© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

World War 1

Read more about the article Newcastle’s Gardner Memorial: Australia’s first Great War soldier statue
The Gardner Memorial, outside Newcastle's old post office building

Newcastle’s Gardner Memorial: Australia’s first Great War soldier statue

In September, 1916, as details of the horrific slaughter of Australian troops at Fleurbaix/Fromelles on the Western Front were filtering back home, preparations were underway for the unveiling of what is reputed to be Australia’s first Great War soldier statue memorial, outside Newcastle’s post office.The Newcastle Morning Herald reported on September 11 that: “The statue for the Gardner Memorial has arrived in Newcastle from Italy, and is at present at Brown’s Monumental Works, Newcastle West, where it will remain until the unveiling ceremony takes place. Mr Frank Gardner inspected the statue on Saturday, and expressed himself…

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Read more about the article How a vanished soldier’s “deserter” label harmed his family, and how he eventually “died”
Russell Atkinson was labelled a deserter on the basis of no evidence at all. How Smith's Weekly reported his eventual vindication.

How a vanished soldier’s “deserter” label harmed his family, and how he eventually “died”

Private Russell Atkinson went into the front line with his unit of the Australian Imperial Force's 54th Battalion in October 1916. When his unit was relieved on October 28, he had disappeared. On the tumultuous Western Front in The Great War many men disappeared. Sometimes they deserted to enemy lines in the hope of surviving the war as a prisoner. Sometimes they drowned in waterlogged shellholes, were buried by explosions or were blown into unrecognisable fragments. In the case of Private Atkinson, the army decided desertion would be the official explanation. He had already been treated…

Continue ReadingHow a vanished soldier’s “deserter” label harmed his family, and how he eventually “died”
Read more about the article Maud Butler, the Kurri girl who wanted to be a soldier, and her bad soldier brother
Maud Butler in uniform. Photo from The Sydney Mail

Maud Butler, the Kurri girl who wanted to be a soldier, and her bad soldier brother

The main fighting Maud Butler did in World War I was with the authorities who wouldn’t let her go to the front to “do her bit”. A feisty Kurri Kurri teenager, Maud stowed away twice on troopships – having first disguised herself as a boy – and later got in trouble for collecting donations in uniform on a wartime Anzac Day. Stowaways were not rare. Digger diaries refer to stowaways being caught after troopships had sailed and being taken on strength and posted to battalions. But only if they were male. Maud Butler claimed at the…

Continue ReadingMaud Butler, the Kurri girl who wanted to be a soldier, and her bad soldier brother
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