How can we as historians educate audiences about the involvement and experiences of Australians in WW1?
Comprising millions of items arranged into dozens of categories, the Memorial's collection can help you research a Person, a Unit or an event.
The ANZAC Portal shares Australia's military and service history of WWI through the experiences of the veterans. It includes information on military organisations and weapons, places where Australians served, personnel and wartime experience, politics in Australia during the war, the Home Front during the war and the commemoration of war veterans.
Trove brings together billions of pieces of information. Search the Trove database to explore amazing collections from Australian libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives. You can find digital copies of newspapers, Government Gazettes, maps, magazines, newsletters, books, pictures, photographs, archived websites, music and interviews.
The National Archives' collection includes Australian Government records from Federation in 1901 to now. Search the collection to find military records and photographs, audiovisual records, sound recordings, maps, plans and posters.
Books on World War I can be found at 940.3
Use the following subject headings when searching Oliver:
The Broken Years by
First published in 1974, The Broken Years is based on the diaries and letters of Australian soldiers in the Great War.
World War I : the Australian experience by
Contents: Prelude to war -- Australia's response -- German Pacific -- Gallipoli -- Reorganisation -- Western Front -- Middle East -- War at sea -- War in the air -- Conscription -- Home front -- Armistice -- Peace Conference.
Letters from the Front by
Letters from the Front is an authentic account of World War One through the eyes of an ordinary soldier, the story of one man. It seeks to add to our national consciousness of the immeasurable value and sacrifice of all those who have served our country, and our damaged heroes who survived, without in any way glorifying war. Jim McConnell takes us with him to Gallipoli, Villers-Bretonneux and the Somme Canal to gain another glimpse of the events that symbolise courage, comradeship and sacrifice, and that cost Australia a generation. As a first-person narrative, it strives to preserve the authenticity of the time and place in which these events occurred; to simply tell the story without twenty-first century judgements, embellishments or condemnations. Much of the story comes directly from this important primary source of actual diary notes. This is a valuable contribution to our World War One literature because so little was passed on in the generations that followed. It also teaches us how to live well in an imperfect world. Jim McConnell saw people as people, and treated them accordingly, willing to fight and quick to forgive. He then made the most of the life he was left with in post-war Australia.
World War I : 1914-1918 by
This series brings to life significant events of the past through the accounts of people who were there at the time. Each book features diary and journal entries, newspaper articles and official documents. The emphasis is on presenting primary source material that offers different points of view on a single event.
Contents includes anti-German sentiment, anti-war sentiment, conscription, women at war, plus a lot more.
Australians at the Great War 1914-1918 by
Australia's contribution to the Great War has become part of the core of its national identity, and this work from the Australian War Memorial's Peter Burness offers a compact, thoroughly-illustrated and authoritative survey of the founding of the ANZAC tradition. From the shores of Gallipoli, through the trenches of France and Belgium, to the Light Horse in the Middle East, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 showcases photographs, artworks, posters, maps and artefacts from the War Memorial's comprehensive archive, along with detailed historical and anecdotal passages. Both as a testament to the courage of Australians at war, and as a guide to Australia's cultural legacy, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 is the perfect introduction.
Anzac Girls: the extraordinary story of our World War I nurses by
By the end of the Great War, forty-five Australian and New Zealand nurses had died on overseas service and over two hundred had been decorated. These were the women who left for war looking for adventure and romance but were soon confronted with challenges for which their civilian lives cound never have prepared them. Their strength and dignity were remarkable. Using diaries and letters, Peter Rees takes us into the hospital camps and the wards, and the tent surgeries on the edge of some of the most horrific battlefronts of human history. But he also allows the friendships and loves of these courageous and compassionate women to shine through and to enrich our experience. Profoundly moving Anzac Girls is a story of extraordinary courage and humanity shown by a group of women whose contribution to the Anzac legend has barely been recognised in our history. Peter Rees has changed that understanding forever.
Devotion : stories of Australia's wartime nurses by
Devotion explores the contribution and courage of Australian nurses in conflicts and peacekeeping operations from the Boer War to the present. It features stories and images from the Memorial's rich collection, along with questions for discussion, a map and timeline.
Historical fiction can be a great way to immerse yourself in the time period. You can discover what it looks like and feels like for someone living during the time or event you are studying. There are many books in the Learning Commons set during World War I, some are featured below. You can find more on Oliver (on the Portal) by searching 'World War, 1914-1918 - Australia - Fiction.'
1915 by
When Australia throws its support behind Britain in its fight against Germany, young teacher Stan Moore is one of the first to join up, swapping the classroom for adventure in Europe. But the 11th Battalion is sent with the newly formed Anzac Corp to Gallipoli where Stan is confronted by the hard lessons of war.
Gallipoli by
Based on David Williamson's screenplay for Peter Weir's classic Australian film, Gallipoli (originally released in 1981, starring Mel Gibson). On the morning of 25 April 1915, the first wave of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula under intense Turkish fire. When the Anzacs crept away, defeated, eight months later, 7594 Australians had been killed and more than 19,000 had been wounded. About one-fifth of the men engaged in this tragic and mismanaged encounter were under the age of 21 - boys who were fired with loyalty for a nation itself not yet 15 years old. This is the story of two of those boys.
My Friend, the Enemy by
This title in the historical fiction series explores life in the village of Wirreebilla in the Adelaide Hills at the time of the First World War. The action of the novel takes place in 1915 and gives good insights into events in France and Gallipoli but it is the effects of the war on those left behind in the village that the novel delves into more deeply. Emma’s diary focuses in particular on the people closest to her and how the war affects them. Emma’s best friend Hannelore is German and as the war goes on she and her fellow German settlers are increasingly isolated by some of the villagers. Fiction Focus Emma cannot understand how the village people can suddenly turn on neighbours declaring them to be the enemy when they have been seen as friends before the outbreak of war. Hannelore withdraws from Emma as she tries to cope with the hatred of some of those around her.
The Horses Didn't Come Home by
The last great cavalry charge in history took place at Beersheba in the Sinai Desert in 1917. It was Australian soldiers and horses that took part in, and won, this amazing, unexpected, unorthodox victory. The men proudly claimed it was their great-hearted horses that won the day. But in the end, the horses did not come home.
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