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World War 1

Read more about the article Some of Australia’s Great War “trophy guns”
German trophy gun and Boer War memorial at St Kilda, Victoria, January 20, 1937. Photo by Bevis Platt.

Some of Australia’s Great War “trophy guns”

With assistance from David Pearson, of the Australian War Memorial As The Great War of 1914-1918 ground to its end on the European continent, many countries decided they’d like to collect and take home officially captured trophies of their victory. That’s not surprising, considering the enthusiasm with which many individual soldiers had collected unofficial souvenirs of various kinds throughout the entire war. Many German prisoners, for example, complained bitterly of being forced to hand over personal belongings to some of their captors. Watches, field glasses and similar items were particularly at risk of being “souvenired” and…

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Read more about the article The first Australia Day, July 30, 1915

The first Australia Day, July 30, 1915

At the time of The Great War, the modern conception of Australia Day did not exist. Australia as a nation had only been born in 1901, and even after that a very large proportion of the people who lived in Australia considered themselves to be British, first and foremost. January 26 was celebrated in NSW as "Foundation Day", and the other former colonies had days of commemoration for their own colonial beginnings. During the war, the idea of a national “Australia Day” was introduced as part of a wider fundraising effort where money was raised by…

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Read more about the article Donald Friedman, overland cyclist and bad soldier
One of Donald Friedman's postcards. As a soldier he was a great cyclist.

Donald Friedman, overland cyclist and bad soldier

He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force twice during The Great War, under different names, and was drummed out both times, actually earning a seven-year sentence for desertion. Postwar he turned to "overland cycling", chasing money to exploit a gold deposit he claimed he'd found near Darwin. He was found dead on a lonely outback road in 1938. The postcard proclaims the cyclist pictured to be Donald Friedman, an "original Anzac" and a member of the 9th Battalion. This transcontinental traveller funded his journeying through the sale of such cards, and by appealing, in newspaper interviews,…

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