Active ALIA War Memorial Research Centre tour November 2014

As a kid growing up in Canberra my poor dad use to take me and my 3 older brothers to the War Memorial during the holidays. It was free entertainment and free needed to be considered when you had 7 kids to provide for. At the time my focus was very narrow and I had three-four ports of call during my visit. I had to see Sandy the only light horse that had returned to Australia, the horse that a light horse trooper was mounted on in the long glass cases of World War 1 uniforms and the camel also ridden by a mounted trooper, The other was two dogs, one a terrier how had been someone’s pet in the trenches in France and a German shepherd who had been a messenger dog. My dad use to take me around these animal exhibits probably to ensure I kept quiet when he viewed the things he wished to see. So my child hood memories of the War Memorial are as you can see very intense and very narrow.

To my shame I must admit that my last trip to the War Memorial is also about 3 years ago when I went with my mother to see the War brides exhibition. The impetus for going was to view a wedding dress made out of a parachute silk someone she knew from Queanbeyan had worn. So I really only knew that the research centre existed in that this good in the mythical sense rather than as a user of the collection. However this mythical sense at least meant I was aware of the importance of the War Memorial research collections

Most librarians understand that the research collections at the Australian War Memorial are a key resource for researching Australia's involvement in the First World War and subsequent wars. The Research Centre holds a variety of materials to support this research, including official records, private records including diaries and letters, manuscripts, books, serials, maps, leaflets, music and more.

The library tour that was guided by Jennifer Milward is my second one for Active ALIA in about 5 years. Jennifer and Jenny another librarian took us, a group of about 15 very keen librarians around the back scenes of the research centre. We were guided through the hard copy collection of field diaries kept by military units and allowed to view several. However what was of most interest for many of us were the personal artefacts of soldiers from oversees. Several discussed the silk postcards that were sent home form the front in France to relatives back in Australia. Two on the tour said that their grandmother and mother treasured similar because they had them as personal mementos of grandfathers, great uncles who had fought in the trenches.  We also had a view of artefacts such as the Changi prison entertainment programs.  The putting a very brave face on  horrific  living conditions in a crowded prison brought home to  me the stoicism of many intimates. What I found very poignant was an autograph book of autographs collected by an Australian nurse amongst her colleagues and other medical staff in World War 1. What was pointed out was that a number of those who had signed her book had died on overseas services and several of these had died on the way home of the Spanish influenza. I found it moving and also ironic that those who had served with dedication and survived the war, then died on the way home.

What came across form Jennifer and Jenny was their enthusiasm and  enjoyment in working at the  War Memorial with the diverse collections and their sense of  heritage value. Other tour goers echoed these sentiments:

·         The Resource Centre is a lot bigger than I expected. I had no idea that it consisted of so many interlinked rooms. I also had no idea there were around 35 staff including volunteers.

·         The treasures that were shown to us were very interesting. I loved the Thai-Burma railway engineering diagram and the story around this. I also loved the Changi Prison theatre programs.

·         The staff is obviously very proud of their collection and the work they do, which is very inspiring.

·         The tour of the physical items in the special collections was really interesting and I am sure it touched the heart of everyone there. The librarians are passionate and sensitive to their material and what a wonderful job it would be to be part of the preservation team – very rewarding.

My suggestion then is if you get the opportunity go on a tour of the  War memorial research centre go and have your eyes open to history and the passion of the  staff who shepherd such collections.

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