Problem of Mateship. Aboriginal History 39: 163-181. JSTOR www.jstor.org/stable/43687040

Schuler, Phillip F. E. 2014. Australia in arms: a narrative of the Australasian Imperial Force and their achievement at Anzac. Penguin Books, Melbourne. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/874941081

Seal, Graham. 2015. Great Anzac Stories: The Men and Women who Created the Digger Legend. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/904008556

Silas, Ellis, William Riddell Birdwood, and Ian Hamilton. 1916. Crusading at Anzac Anno Domini 1915. The British-Australasian, London. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/753146654

Singh, Manpreet K, 2016. Remembering the contribution of Indian troops in Gallipoli, SBS Radio Punjabi, 2 September 2016 8:45am. https://www.sbs.com.au/radio/article/2015/04/25/remembering-contribution-indian-troops-gallipoli

Stanley, Peter. 2017. Die in Battle, Do Not Despair: the Indians on Gallipoli, 1915. Primus Books, Delhi http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1036269923

Williams, John Frank. 2003. German Anzacs and the first world war. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/849321464

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The Anzac legend began at Gallipoli in 1915. It continues to spark debate about Australia's national identity. How did the legend develop? How has it changed?

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Australian internees and prisoners of war in World War I - Anzac Portal (dva.gov.au)

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Captured at sea

A short time after the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) landed on Gallipoli peninsula, HMA Submarine AE2 was scuttled nearby in the Sea of Marmara. The Turks captured all 35 officers and crew, including 19 members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

For the rest of the war, the RAN had no sailors taken as prisoners by enemy forces.

During 1917 and 1918, the armed German merchant raider SMS Wolf destroyed 35 merchant ships and two warships, including 14 ships sunk or captured.

SMS Wolf docked at Kiel on 24 February 1918. On board were 467 prisoners of war, including some Australians who were members of either the Australian and Naval Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) or the merchant navy.

Gallipoli and the Middle East

Turkish forces captured over 200 Australians during the Dardanelles, Mesopotamia, Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

Most Australian POWs of the Ottomans were captured in the Middle East during the last 2 years of the war. The fighting in the Middle East was much more fluid and mobile than the static nature of trench warfare at Gallipoli. This is why more Australians were captured there than at Gallipoli.

Australian mounted troops conducted long-range reconnaissance patrols and raids deep into the desert. They incurred over 4800 battle casualties during these operations, and 102 men were taken prisoner.

Also in the Middle East, 24 Australian airmen were captured over Ottoman lines. Their aircraft went down due to aerial combat, enemy ground fire or mechanical failure.

Dardanelles strategy

The first four Australians captured in World War I were taken when they landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915.

By the time the AIF was evacuated from Gallipoli in December 1915, the Turks had captured 70 Australians.

The way Allied POWs were treated varied over time and depending on where they were imprisoned.

The treatment received on our way to Constantinople was on the whole good from the escort, but one party of reinforcements we passed stoned us and our escort had to drive them off. At other places we used to be jeered and spat at etc.

On our arrival in Constantinople we were put in prison, 80 of us in a room that would hold about 30, and the place was filthy and crawling with bugs, fleas and lice. After we had been there about 15 days we went to Angora. There we were given a sack mattress and a quilt. The rations we received consisted of a loaf of bread about a pound and a half. At 11 a.m. boiled lentils, mostly water. the next meal was at 4 p.m. and that was boiled wheat. We never received much meat.

During my imprisonment in Turkey I have been in four different camps. The next camp I went to was Khangeri. We marched there in 4 days and after staying there 3 months we returned in 5 days though deep snow, with many sick owing to low rations. My next move was to Belemedik, at this place we were working under the Germans. At this place treatment was good. The pay for working was 8 to 12 piastres per day, out of which we had to feed ourselves. I stayed at Belemedik 8 months. My next move was back to Angora. I went there with a party of 44 and after we had been there was only 17 of us alive. The rest died of bad treatment in hospital, not enough nourishing food, bad attention and if you lingered on too long they would help you on your way.

Employed, yes, on pick and shovel from sunrise to sunset. The food here consisted of boiled wheat morning and night, with sometimes a change to beans or peas, also when you work you get a loaf of black bread weighing 3/4 an oke, non workers for any reason received 1/2 oke. The pay we received averaged about 5 piastres per month. The best treatment I had was from the Germans.

[AWM 30, B1.35, 1333 Pvte. H. N. Brown, 14th Battalion A.I.F]

Mesopotamia Campaign

When most Australians were engaged on Gallipoli, the Mesopotamia Half Flight helped the British to capture Ottoman territory in modern-day Iraq.

Three pilots were caught by the Ottomans when they had to land their faulty aircraft behind enemy lines.

After the fall of Kut-al-Amara, over 10,000 Allied troops were captured on 29 April 1916, including nine Australian air mechanics. The Turks marched their prisoners over 1200km to Aleppo, in modern-day Syria.

The POWs worked on the Berlin-Baghdad railway in the Taurus Mountains of modern-day Türkiye. Many of the prisoners died from dysentery, malaria and typhus.

2000 POWs of the Mesopotamia Campaign survived to the end of the war. Only two of them were Australian:

Two Australians died on the way to Aleppo, at Nisbin:

Five Australians died in the Taurus Mountains region:

Western Front

At the outbreak of war, Germany interned many Australian civilian men of military age in Germany.

The Germans captured 3853 Australians in the fighting on the Western Front. Australians were captured as prisoners when undertaking hundreds of small-scale trench raids, patrols, and minor attacks throughout the campaign. The largest numbers were captured at:

Fromelles between 19 and 20 July 1916 (470 prisoners)

Bullecourt on 11 April 1917 (1170 prisoners)

Dernancourt on 4 April 1918 (400 prisoners)

The Germans captured 21 pilots from the Australian Flying Corps when scout squadron planes crashed behind enemy lines.

Australian troops captured on the Western Front often came from a unit that had been cut off or surrounded soon after achieving its objective. German troops sometimes collected wounded Australians and gave them medical treatment. Uninjured soldiers were forced to surrender on the battlefield.

During major attacks, German defensive doctrine called for squad-based counter-attacks when the Allies broke into their trenches. Parties of German troops would try to slow the attacking force while other Germans worked their way around the exposed flanks. Then they cut off the attacking force to prevent the soldiers from withdrawing. In this way, capturing prisoners was a function of tactics used in battle.

AIF soldiers were not immune to demoralisation. At least two Australians willingly deserted to the German forces to become prisoners.

Interrogation of Australians in captivity

At the start of the war, no formal training was offered to Allied soldiers to prepare them for capture.

In 1916, the British War Office discovered that some Australian prisoners shared sensitive information with the Germans during the Somme Offensive. So the AIF began to instruct soldiers on their obligation not to reveal name or rank if captured.

A study of German intelligence documents revealed that AIF prisoners continued to divulge sensitive information to their German interrogators. Often they were captured carrying operational orders, photographs and personal diaries. Sometimes the men spoke freely to their captors about the AIF defences and life behind the lines.

Officers and non-commissioned officers were targeted by German intelligence and examined more intensely. Captured officers, particularly airmen, were usually held in designated 'listening hotels'. German intelligence recorded their conversations about operational matters.

Treatment of officers and other ranks

German and Turkish forces gave proper medical treatment to wounded Australian prisoners, although like most armed forces, they treated their own casualties first.

Of the 372 Australians who died in captivity during World War I, 288 died from their wounds received during action.

Wounded prisoners could take up to 6 months to recover in a German or Turkish field hospital before being moved to a prison camp. The journey for uninjured prisoners could sometimes take longer, especially on foot.

The Hague Convention recognised officers as members of the upper class. This protected them from working as manual labourers to support their captor's economy. Officers were transported to camps within days of capture, and the Australian Red Cross Society in London was notified of their whereabouts soon after.

Prisoners of other ranks lived a life in captivity that was defined by their ability to work. The Hague Convention allowed captors to use the labour of other ranks prisoners if the work was not connected to military operations.

Along the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, men assigned to work parties in the Taurus and Amanus mountains laboured for up to 12 hours a day. Arduous tasks included:

Once the tunnel work was completed in 1917, most were moved to Mosul (in current-day Iraq) or other locations in the Ottoman Empire.

Conditions in Turkish work camps

Conditions varied according to the work parties and the front on which a prisoner was captured.

Other ranks men were often subjected to the same harsh living conditions and limited supplies as their Ottoman captors. Many prisoners died from sickness, hard labour and the prolonged effects of malnutrition. Of the 62 Australians who died in Ottoman hands as prisoners, 39 were other ranks prisoners who died of disease.

Officers were treated better, and none died during their Ottoman captivity.

Conditions in Germany and the German reprisals

In 1916, both officers and other ranks were transported to Germany within days of capture.

Then in 1917, most Australians POWs remained in France to work behind the German lines. This coincided with the largest capture of Australian prisoners in a single action on the Western Front - at the First Battle of Bullecourt.

The British and French armies had been making German prisoners work behind Allied lines, within range of German guns. The German Army began a reprisal policy against the mistreatment of German POWs. The strategy tried to force the Allies to change their POW policies.

Over 1500 Australians captured at Noreuil, Bullecourt and Lagnicourt in April 1917 were subjected to reprisals that disregarded the Hague Convention.

Australian prisoners were taken to Lille. They were locked in the casements of Fort MacDonald for 10 days. Then they returned to the German front line, under British shellfire, to:

bury bodies

clear roads

dig trenches

labour at engineering and ammunition dumps

The Germans encouraged the Australian POWs to write to the British War Office and the Australian High Commission in London about their mistreatment and poor conditions. The Australian Red Cross was misinformed that the men were at a Limburg prison camp and sent thousands of clothing and food parcels to Germany.

Conditions behind German lines were poor. Hard labour and malnutrition made prisoners vulnerable to illness.

Some Australians died of disease during the German reprisal period. At least seven Australians were killed by Allied shellfire while working near the German lines.

Officers in German captivity

Officers in German camps lived fairly well in spacious quarters. They were permitted to have other ranks prisoners cook and clean for them.

Many officers in captivity spent their days reading, studying, playing sports, gambling and participating in camp theatres. The German government paid the imprisoned Australian officers at the same level as their corresponding rank in the German Army. Officers were also permitted to go on escorted walks outside the camp.

Life for Australian POWs in Germany

Once they were transported to Germany, other ranks prisoners were employed to support Germany's domestic needs. Since 1915, the German economy had struggled to cope with:

voids in essential home front industries

British naval blockade

increasing demands of war on multiple fronts

Millions of prisoners were assigned to work parties that supported the German domestic economy. These POWs spent the rest of the war working on farms, in mines, forests and factories.

Living conditions and treatment varied between work parties, but treatment could be harsh. The barracks in the camps were sometimes overcrowded, filthy and susceptible to disease outbreaks.

Australian prisoners in contact with the Red Cross Society could survive on food consignments sent from London every 2 weeks. By 1918, they were among the best-fed people in Germany.

Few Australian prisoners of World War I succeeded in their escape attempts. Of the 3848 Australians taken prisoner by German forces, only a few escaped to neutral or friendly borders:

3 Australian officers - one from Ottoman captivity and two from German captivity

40 other ranks prisoners working close to the Dutch, Swiss, and Russian borders

Towards the end of the war, POWs began to be assessed by neutral Swiss medical commissioners. Some long-term prisoners, mostly officers and non-commissioned officers, who were sick, seriously wounded or suffering from psychological conditions became eligible for internment in Switzerland and The Netherlands.

About 200 Australians were moved from Germany to The Netherlands before the war ended in November 1918.

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Australian internees and prisoners of war in World War I

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A short time after the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) landed on Gallipoli peninsula, HMA Submarine AE2 was scuttled nearby in the Sea of Marmara. The Turks captured all 35 officers and crew, including 19 members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). For the rest of the war, the RAN had no sailors taken as prisoners by enemy forces.

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Ballarat Grammar School now has a unique custom URL to access the SLASA Online Referencing Generato Online Referencing Generator

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Referencing using the Harvard Author-Date System

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At the time of the First World War, most women were barred from voting or serving in military combat roles. Many saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve their countries but to gain more rights and independence. With millions of men away from home, women filled manufacturing and agricultural positions on the home front. Others provided support on the front lines as nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, translators and, in rare cases, on the battlefield.

One observer wrote that American women "do anything they were given to do; that their hours are long; that their task is hard; that for them there is small hope of medals and citations and glittering homecoming parades."

On The Homefront

The nations at war mobilized their entire populations. The side that could produce more weapons and supply more troops would prevail in the end. Women took on new roles in the work force, notably in war production and agriculture.

In 1914, the German armaments producer Krupp employed almost no women. By 1917, women made up nearly 30 percent of its 175,000 workers and a nationwide total of nearly 1.4 million German women were employed in the war labor force. Britain also stepped up its arms production by expanding the employment of women. In July 1914, 3.3 million women worked in paid employment in Britain. By July 1917, 4.7 million did. British women served in uniform as well in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. In fact, the last known surviving veteran of World War I was Florence Green of the RAF, who died in 2012.

As women took traditional male jobs in the United States, African American women were able to make their first major shift from domestic employment to work in offices and factories. Recent research also shows that a limited number of African American women served overseas as volunteers with the YMCA.

"The women worked as ammunition testers, switchboard operators, stock takers. They went into every kind of factory devoted to the production of war materials, from the most dangerous posts in munition plants to the delicate sewing in aeroplane factories."

- Alice Dunbar Nelson, American Poet and Civil Rights Activist, on African American women's efforts during the war, 1918

But even women in more traditional roles contributed to the war effort. Every housewife in the U.S. was asked to sign a pledge card stating that she would "carry out the directions and advice of the Food Administrator in the conduct of my household, in so far as my circumstances permit." This meant canning food for future use, growing vegetables in the backyard and limiting consumption of meat, wheat and fats. Most of all, women were expected to bolster the morale of their families at home and loved ones overseas.

Doctors, Nurses and Ambulance Drivers

The Salvation Army, the Red Cross and many other organizations depended on thousands of female volunteers. The American Red Cross operated hospitals to care for war casualties, staffed by nurses, hundreds of whom died in service during the war. Thousands of women also served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and the Navy Nurse Corps. While the American Expeditionary Forces were still preparing to go overseas, U.S. Army nurses were sent ahead and assigned to the British Expeditionary Force. By June 1918, there were more than 3,000 American nurses in over 750 in British-run hospitals in France.

While nurses were accepted at the Front, women physicians faced obstacles putting their hard-earned skills to work. When these women were rejected from service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, many sought other opportunities to serve the war effort: as civilian contract surgeons, with the Red Cross or other humanitarian relief organizations and even in the French Army.

The Medical Women's National Association, for example, raised money to send their own doctors overseas to work in hospitals run by the American Red Cross. By the end of the war, nearly 80 women doctors from this organization were at work in the devastated regions of Europe, caring for civilians and soldiers and treating diseases such as influenza and typhoid.

During the last Allied offensive in the summer and fall of 1918, many woman doctors, nurses and aides operated near the front lines, providing medical care for soldiers wounded in combat.

"I had just given this poor boy anesthesia when a bomb hit. We were supposed to hit the floor, but he was out and didn't know what was going on. I took a tray and put it over our heads. It wasn't because I was brave. I was just scared."

- Medical Corps anesthetist Sophie Gran. Gran was one of the first woman anesthetists with the A.E.F. in France and the only woman anesthetist with Mobile Hospital Unit #1. She went on to become the first president of California Association of Nurse Anesthetists in 1931.

The automobile age was just getting underway in WWI, and motorized ambulances became key to medical treatment on the battlefield. Many women who knew how to drive volunteered to go overseas to serve as ambulance and truck drivers or mechanics. They delivered medical supplies, transported patients to hospitals and drove through artillery fire to retrieve the wounded.

Many of the women drivers of the Red Cross Motor Service and other ambulance groups used their own cars, including Marie Curie. Curie invented a mobile X-ray unit, radiological cars nicknamed "little Curies," and ultimately trained 150 women to be X-ray operators on the battlefront, of which Curie herself was one - an act that she believed contributed to her later death from radiation exposure.

Edith Cavell

Learn about the life and death of the British nurse who helped soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.

Female Yeoman

Despite thousands of new recruits, the U.S. Navy was short-handed at the beginning of World War I. Vague wording in a section of the Naval Act of 1916 outlining who could serve created a loophole: women were able to join the ranks as Yeomen, non-commissioned officers. Around 12,000 women enlisted in the Navy under the title, "Yeoman (F)."

Most women Yeomen served stateside on naval bases, replacing men who had deployed to Europe. While many female recruits performed clerical duties, some worked as truck drivers, mechanics, radio operators, telephone operators, translators, camouflage artists and munition workers. They had the same responsibilities as their male counterparts and received the same pay of $28.75 per month.

The "Hello Girls"

Aiming to improve communications on the Western front between the Allied Forces, General John J. Pershing called for the creation of the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. The unit recruited women who were bilingual in French and English to serve as telephone switchboard operators on the Western front. The women received physical training, observed strict military protocol, wore identity discs and worked very close to the front lines. These female recruits were nicknamed the "Hello Girls" (a term which some of them felt disparaged their efforts) and became known for their bravery and focus under pressure. However, upon their return to the United States after the end of the war, the "Hello Girls" did not receive veteran status or benefits. It wasn't until 1977, when President Jimmy Carter signed legislation, that the few surviving women telephone operators received recognition of their veteran status.

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At the time of the First World War, most women were barred from voting or serving in military combat roles. Many saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve their countries but to gain more rights and independence. With millions of men away from home, women filled manufacturing and agricultural positions on the home front.

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Explore the events around Anzac day including poppy day, dawn service, memorials, commemoration as well as the formation of the ANZACs, and how the Gallipoli campaign became culturally significant for New Zealand and Australian societies.

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Explore the events around Anzac day including poppy day, dawn service, memorials, commemoration as well as the formation of the ANZACs, and how the Gallipoli campaign became culturally significant for New Zealand and Australian societies.

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Explore the events around Anzac day including poppy day, dawn service, memorials, commemoration as well as the formation of the ANZACs, and how the Gallipoli campaign became culturally significant for New Zealand and Australian societies. SCIS No. 1807228

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Explore the events around Anzac day including poppy day, dawn service, memorials, commemoration as well as the formation of the ANZACs, and how the Gallipoli campaign became culturally significant for New Zealand and Australian societies. SCIS No. 1807228

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On 25 April 1915, ANZAC troops landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula, to fight the Ottoman Empire. Explore this significant First World War Dardanelles campaign, through maps, diaries, paintings, photographs and memorials.

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On 25 April 1915, ANZAC troops landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula, to fight the Ottoman Empire. Explore this significant First World War Dardanelles campaign, through maps, diaries, paintings, photographs and memorials. SCIS no. 1816212

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On 25 April 1915, ANZAC troops landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula, to fight the Ottoman Empire. Explore this significant First World War Dardanelles campaign, through maps, diaries, paintings, photographs and memorials. SCIS no. 1816212

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This guide focuses on Australians serving in World War 1. It also includes some information relevant to Great Britain, other Commonwealth nations and other combatant nations. There is a section on nurses and women's war occupations.

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Research Guides: Australians in World War 1: Women's war work

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This guide focuses on Australians serving in World War 1. It also includes some information relevant to Great Britain, other Commonwealth nations and other combatant nations. There is a section on nurses and women's war occupations. The State Library has resources on Australian and British nurses who served in World War I.

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Duration: 5 minutes 10 seconds

For many, it's the first time they've been able to pay tribute to fallen soldiers since the pandemic began. Harry Frost and Michelle Rimmer reports.

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Crowds celebrate ANZAC Day in Australia and around the world

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Posted , updated For many, it's the first time they've been able to pay tribute to fallen soldiers since the pandemic began. Harry Frost and Michelle Rimmer reports.

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Campaign Maps of the First World War

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Discover why we commemorate Anzac Day, who the ANZACs were, and the important symbols and emblems of the day in this Miniclip. The significance of flowers, a brief history of Gallipoli and the role of flags are all highlighted in this clip, providing your students with a fantastic introduction into one of our most important days.

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Discover why we commemorate Anzac Day, who the ANZACs were, and the important symbols and emblems of the day in this Miniclip. The significance of ...

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National Library of Australia's World War One collection

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National Library of Australia's World War One collection

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This resource is a Treasures Gallery Access Program, supported by National Library Patrons. Using this resource This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 9 students. It adopts an inquiry learning approach that develops students’ skills as historians. The resource enga…

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Anzac Day dawn service returns to Gallipoli for the first time since 2019

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Anzac Day dawn service returns to Gallipoli for the first time since 2019

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Anzac Day dawn service returns to Gallipoli for the first time since 2019

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Travellers from Australia and New Zealand join Turkish and other dignitaries at the former World War I battlefields at Gallipoli for a solemn service at dawn to remember troops killed during an unsuccessful campaign that aimed to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

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Examine the personal experiences of six of the men and women whose stories are featured at the National ANZAC Centre. We follow their remarkable journeys, from recruitment to life post-war.

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What is Anzac Day?

Anzac Day, 25 April, is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

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What is Anzac Day?

Anzac Day, 25 April, is one of Australia's most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

What does ANZAC stand for?

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federated nation for only 13 years, and its government was eager to establish a reputation among the nations of the world. When Britain declared war in August 1914 Australia was automatically placed on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.

Museum At Home Webinar - Anzac Day Traditions

The Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers had died in the campaign. Gallipoli had a profound impact on Australians at home, and 25 April soon became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who died in the war.

Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the actions of Australian and New Zealand forces during the campaign left a powerful legacy. What became known as the "Anzac legend" became an important part of the identity of both nations, shaping the ways in which they viewed both their past and their future.

Early commemorations

In 1916 the first Anzac Day commemorations were held on 25 April. The day was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services across Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt. In London more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets; a London newspaper headline dubbed them "the knights of Gallipoli". Marches were held all over Australia; in the Sydney march convoys of cars carried soldiers wounded on Gallipoli and their nurses. For the remaining years of the war Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.

During the 1920s Anzac Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during the war. In 1927, for the first time, every state observed some form of public holiday on Anzac Day. By the mid-1930s all the rituals we now associate with the day - dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games - were firmly established as part of Anzac Day culture.

Later, Anzac Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in the Second World War, and in subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those who lost their lives in all the military and peacekeeping operations in which Australia has been involved.

Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Memorial in 1942. At the time, government orders prohibited large public gatherings in case of a Japanese air attack, so it was a small occasion with neither a march nor a memorial service. Since then, Anzac Day has been commemorated at the Memorial every year.

What does it mean today?

Australians recognise 25 April as a day of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held across the nation at dawn - the time of the original landing, while later in the day, former servicemen and servicewomen meet to take part in marches through the country's major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are more formal, and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, Anzac Day is a time at which Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.

The Dawn Service

It is often suggested that the Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in a military routine still followed by the Australian Army. The half-light of dawn was one of the times favoured for launching an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the "stand-to". As dusk is equally favourable for battle, the stand-to was repeated at sunset.

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn vigil became the basis for commemoration in several places after the war. It is difficult to say when the first dawn services were held, as many were instigated by veterans, clergymen, and civilians from all over the country. A dawn requiem mass was held at Albany as early as 1918, and a wreathlaying and commemoration took place at dawn in Toowoomba the following year. In 1927 a group of returned men returning at dawn from an Anzac Day function held the night before came upon an elderly woman laying flowers at the as yet unfinished Sydney Cenotaph. Joining her in this private remembrance, the men later resolved to institute a dawn service the following year. Some 150 people gathered at the Cenotaph in 1928 for a wreathlaying and two minutes' silence. This is generally regarded as the beginning of organised dawn services. Over the years the ceremonies have developed into their modern forms and have seen an increased association with the dawn landings of 25 April 1915.

The National Ceremony

At the Australian War Memorial the National Ceremony begins with the traditional order of service, including the veteran's march, Commemorative Address, laying of wreaths, hymns, the sounding of the Last Post, and observance of one minute's silence, and the national anthems of New Zealand and Australia.

Anzac Day

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Anzac Day, 25 April, is one of Australia's most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

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Fact or Fiction

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Centenary of ANZAC projects: Centenary of ANZAC - Home

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Centenary of ANZAC projects: Centenary of ANZAC - Home

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LibGuides: Centenary of ANZAC projects: Centenary of ANZAC - Home

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The State Library of South Australia (SLSA) is honouring the memory of those who served at the front lines on World War 1 and on the home front, through a series of projects.

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The Anzac Gallipoli Archaeology Database (AGAD) is a unique digital archive of the results of five seasons of archaeological survey of the World War 1 battlefield at Anzac on the Gallipoli peninsular, Turkey.

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About

In this centenary year, the University of Melbourne is offering a program of exhibitions and events to commemorate the ANZAC Gallipoli campaign. We are working with cultural partners across Melbourne, including the Shrine of Remembrance, Museum Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria, and drawing on the University's cultural collections and archives in exhibitions at the Baillieu Library, Potter Museum of Art, the Medical History Museum and Grainger Museum.

Explore new research into the day-to-day realities of life in the Gallipoli trenches, learn more about the experience of doctors and dentists at war and discover the history of our Indigenous Anzacs. Attend one of our public lectures exploring the contemporary impact of the Great War with leading scholars from archaeology, science, history, medicine, engineering and the creative arts, or listen to Professor Barry Conyngham's new work, a personal reflection on the Anzac tradition.

This website includes full exhibition and events listings, as well as fascinating stories from our own archives.

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In this centenary year, the University of Melbourne is offering a program of exhibitions and events to commemorate the ANZAC Gallipoli campaign. We are working with partners throughout Melbourne, including the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria.

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The War Graves Commission was founded in 1917 while the Great War was still being fought. Today, we maintain war cemeteries and memorials at more than 23,000 locations in over 150 countries and territories around the world. Over half of the more than 1.7 million service personnel of both World Wars we commemorate have no known grave and are commemorated by name on a memorial to the missing.

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The War Graves Commission was founded in 1917 while the Great War was still being fought. Today, we maintain war cemeteries and memorials at more than 23,000 locations in over 150 countries and territories around the world. Over half of the more than 1.7 million service personnel of both World Wars we commemorate have no known grave and are commemorated by name on a memorial to the missing.

Learn more about the WW1 Memorials to the Missing below.

The Missing of WW1

By the end of WW1 the Commission estimated that of the 'million war dead ' of the British Empire, only half had a known identified grave. The rest were 'missing': their bodies had not been recovered; their graves had been unrecorded, lost or destroyed by battle; buried or lost at sea; or their remains could not be identified and had been buried beneath a headstone bearing the inscription, 'Known Unto God'.

Memorials to the Missing

For the loved ones of the missing there was nowhere to visit, no headstone to see, no grave to lay flowers on, no focal point for grief. The Commission was committed to commemorating every fallen individual and in the immediate aftermath of the Great War the issue of commemorating the missing was discussed at length and several different options were discussed.

In the early 1920's the Commission decided that those with no known grave would be commemorated on special memorials to the missing. Each member government of the Commission - Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom - made slightly different choices about where and how their missing would be commemorated but each agreed that where possible every individual should be commemorated by name on a memorial somewhere. Over the next twenty years the Commission designed and built over 120 memorials to missing, with the last being unveiled in 1938, just a year before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The WW1 Memorials that commemorate the most casualties are:

1. Thiepval Memorial: 72,173 casualties

2. Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial: 54,357 casualties

3. Basra Memorial: 40,605 casualties

4. Tower Hill Memorial: 35,830 casualties

5. Tyne Cot Memorial: 34,941 casualties

WW1 Memorials on the Western Front

Some of the most iconic and well known CWGC Memorials stand in France and Belgium, following the trenches of the Western Front.

WW1 Memorials to the Missing in France

The Thiepval Memorial
United Kingdom and South Africa
The CWGC Thiepval Memorial is the largest WW1 Commonwealth war memorial in the world and bears the names of more than 72,000 United Kingdom and South African servicemen who have no known grave. Thiepval is one of 9 sector war memorials in France that commemorate United Kingdom and South African service personnel. Each of these memorials commemorate those who died during a particular period and in a particular area of the conflict. Thiepval, for example, commemorates those who died on the Somme battlefields from August 1915 to 20 March 1918.

Next to the memorial is Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery which contains equal numbers of British and French casualties, cementing the links between the British and French Military forged on the Somme battlefield.

The Vimy Memorial
Canada
The Vimy Memorial is the focal point of Canadian remembrance of WW1. Unlike the United Kingdom and South African Governments, Canadian officials decided that their missing who died in France would be commemorated on a single memorial. Built on the highest point of Vimy Ridge, where Canadian forces won a famous victory in 1917, the Vimy Memorial bears the names of over 11,000 missing Canadian service personnel and is dedicated to all those who served with Canadian forces during WW1 and all those who lost their lives.

The Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
Australia
The Villers-Bretonneux Memorial commemorates over 10,000 Australian service personnel who died in France during WW1 and have no known grave. Like the Canadian Government, Australian officials decided that their missing who died in France would also be commemorated on a single memorial. The Villers-Bretonneux Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and was built near where Australian forces won a famous victory in 1918.

The Neuve-Chapelle Memorial
Undivided India
Like the Canadian and Australian governments, officials of Undivided British India decided that the missing of Indian forces who died in France would be commemorated on a single memorial. The location of the memorial was specially chosen as it was at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 that the Indian Corps fought its first major action as a single force. The memorial commemorates more than 4,700 servicemen of undivided Indian forces and takes the form of a sanctuary enclosed within a circular wall after the manner of the enclosing railings of early Indian shrines. The memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The Caterpillar Valley Memorial
New Zealand
The Caterpillar Valley Memorial commemorates over 1,200 New Zealand personnel who died in the Somme area during WW1 and have no known grave. It is the largest New Zealand Memorial to the missing anywhere in the world. New Zealand took a unique approach to the commemoration of their missing, opting to commemorate their missing on a number of smaller memorials built in cemeteries close to where the dead were known to have gone missing. Four New Zealand memorials were built in CWGC cemeteries in France - Caterpillar Valley, Cite Bonjean, Grevillers, and Marfaux. These cemeteries all have a high number of New Zealand unknown soldiers buried within them.

The Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial
Newfoundland
Today, Newfoundland is part of Canada, but during WW1 Newfoundland was a separate dominion of the British Empire. Unlike the other member governments, Newfoundland officials decided to commemorate all the missing of all their forces, no matter when or where they died, on a single memorial, including sailors who died at sea. The Beaumont-Hamel Memorial is located in the Newfoundland Memorial Park in France, a location of great significance to Newfoundland forces, and commemorates over 800 missing Newfoundlanders.

WW1 Memorials to the Missing in Belgium

Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial is perhaps the most famous war memorial in the word. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfiled, the Memorial commemorates more than 54,000 service personnel of United Kingdom, Australian, Canadian, South African and Indian forces who died in the Ypres Salient, the area around the Belgian town of Ypres (today Ieper), throughout the entire period of WW1. Every night the Last Post is played under the gate in remembrance of those who fought and died.

Tyne Cot Memorial

Around the eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery stands the Tyne Cot Memorial. Designed by Sir Herbert Baker, the memorial bears the names of 35,000 servicemen of United Kingdom and New Zealand forces, nearly all of whom died between August 1917 and November 1918 and have no known grave.

Ploegsteert Memorial

Located near the French-Belgian border, the Ploegsteert Memorial commemorates 11,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in this area and have no known grave. Designed by Harold Bradshaw with sculpture by Gilbert Ledward, most of the men commemorated on this memorial did not die in major offensives, such as those which took place around Ypres to the north, or Loos to the south, but in the course of the day-to-day trench warfare which characterised this part of the line.

Messines Ridge (N.Z.) Memorial

This is one of three memorials to the missing in Belgium which list the names of New Zealand soldiers who have no known grave. All three are located in cemeteries close to where the dead were known to have gone missing and which contain large numbers of New Zealand burials. Designed by the architect Charles Holden, the Messines Ridge (N.Z.) Memorial stands at the entrance to Messines British Cemetery and commemorates over 800 New Zealand soldiers who died in the Messines area during WW1.

WW1 Memorials to the Missing in the UK

The Naval Memorials

More than 45,000 men and women died while serving with the Royal Navy during WW1. The majority were lost at sea and have no known grave. When someone joined the Royal Navy they were allocated to a particular 'manning port' for administrative purposes. After WW1 memorials commemorating the missing of the Royal Navy were built in each of the manning port towns of Plymouth, Chatham and Portsmouth to commemorate the missing.

The Tower Hill Memorial

This memorial commemorates almost 12,000 personnel of the Mercantile Marine, the Fishing Fleets, and the lighthouse and pilotage services who died during WW1. Built in the heart of London, overlooked by the Tower of London and the River Thames, Tower Hill memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick. It was unveiled by HRH Queen Mary on 12 December 1928.

The Brookwood 14-18 Memorial

Unveiled in 2015, the Brookwood 1914-1918 Memorial records the names of over 260 service personnel of United Kingdom, Australian, Canadian, South African and Indian forces who died in the United Kingdom during WW1 but whose graves cannot now be located and marked.

The Hollybrook Memorial

The Hollybrook Memorial commemorates almost 1,000 servicemen of the army and air forces who died in seas around the United Kingdom during the First World war and have no known grave. Amongst the names are hundreds of South African Native Labour Corps volunteers and Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War.

WW1 Memorials around the World

WW1 Memorials to the Missing on Gallipoli

Helles Memorial

The Helles Memorial commemorates almost 21,000 service personnel of United Kingdom and Indian forces who died on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and Australians who died in the Helles Sector, during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915-1916 and have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Sir John Burnet and was officially dedicated in 1924.

Lone Pine Memorial

The Lone Pine Memorial commemorates almost 5,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen who died in the ANZAC and Suvula Bay sectors during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign. The memorial stands on important high ground where there was desperate fighting in 1915. The memorial was designed by Sir John Burnet and construction was completed in 1925.

Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial

This is one of four memorials on the Gallipoli Peninsula where the missing of New Zealand forces are commemorated. More than 852 New Zealand servicemen are commemorated on the Chunuk Bair Memorial. They died in during heavy fighting in the area immediately surround where the memorial now stands, but particularly during the Battle of Sari Bair in August 1915.

WW1 Memorials to the Missing in the Middle East

Across the Middle East the Commission built and today maintains four WW1 memorials to the missing.

Basra Memorial

The Basra Memorial was designed by Edward Warren and unveiled by Sir Gilbert Clayton on the 27th March 1929. It commemorates more than 40,500 British, Indian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian service personnel who died in the operations in Mesopotamia (Iraq) from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and have no known grave. Whilst the current climate of political instability persists it is extremely challenging for the Commission to maintain its cemeteries and memorials located within Iraq. Alternative arrangements for commemoration have therefore been implemented and a two volume Roll of Honour listing all casualties buried and commemorated in Iraq has been produced. These volumes are on display at the Commission's Head Office in Maidenhead and are available for the public to view in person and online.

Jerusalem Memorial

The Jerusalem Memorial commemorates more than 3,300 service personnel of United Kingdom, Australian, Canadian, South African, and Indian forces who died during WW1 in the near east and have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Sir John Burnet, with sculpture by Gilbert Bayes. In addition, the interior of the memorial chapel is decorated with a magnificent mosaic, commissioned by the New Zealand Government, and designed by Robert Anning Bell. The Memorial was unveiled on 7 May 1927 by Lord Allenby who led British forces in the region during the First World War.

Tehran Memorial

The Tehran Memorial commemorates almost 3,600 casualties of Indian, United Kingdom and New Zealand Forces who died during WW1 in Persia (today Iran) and some neighbouring regions of the Russian Empire and have no known grave.

WW1 Memorials to the Missing in Africa

Dar Es Salaam British and Indian Memorial

The Dar Es Salaam British and Indian Memorial stands within Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, and commemorates more than 1,500 British, Indian and South African servicemen who died in East Africa during and after January 1917 who have no known grave. Those killed before January 1917 are commemorated on the Nairobi British and Indian Memorial in Kenya.

Dar Es Salaam African Memorial

The Dar Es Salaam African Memorial is one of three memorials built to commemorate East African soldiers and carriers of World War One. During the war 34,000 African combatant troops were raised, while 600,000 Africans served as non-combatant porters, stevedores, and followers of the Military Labour Corps. Between 50,000-300,000 of these men were lost, killed in action, or died of sickness or wounds. No complete records of their service or even names are known to exist, and so no names appear on these memorials.

All three memorials were designed by James Alexander Stevenson. The Dar Es Salaam African memorial takes the form a bronze figure representing an Askari of the King's African Rifles, while two bronze reliefs affixed to the base of the memorial depict the work of the Intelligence Corps and the Carrier Corps. Two similar memorials, though with differing sculpture, stand in Nairobi and Tanzania to commemorate servicemen from across East Africa.

Abuja Memorial

The Abuja Memorial commemorates almost 950 servicemen who died while serving with the Nigerian Carrier Corps and the Inland Water Transport of the Royal Engineers during WW1 and have no known grave. This memorial has taken several forms and been in a number of locations since the original Lagos memorial was erected in 1932. The current memorial, which stands in the Nigerian National Military Cemetery, was dedicated in 2016 and commemorates over 2,100 Nigerian service personnel who died during WW1 and WW2 and have no known grave.

WW1 Memorial to the Missing in India and the Far-East

Delhi Memorial (India Gate)

The Delhi Memorial is perhaps one of the most famous and well visited Commission memorials in the world. Located in the heart of New Delhi, the memorial commemorates by name over 13,200 service personnel who died during WW1 while serving in India and across the frontiers including in Afghanistan. Just over 1,000 lay in cemeteries in Pakistan, where maintenance was not possible. The remainder died in fighting on or beyond the North West Frontier and during the Third Afghan War, and have no known grave. The Delhi Memorial also acts as a national memorial to all the 70,000 soldiers of undivided India who died during the years 1914-1921, the majority of whom are commemorated by name outside the confines of India.

Bombay 1914-1918 Memorial

Like the memorials at Plymouth, Portsmouth, Chatham and Tower Hill, some of our largest WW1 memorials commemorate the naval and merchant navy casualties who lost their lives during the war. The Bombay 14-18 Memorial commemorates more than 2,200 Indian, Adenese and East African sailors and merchant seamen who died during WW1 and have no known grave.

Kirkee 1914-1918 Memorial

The Kirkee 1914-1918 Memorial was built to commemorate more than 1,800 World War One casualties who died in Indian and Pakistan. Many of these are servicemen and women who were buried in civil cemeteries and cantonments that due to a mixture of circumstances became unmanageable. Over the years, CWGC have been working to restore the original burials of these casualties, with over 1,000 now commemorated in their original burial place.

Hong Kong Memorial

The Hong Kong memorial originally commemorated all Chinese casualties of World War One, but bore no names, many of whom served in the Chinese Labour Corps on the Western Front and are buried there. Others served with the Merchant Navy or with units like the Royal Engineers and the Port Administration and River Conservancy Department and so have no known grave. A new memorial was erected in 2006 and bears the names of 941 WW1 casualties recruited from Hong Kong and China.

Is there a memorial to the soldiers of World War 1?

The Unknown Warrior

While not a traditional Memorial to the Missing, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the most famous memorials to the casualties of WW1.

Buried in a coffin of English oak, in French soil and with a slab of Belgian marble marking his place, the unknown warrior commemorates "the many multitudes who during the Great War of 1914-1918 gave the most that man can give".

The anonymity of the Unknown Soldier means that, as well as being the grave of a single man, he becomes a memorial to all of the fallen of World War One, and all conflicts before and after.

While responsibility for his tomb and the tombs of the other unknown warriors in Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand does not lie with us, we are responsible for the remains buried within them.

Best WW1 Memorials to the Missing to visit now

Where possible, all of our sites around the world have remained open to the public throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. We strongly recommend to any visitors that they research and follow the advice of the local authorities whenever they visit our cemeteries and memorials.

Currently, the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing is undergoing a major restoration project. As part of this project, we have installed a free-to-use digital exhibition In the Shadow of Thiepval where visitors can learn more about the memorial and the landscape around it, the Battle of the Somme and the 72,000 names commemorated there.

Find WW1 Memorials Near Me

Are you ready to explore some of the fascinating World War One Memorials near you? Our database contains over 23,000 war memorials, cemeteries and grave locations, in more than 150 countries and territories around the world.

WW1 memorial name search

Use our war dead records search tool to find the names and final resting places of the men and women of the Commonwealth who lost their lives during the First World War.

War memorial records WW1

Or search our war memorials and war cemeteries database to find visiting information at both local sites and commemorative locations across the globe.

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WW1 Memorials: A War Memorial Guide | CWGC

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The War Graves Commission was founded in 1917 while the Great War was still being fought. Today, we maintain war cemeteries and memorials at more than 23,000 locations in over 150 countries and territories around the world.

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Research Guides: World War I and Australia: War begins for Australia

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For five terrible years following 1914, boys from all over Australia – the brave, the nervous, the brilliant and the dull of wit – marched off to fight in a European conflict. Some expected a glorious adventure – a noble battle against a demonic foe. Others enlisted because the ‘King’s shilling’ was too shiny a coin to resist. And some went, sick with fear, because soldiering was expected of them

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A recently discovered treasure from the John Oxley Library collection is a 348 page cutting book containing Australian World War I poetry, (OM 92-68). The poems, which cover the period 1914-1919, were published in The Bulletin magazine and the Sydney Mail newspaper, and provide a wonderful compilation of the works of various poets, many of them soldiers in the front lines.

The Bulletin magazine was first published in Sydney on the 31st January 1880 and was highly influential in Australian culture and politics until after World War I. Its main focus was politics and business, although it also had a strong literary character. The publication served as a platform for young and aspiring writers to showcase their short stories and poetry. Notable Australian writers who were associated with The Bulletin include Henry Lawson, Steele Rudd, Ethel Turner, Dorothy Mackellar, Harry (Breaker) Morant and Banjo Paterson.

The poets, writing about World War I, include Ethel Campbell (known as the Angel of Durban), John Sandes (who wrote under the name of Oriel), Henry Lawson, Mary Hannay Foott, Will Lawson, Major Oliver Hogue writing as "Trooper Bluegum", and Arthur Henry Adams to name but a few. Themes of national pride, patriotism honour and gallantry are prominent and sustain the idea that Australia found her identity and became a nation during the bloodshed, tragedy, and sacrifices of the war.

A small selection of the poems appear below:

"The Landing" by George Street

"Where Honour is Due" by John Sandes, writing as "Oriel".

John Sandes was a journalist, poet and novelist from Ireland who settled in Australia in 1887. During the Boer War he published a compilation of his poetry entitled Ballads of Battle (1900) which "foreshadowed many poetic responses to World War I" with an emphasis on patriotism, honour and duty. (Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, 1988). His World War I poetry follows this tradition and was an early formulation of the "Anzac legend" of bravery, honour, independence and mateship.

"Anzac Day" by Arthur Henry Adams.

"Songs from the Trenches" by Captain C.W. Blackall.

"Whose was the Hand" by Mary Hannay Foott, Bundaberg, Queensland.

An interesting soldier poet was Major Oliver Hogue from New South Wales who wrote under the name of "Trooper Bluegum".

Major Oliver Hogue, ca. 1915. Australian War Memorial, ID number A05426.

Major Oliver Hogue was a journalist before his enlistment in September 1914. He served as a light horseman with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade at Gallipoli and later commanded the 14th Light Horse Brigade during the campaign which drove the Turks out of Palestine and Syria. He was a talented poet and immortalised his experiences in three books "Love Letters of an Anzac", "Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles" and "The Cameliers". Hogue survived the war, but sadly died of influenza on the 3rd March 1919 in London. Some examples of his work are below:

"A Holiday Wound" by Trooper Bluegum.

Trooper Bluegum

The cutting book also contains an interesting article by Bertram Stevens entitled Australian War Literature in which he reviews some of the most notable war books which were written by Australians engaged in the conflict. The article appeared in the Sydney Mail, 12th March 1919 and may be viewed at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/16893580

This remarkable cutting book, Poetry Clippings 1914-1915 (OM 92-68), may be viewed at the John Oxley Library and provides a wonderful insight into Australian society during the First World War.

Lynn Meyers, QANZAC100 Content Curator

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© The State of Queensland (State Library of Queensland) 2023

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their continuing connection to land and as custodians of stories for millennia. We are inspired by this tradition in our work to share and preserve Queensland's memory for future generations.

Digital graphic based on Kurilpa Country, an original artwork by Lilla Watson.

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A recently discovered treasure from the John Oxley Library collection is a 348 page cutting book containing Australian World War I poetry, (OM 92-68). The poems, which cover the period 1914-1919, were published in The Bulletin magazine and the Sydney Mail newspaper, and provide a wonderful compilation of the works of various poets, many of them soldiers in the front lines.

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Remembrance Drive and Avenue Road, Ballarat, Central Highlands - Victoria, Australia

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Remembrance Drive and Avenue Road, Ballarat, Central Highlands - Victoria, Australia

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Details

Location

Remembrance Drive and Avenue Road, Ballarat, Central Highlands - Victoria, Australia

Description

The Ballarat Avenue of Honour is Australia's longest Avenue of Honour. It spans 22 km with 3,771 trees, each planted with a plaque dedicated to the individual men and women from Ballarat who enlisted their services in World War 1.
Originally, 23 different species of trees were planted and these were mostly the traditional 'European' or exotic deciduous species popular at the time, including different types of Ash, Oak, Maple, Alder, Birch, Lime, Poplar and Elm. Many of the original species planted did not flourish and new planting is mostly of the Quercus and Fraxinus varieties.
For a comprehensive history of the Avenue of Honour visit the City of Ballarat website (see link attached).

Read more...

Established

3 June 1917

View Tributes of Honour Description

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Ballarat Avenue of Honour, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

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Location Remembrance Drive and Avenue Road, Ballarat, Central Highlands - Victoria, Australia Description The Ballarat Avenue of Honour is Australia's longest Avenue of Honour. It spans 22 km with 3,771 trees, each planted with a plaque dedicated to the individual men and women from Ballarat who enlisted their services in World War 1.

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From enlistment to conscription, to laments for the lost to our duty to England, war poetry spans all the hardship and State Library Victoria World War I poetry

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From enlistment to conscription, to laments for the lost to our duty to England, war poetry spans all the hardship and reasoning of battle.

Early World War 1 poetry encouraged people to enlist. 'The period 1915-1921 had begun in Australia, as in England, with a spate of imperialistic verse, expressing fervent support for England and Empire in their hour of peril.' ( Other banners...p. 2) The early attitude was reflected in the numbers; in 1914 Australia committed 20,000 people to fight and by years end, 50,000 had enlisted.

The collection of poems Are we downhearted? No, No; published by the Government printer, encouraged 'brothers' to 'play the game' and enlist for our Empire:

Writer L.E. Homfray also called on Australians to 'obey' and heed the call of the Mother Country:

After two years of fighting and many causalities, the number of volunteers fell. Needing troops, the Australian Government asked the people to decide on conscription via two referendums; one in 1916 and one in 1917. Both were defeated.

Go! It's your duty Lad. Join to-day
Contrasting with the initial call to arms, the poetry of soldiers, following first hand war experience, dealt directly with the facts of war. Leon Gellert's 1917 collection Songs of a campaign included the titles Murder, Armageddon, The Death, The Burial, and The Cripple. The following is from These men:

Men moving in a trench, in the clear noon
Whetting their steel within the crumbling earth;
Men, moving in a trench 'neath a new moon
That smiles with a slit mouth and has no mirth

Similarly, soldier-poet Harley Matthews wrote, in 1938, about the trenches, bullets, and his injured hope; Earth:

'..."Earth take and hide
Me," all my being cried.
That will fall here. Run! Which way? Too late. "Earth- "
No. There is no escape from the machine;
Unseeing, it picks us out and strikes us unseen.
Your are the one hope, Earth. Only a hope... '

'Australian literature of the first World War possesses an honesty and truthfulness, a directness and realism, an immediacy and vividness, that strike a sympathetic response in the minds of most general readers today.' ( Other banners ...p. 5)
Written by Paul Dee, Librarian Australian History and Literature
The State Library holds a large collection of World War 1 resources including poetry, conscription material, war posters and postcards.

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State Library Victoria World War I poetry

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From enlistment to conscription, to laments for the lost to our duty to England, war poetry spans all the hardship and reasoning of battle. Early World War 1 poetry encouraged people to enlist. 'The period 1915-1921 had begun in Australia, as in England, with a spate of imperialistic verse, expressing fervent support for England and Empire in their hour of peril.'

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CURRICULUM LINKS AND LEARNING TOPICS

First World War, Art, Trenches, Homefront

Use these sources to discover more about art during the First World War.

For ideas to help you use these sources, take a look at our Suggested Activities.

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CURRICULUM LINKS AND LEARNING TOPICS First World War, Art, Trenches, Homefront Use these sources to discover more about art during the First World War. For ideas to help you use these sources, take a look at our Suggested Activities.

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Art as Influence and Response: A First Look at World War I and the Visual Arts

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Art as Influence and Response: A First Look at World War I and the Visual Arts

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Organized to commemorate the centennial of World War I, World War I and the Visual Arts features more than 130 works—mainly works on paper—drawn from The Met collection and supplemented with select loans. The exhibition showcases some of the ways in which artists both reacted to and represented the horrors of modern warfare and its aftermath. As visitors move through the galleries, so does the exhibition move chronologically—from the mobilization in the beginning of August 1914 to the 1918 armistice and the decade that followed.

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Art as Influence and Response: A First Look at World War I and the Visual Arts

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Associate Curator Jennifer Farrell gives readers an introductory look at the artists, themes, and works on view in the exhibition “World War I and the Visual Arts.”

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Australian official war artists - First World War

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Australian official war artists - First World War

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There were two separate commissioning schemes for artists during the First World War.

Ten Australian artists living in England received appointments for generally not more than three months and were expected to produce at least 25 drawings during this time. This scheme was administered by the Australian High Commission in London, with official war correspondent Charles Bean as adviser. These artists received honorary commissions as officers.

Five artists already serving with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were selected by Bean to be attached to the Australian War Records Section. (J. S. McDonald was also selected but ill health prevented him from taking up his appointment.) These artists are also official war artists, although they have previously been referred to as Australian War Records Section artists.

The following three sculptors were employed in the Modelling Subsection of the Australian War Records Section, under a different scheme to the official war artists. The Modelling Subsection employed a number of sculptors, painters, carpenters and other skilled people to produce the Memorial's topographical plan models and First World War dioramas.
Exhibitions
Up front - faces of Australia at war (on display 1998-2000)

Shaping memory: sculpture at the Australian War Memorial (on display 2004)

George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine landscapes (on display 2007)
Articles and publications
Up front: faces of Australia at war. Catalogue essay by Elena Taylor, 1998

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Australian official war artists - First World War

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There were two separate commissioning schemes for artists during the First World War. Ten Australian artists living in England received appointments for generally not more than three months and were expected to produce at least 25 drawings during this time. This scheme was administered by the Australian High Commission in London, with official war correspondent Charles Bean as adviser.

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 We take a look at some of the ways in which artists dealt with and reflected on the horrific consequences of War | Tate

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Nine Ways Artists responded to the First World War

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Nine Ways Artists responded to the First World War

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Kathe Kollwitz The Parents (War portfolio, plate 3)

1921-22

Private Collection

1. Honouring the absent soldier

Paul Jouve
Grave of a Serbian solider at Kenali 1917 1917
Tombe d'un soldat serbe à Kenali 1917
Musée de l'Armée (Paris, France)

Over ten million died as a result of the First World War. Mindful that the great loss of these soldiers should not be forgotten, many artists chose to focus on their absence. This was something common across British, French and German artworks. Paul Jouve's Grave of a Serbian solider at Kenali 1917 depicts a soldier's grave at the battle scene. His helmet rests on the gravestone. This unworn helmet, rather than the grave, is the focus of Jouve's painting. The helmet became a motif in many artworks as a symbol of loss. It stood for the patriotism and sacrifice of the soldier.

Other artists chose to explore the absence of a loved one more personally. Kathe Kollwitz's The Parents is a woodcut depicting two grieving parents. Kollwitz had lost her son Peter. He died while serving in Flanders in October 1914. Rather than a portrait of her son, she displays the grief she and her husband felt in his absence. In a way that differed to war propaganda, both these artists depicted loss as futile.

2. Sculpting enduring memorials

Ernst Barlach
The Floating One 1927, cast 1987
Der Schwebende

Antoine Bourdelle
France 1923
La France

The memorials we continue to visit today were made to remind future generations of the war and to be a place to mourn and grieve. In 1919, Paris's Les Fêtes de la Victoire and London's Peace Day Parade used a Cenotaph or empty tomb as the focal point of their remembrance. Germany's first official memorial was not until Berlin's Neue Wache in 1931, but before this sculptors had created monuments that reflected on the war.

After three months service, Ernst Barlach returned home from the war a pacifist. His artwork became increasingly popular as a result. His Der Schwebende, commissioned for Güstrow Cathedral in 1927, was a bronze sculpture of a floating angel. It was a memorial for the fallen. The horizontal, passive stance is a direct contrast to the active aggression of the soldier. In 1937, it was melted down by the Nazis for its anti-war view. They wished to glorify those who had sacrificed themselves for their country. Today, Barlach's sculpture has been recast and has been exhibited all over the world.

Antoine Bourdelle's France, first created in 1922, depicts a personified version of France as the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Pallas Athene, looking out for America. It reimagines when America entered the war in 1917 to help their allies. Bourdelle called it his greatest masterpiece. Since, the sculpture has been recast for display several times, most famously in Boston and Paris. Memorials such as these often became public monuments that were accessible and notable to all. They continue to carry out their purpose to remind us of the tragedies of war.

3. Rejecting the rational

Unable to comprehend the harsh realities of war, artists began looking at more unconventional ways to express themselves. The founders of the surrealist movement, André Breton and Louis Aragon, had been medical students at a military hospital in Paris in 1917. They had been eyewitnesses to the horror of the war and how this had damaged the bodies of its victims. While an effort was made by artists like Henry Tonks to document the wounds soldiers had experienced, the surrealists felt these articles were unable to fully realise the horror of the experience.

The German Max Ernst was a key artist working within the surrealist movement. His Celebes presents a fragmented body and a tank, elephant-like in stature. Ernst explores the distorted post-war psyche, affected by shellshock and trauma. The suggested meaning is that the individual, notably female, is helpless against the might of the machine. Confused and disorientated, artists began to make art that posed more questions than it answered.

Likewise, the dada movement that began in Zurich was a direct reaction to the war. It subverted traditional ideas and satirised war rhetoric. Kurt Schwitters' artwork takes ideas from both dada and surrealism and presents a fragmented vision of a post-war society. His Picture of Spatial Growths - Picture with Two Small Dogs is a collage of rubbish and printed ephemera from Germany in 1920. He added to the piece seventeen years later, creating various layers. Its collage form creates a messiness and disorder that relates to the struggling and bankrupt Weimar Germany Schwitters was working in.

Everything had broken down ... new things had to be made from fragments ... new art forms out of the remains of a former culture.

Kurt Schwitters

4. Returning to tradition

In complete contrast, some artists found security and stability in the past. They sought reassurance in the neo-romantic and pastoral landscapes that had dominated before the avant-garde artistic values of surrealism and dada. Artists, like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, became part of a movement known as Return to Order. They rejected the fragmentation of reality that had been common in their style before the war. Many of their post-war artworks show an effort to reproduce a sense of calmness.

British artists, such as Winifred Knights sought similar through a revival of religious imagery. Her The Deluge won Knights a three-year scholarship at the British School in Rome. As a reimagining of Noah's Ark, it illustrates contemporary society through biblical imagery. A crowd struggle to escape the flood, while the ark sails away in the distance. She equates biblical destruction with the destruction of the war. By turning to religion, Knights found a conventional way to express the feelings of a post-war society. Her painting though is far more modern and stylised. Its shadowy texture in place of lush greenery is perhaps influenced by the war-ravaged world she painted in. A return to tradition was wished for, but in most cases, it was difficult to realise.

5. Reimagining a new world order

George Grosz
Grey Day 1921
Grauer Tag
Nationalgalerie Berlin
© DACS, 2018

In the decade after the war, artists began envisioning a world where the war had acted as the catalyst for change. The future was experimental and bold, a symbol of hope and rebirth after the devastation of war. Newly enfranchised groups, such as women and the working classes became a focus. Social critique informed a revolution in the perception of these groups. The 1920s saw a shift in focus away from the elite. George Grosz's Grey Day illustrates how the wealthy profited from war. In contrast, the disabled and forgotten veteran was left poor and divided from society. His painting literally separates the two groups by a brick wall. It is up to the viewer, however, as to decide whether this half-built wall is being constructed or brought down.

In urban centres, jazz and dance culture became the trend. William Roberts' The Jazz Club shows a liberated group, dressed in the new, less-conservative fashion of the day. The angular shapes give the bodies a new-found power. The colours, made up of bright reds and muted greens, show a new kind of social space, plain and practical rather than ornate. The world changed, absorbing the effects of war, whilst it rebuilt itself.

William Roberts
The Jazz Club (The Dance Party) 1923
Leeds City Art Gallery

6. Empowering the Woman

Many women had been drafted into the workforce during the war. The artist Hilda Carline had served in the Women's Land Army. She did farm work in Suffolk where she developed a fascination for the countryside. After the war, she trained at the Slade School of Art under the guidance of Henry Tonks. While landscape was the main focus of her paintings, her portraiture reflected a new society where women were independent and able to sustain jobs. Self-portrait is an example of how Carline envisioned the new working woman. Her gaze is firm and directed at the viewer. Painted in 1923, it shows what strides were made in the five years after the war ended and the vote was extended to women. The context of the artwork positions the war as a catalyst that helped lift some of the restraints on women.

7. Revisiting the landscape

As the medium of art changed and became more expansive, artists revisited the war to reflect on its legacy in new ways. Photography showed the lasting impacts of war and represented a far more realistic and directed depiction than painting. Don McCullin's The Battlefields of the Somme, France is a 2000 photograph in harsh monochrome. It shows the modern landscape and invites the viewer to imagine the battle once taking place on this sparse plain. The black and white colouring filters out any colour and suggests a darker, more sombre meaning than perhaps the green fields would to the naked eye.

In the same way, Erinnerung aus dem Weltkrieg by Tacita Dean is a 2001 photograph that wishes to preserve the historical significance of the First World War. The photograph shows a German countryside ravaged by bombing raids in the war. The title roughly translates as 'memories of the World War'. Again it is a black and white photograph signalling the past, but here Dean has etched words on to the photograph. Some of the text is an explanation that the image shows a 'dead place' on 'the French/ German border' where 'not a soul remains'. Like McCullin, Dean uses photography to respond to the war and reflect on its significance in a twenty-first century context.

8. Recreating the Sound of War

Moving away from the visual, artist Susan Philipsz has responded to war through sound. Her War Damaged Musical Instruments was exhibited at Tate Britain to commemorate the war. The piece features fourteen recordings of British and German brass and wind instruments damaged in conflicts over the last 200 years. The music is based on The Last Post, a tune used to inform soldiers that it was safe to return to their base. Audiences today will recognise it as having been played at Remembrance ceremonies. In Philipsz's artwork the tune is distorted and fragmented, because of the damaged instruments. It is almost unrecognisable. The damaged melody represents the wounded and reminds us of their sacrifice.

9. Expressing Absent Voices

Relying on the labour of its Empire, Britain looked to African and Indian colonies to support the war effort. One tragedy of this has been that these soldiers and their narratives have been drowned out by their colonisers. Gerald Pryse was a British artist and lithographer during the war. His Indians and Motorbuses near Poperinghe is one of the few artworks that show the involvement of India in the war effort. More well-known, The Neuve-Chapelle Memorial exists in France to commorate 4, 742 Indian soliders who were given no grave. Both, however, were created by a western perspective. They do not give voice to the soliders from the Empire.

Today, a new generation of artists from these backgrounds are responding to the war to tell the forgotten stories of those who fought. William Kentridge has created The Head and the Load to tell the experience of African porters who served in the British, French and German forces during the First World War. The piece will be performed at Tate Modern to recognise the contribution of these African men and women. It comes after the opening of the African and Caribbean War Memorial in Brixton, London that honours the fallen from these countries. In the centenary of the war's end, it is hoped that these stories will be told and the losses of these men and women remembered.

© Stella Olivier

Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One is at Tate Britain, 5 June - 23 September 2018

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Nine Ways Artists responded to the First World War | Tate

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1. Honouring the absent soldier Over ten million died as a result of the First World War. Mindful that the great loss of these soldiers should not be forgotten, many artists chose to focus on their absence. This was something common across British, French and German artworks.

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Australian war history resources | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

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Australian war history resources | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)

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Online | National Library of Australia (nla.gov.au)

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Online | National Library of Australia (nla.gov.au)

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Army – World War I: 1914–18 | naa.gov.au

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Army – World War I: 1914–18 | naa.gov.au

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Personal stories – Australians in World War 1 – Research Guides at State Library of Victoria (slv.vic.gov.au)

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Personal stories – Australians in World War 1 – Research Guides at State Library of Victoria (slv.vic.gov.au)

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Access impactful educational videos and supporting classroom resources anywhere, at any time to enhance teaching and learning at all levels.

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For centuries, soldiers from Scotland, Australia, Canada and Ireland have advanced and attacked to the tune of bagpipes. As the 100th anniversary of the start ...

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This series comprises the War Diaries created by the units of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War. While on active service, Army headquarters, formations and units were required to keep unit war diaries recording their daily activities. These diaries were arranged by unit and covered the period of one month at a time.

The content of the war diaries generally consist of war diary or intelligence summary sheets located at the beginning of each diary which record the date of each entry, the unit's location, a summary of events and any remarks or references to appendices. The appendices, which make up the larger part of each diary, may include orders, despatches, instructions, reports, telegrams, and decisions taken; daily situation reports; staff duties; accounts of operations; changes in establishment or strength; and a summary of information received.

The overall quality of the diaries can be variable and usually reflects the attitude of the unit's commanding office, and the skill and conscientiousness of the individual charged with compiling it.

More information can be found in the introduction to the series.

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Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War

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This series comprises the War Diaries created by the units of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War. While on active service, Army headquarters, formations and units were required to keep unit war diaries recording their daily activities. These diaries were arranged by unit and covered the period of one month at a time.

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Political responses

Support for the British war effort

Even before Britain had declared war, the critical question facing Australian politicians was how they could support the war.

On 3 August, the Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson cabled London to say that:

In the event of war Commonwealth of Australia prepared to place vessels of Australian Navy under control of British Admiralty when desired. Further prepared to despatch expeditionary force 20,000 men of any suggested composition to any destination desired by Home Government. Force to be at complete disposal Home Government. Cost of despatch and maintenance would be borne by this Government. Australian Press notified accordingly.

This had been agreed to at a meeting of the cabinet earlier that day. Australia's offer of support to the United Kingdom received bipartisan support from all sides of politics.

New Labor government

Australia's support for the British war effort became a vital issue during the 1914 federal election campaign. As a Member of Parliament in the Opposition at the time, Billy Hughes called for the election to be cancelled, but it went ahead as planned.

At a political rally in Colac, Victoria, the Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Fisher, famously declared that:

Australians [would] stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling

When the people voted on 5 September 1914, they elected a Labor government led by Fisher. This was Fisher's third time as Prime Minister, but he would find wartime leadership difficult. Fisher was replaced by Hughes in October 1915.

One argument why Labor won the election in 1914 stemmed from its stronger public image concerning defence. Defence was now a crucial issue to the public.

Special laws for wartime

The Fisher Government presided over the introduction of several new laws that helped Australia adjust to the war.

As Attorney-General, Hughes became an increasingly influential figure in the Australian Government. He helped to create a legal framework to allow Australia to go to war:

The most controversial of these was the War Precautions Act. As Joan Beaumont has suggested, the Act and its amendments during World War I reflected the:

increasingly authoritarian nature of the Australian state at war

Despite later opposition, the Act was passed unopposed by parliament.

The War Precautions Act gave the Australian Government the power to limit people's freedoms by:

introducing censorship

controlling newspapers

penalising those who spread information that was damaging to the Australian war effort

placing restrictions on 'alien' subjects

Censorship would become especially intrusive when used by the Hughes Government.

Economic responses

While Australia enjoyed a high standard of living at the time, the outbreak of war presented several economic challenges.

Decline in trade

The imminent outbreak of war threw the world's stock markets into confusion. Stock markets were closed in the major Western capitals, including New York and London. Australia followed suit.

All stock exchanges in Australia closed from 3 August to 28 September 1914. The closures were partly to allow time for the market to adjust to wartime conditions.

Read about the closures: MELBOURNE STOCK EXCHANGE, The Age 4 August 1914

Another issue to affect the Australian economy was that imports and exports declined because of a lack of shipping during the war.

Limit of German influences

Trade was also affected by the government's decision on 7 August 1914 to impose an embargo on trade with enemy countries. This led to a disruption to trade. In particular, this affected Australia's wool industry.

Many everyday Australians were concerned about buying German goods after the war began.

Read a Letter to the Editor: WAR PROBLEMS, The Sydney Morning Herald 21 October 1914.

On 23 October 1914, the government passed the Trading with the Enemy Act, which declared that:

Any person who, during the continuance of the present state of war, trades or has before the commencement of this Act traded with the enemy shall be guilty of an offence.

People were also concerned about the degree of German economic influence in Australia.

The supply and use of overseas capital in the Australian economy were also concerning issues. The issue of supply led to some outbreaks of profiteering, which was decried by state premiers.

Funding for the war effort

On 11 August, Prime Minister Joseph Cook called a meeting with the state premiers. This meeting was convened to deal with wartime financial policy.

One crucial issue for the states was that a lack of capital would impact their state projects.

To help the states, Fisher's first budget made it clear that the war would be funded by borrowing rather than taxation.

Another important outcome of this meeting was that the states agreed to waive the cost of transporting recruits on state railways.

The Australian economy also had to deal with two other critical issues:

the diversion and loss of its workforce to the military

the diversion of funds to the military to help fight the war

Fisher's decision to borrow heavily for Australia's war effort helped alleviate concerns about reduced funds elsewhere.

Military responses

Australia's armed forces supported the imperial war effort by:

Raising a force for wartime service overseas

The critical military response to the outbreak of the war was the decision to raise an expeditionary force of 20,000 men for use overseas. Its name 'Australian Imperial Force' was chosen by its first commander, Major General William Bridges.

In many respects, the name established the identity of the Australian forces that would serve overseas. It affirmed imperial loyalty but also gave a sense of national character to the organisation.

The critical concern facing the Australian Government in raising the AIF was whether they could recruit 20,000 troops. This stemmed from the problem that the Defence Act 1903 prohibited the deployment of the permanent Australian Army overseas. As such, the AIF had to be recruited from volunteers.

The government's concern ultimately proved unfounded. When recruiting started on 10 August, the recruitment office in Sydney received 2000 volunteers.

Early operations

On 6 August 1914, the British Government asked the Australian Government to undertake operations against German colonies in the region. The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was raised to occupy German New Guinea. Military operations in the early part of the war included:

Social responses

Support from Australian Britons

Early responses to the outbreak of the war were broadly enthusiastic to the point that rioting occurred in Melbourne.

Enthusiasm at that time was most likely due to:

Australia's special relationship with the United Kingdom

a large number of British-born people living in Australia

There was no contradiction to being both Australian and British. As former Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin said, many citizens could be described as an 'independent Australian Briton'.

Opposition to the war

However, there were some objections to going to war.

Some people on the left of politics, including trade unionists, were against the war, as were many Australians of Irish descent who were not in favour of fighting in Britain's name.

One vocal opponent to the war was the pacifist and feminist Vida Goldstein. Goldstein was:

president of the Women's Political Association of Victoria

chairman of the Peace Alliance

founder of the Women's Peace Army (in 1915)

Read a newsletter article about Goldstein: A MARKED PERSONALITY, Woman Voter 25 August 1914.

Racial intolerance

One of the critical social responses of the early month of World War I was that of how Australians responded to fellow citizens of German descent.

In the Australian census of 1911, around 36,000 people identified themselves as being born in Germany or Austria-Hungary. Australia also had a sizable population of Lutherans, a denomination associated with Germany.

The initial period of the war was one of intolerance to towards people of German, Austrian and Hungarian descent.

On 10 August 1914, those of German descent had to register their details with the nearest police station. Added to this was an atmosphere of hysteria driven by anti-German propaganda. This led people to denounce fellow citizens with little evidence.

Many citizens of Austro-German descent tried to reaffirm their loyalty to Australia. A few enlisted to serve Australia in the war. Many changed their last names.

Under the War Precautions Act, the Australian Government ran several internment camps in Australia. Some 6890 people were interred during the war. Another 4260 suspected individuals lived under parole throughout the war.

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Even before Britain had declared war, the critical question facing Australian politicians was how they could support the war. On 3 August, the Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson cabled London to say that: In the event of war Commonwealth of Australia prepared to place vessels of Australian Navy under control of British Admiralty when desired.

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Hughes started the Billy Hughes' training camp at Goulburn to train men for overseas service in preparation for a successful result in the referendum.

'In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of this country to fight against their will.'

Nothing was more divisive than conscription during the First World War. Argument over conscription split the Labor Party in 1916 when Hughes said 'Let those who think with me, follow me'.

Conscription is compulsory enlistment in the armed forces. This means that if you are conscripted you have no choice but to join the armed forces. In 1916, Australia had compulsory military service but conscripted men could only serve within Australian territory. Billy Hughes wanted to extend conscription so that men could be sent to reinforce the front line in Europe.

In the first few months of war many Australians enlisted to fight. The number of men who volunteered was greater than needed and at first some were turned away. News of casualties on the front began to reach home and support for the war declined sharply. It became more difficult to persuade men to sign up. Recruitment campaigns became more intense. Posters and speeches targeted men 'eligible' to enlist. Many eligible men over the age of 21 who hadn't enlisted were labelled 'shirkers' and 'traitors'.

After heavy casualties on the Western Front, Britain pressured Australia to make a bigger contribution to the war effort. In 1916 Prime Minister Hughes visited Britain and the war front. He returned to Australia convinced that conscription must be introduced to win the war.

The Federal Parliament has the power to introduce conscription with a majority vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate. However the Labor Party, led by Billy Hughes, had a policy against conscription and a majority of Senators were also against the introduction of conscription. To get support for conscription Billy Hughes decided to ask the peoples' opinion in a national referendum.

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Old Parliament House: Executive Agency within the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio

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Hughes started the Billy Hughes' training camp at Goulburn to train men for overseas service in preparation for a successful result in the referendum. 'In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of this country to fight against their will.' Nothing was more divisive than conscription during the First World War.

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The Library's collection of World War I diaries offers a glimpse into the life of Australians at war. - A story from the State Library of New South Wales

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Supporting Great Britain in the Great War meant that Australian troops fought on many battlefields around the globe between 1914 and 1918. This video looks ...