Life Interrupted: Personal Diaries from World War 1
During July and August 2014, Arts Wednesday featured a six-part series entitled Life Interrupted: Personal Diaries from Wold War 1. It is the title of an exhibition of the same name at the State Library of NSW and each week, exhibition curator Elise Edmonds, spoke to Sylvia Rosenblum about a different diarist.
Listen to Part 1 where Elise introduces the series.
Elise Edmonds
Listen to Part 2, where Elise introduces us to young recruit Jim Marshall, who served as a signaller with the 53rd Battalion, 5th Reinforcement in France, Dec. 1916-1918, and in Belgium, 1917-1918.The image of Jim is supplied courtesy of the State Library of NSW as are the recordings of excerpts from his diary.
Jim Marshall
Listen to Part 3 about older recruit. Ellis Silas. His unit landed at Gallipoli on the evening of the 25 April 1915 where he served at Pope’s Hill, Quinn’s Post and Bloody Angle until 28 May 1915 when he was evacuated to Egypt suffering from shell shock and fever.The image is supplied courtesy of the Australian War Memorial and the readings from his diary are courtesy of SLNSW.
Ellis Silas
Listen to Part 4 about country boy Archie Barwick. The image is supplied courtesy of the Barwick family. The readings from his diary are by Toby Schmitz, produced by ABC Radio National. RN will commemorate the centenary of WWI over the next four years with special programming exploring 100 years of Australian service from national and international perspectives. To download RN’s recent weekend The Great War: Memory, Perceptions and 10 Contested Questions, go to https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/worldwarone/about/
Archie Barwick
Listen to Part 5 about Sister Ann Donnell, the only female in our group of diarists. From May 1917 Sister Donnell worked in hospitals in France and Belgium, including a casualty clearing station just back from the front line at Ypres. The readings from her diary are courtesy of SLNSW as is the image.
Listen to Part 6 about John Thomas (Jack) Hutton . Hutton served with the 17th Battalion in Egypt in 1916 and France and Belgium, 1916-1918.The image of Jack is courtesy of Susie Roberts and the reading from his diary courtesy of SLNSW
