Farewell, Dear People

Posted on 27/10/2012 by FFFAIF

FFFAIF member and author Ross McMullin will be in Sydney in the coming week to talk about his most recent book Farewell, Dear People: Biographies of Australia’s Lost Generation. Ross describes the book as being ‘strongly in tune with FFFAIF objectives and sentiment’.

The publisher describes the book as follows:
For Australia, a new nation with a relatively small population, the death of 60,000 soldiers during World War I was catastrophic. It is hardly surprising, then, that Australians evaluating the consequences of the conflict have tended to focus primarily on the numbing number of losses — on the sheer quantity of all those countrymen who did not return.
That there must have been extraordinary individuals among them has been implicitly understood, but these special Australians are unknown today. This book seeks to retrieve their stories and to fill the gaps in our collective memory. Farewell, Dear People contains ten extended biographies of young men who exemplified Australia’s gifted lost generation of World War I.
Among them are accounts of an internationally acclaimed medical researcher; a military officer described by his brigadier as potentially an Australian Kitchener; a rugby international who became an esteemed administrator and a rising Labor star; an engineer who excelled on Mawson’s Antarctic mission; a visionary vigneron and community leader who was renowned for successful winemaking at an unusually young age; a Western Australian Rhodes scholar assured of a shining future in the law and/or politics; a Tasmanian footballer who dazzled at the highest level; and a budding architect from Melbourne’s best-known creative dynasty who combined an endearing personality with his family’s flair for writing and drawing. This magisterial book tells their stories for the first time. In doing so, it enriches the story of Australia immeasurably.

You can hear Ross talk about the book on:
Tuesday 30 October, 5.30 for 6pm: Sydney Institute, 41 Phillip Street, Sydney (9252 3366)
Wednesday 31 October, 6pm: State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney (Metcalfe Auditorium, Macquarie Building, 9273 1414)
Thursday 1 November, 3.30 for 4pm: Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney (9228 5376)

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Work begins on new Fromelles Museum

Posted on 10/09/2012 by FFFAIF

[Serero Architects]

Work began on the new Fromelles Museum last week. The Museum is to be located adjacent to the CWGC Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery and is scheduled to open on 19 July 2013.


[Carole Laignel]

The architects of the museum describe the design as:
aiming at establishing a link between sky and earth, between visitors and the “burial” of soldiers. This is a building with a low profile, which is half-sunk on its northeast facade. The work on natural topography has helped to improve the natural slope of the site and cover, partially, the technical space of the museum.
Only the volume containing the exhibition spaces emerges from the landscape, indicating the trace of a burial. This emergence is in concrete, which evokes the stacking of successive geological stratifications and different types of soil in the basement. The museum is gradually revealed to people accessing the site, with its low profile, which is respectful of the presence of the adjacent cemetery.
Two visual axes generate the plan of the museum. One axis to the cemetery, that allows to connect the room of the last sequence with the resting place of soldiers. The other visual axis opens the lobby area to the church spire of Fromelles, which immediately identifies the skyline of the city. These axes were used to guide and define the “edges” of the octogonally shaped exhibition space.
The museum is organized around a octogonal core which houses the exhibition hall. This form, in the spirit of the adjacent cemetery, evokes both the rigid geometry of military construction, and the pure geometry of the sacral as the octagonal drum of the Church of Fromelles.

The following photos were kindly supplied by Carole Laignel, FFFAIF Member and Secretary Association Fromelles-Weppes-Terre de Memoire 14-18 (F.W.T.M. 14-18).

To find out more about the Museum’s design click here.

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Book Auction ends: 08/09/12

Posted on 03/09/2012 by FFFAIF

This week’s Book Auction commenced on Monday 3rd September. The funds raised from the sale of the books will go towards the John Laffin Memorial Fund, with the final bidding taking place on Saturday 8th September.

These books are currently being auctioned on eBay. See more details by clicking on the following links:
From Dug-Out & Billet An Officer’s letters to his Mother

Temporary Heroes by Cecil Sommers

Make Me a Soldier
A Platoon Commander In Gallipoli
by Arthur Behrends

My Warrior Sons
The Borton Family Diary
1914-1918
Edited by Guy Slater

Made In The Trenches 
Edited by
Sir Frederick Treves & George Goodchild

Great First World War Stories – Omnibus

No Joke by Crascredo
Illustrated by G.D. Armour

Humour In The Army
by John Aye

Letters From Flanders
by A.D. Gillespie

After Victory
by An Amateur Officer

 

 

 

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Book Auction ends: 1/09/12

Posted on 27/08/2012 by FFFAIF

This Book Auction commenced on Monday 27 August. The funds raised from the sale of the books will go towards the John Laffin Memorial Fund, with the final bidding taking place on Saturday 1st September.

These books are currently being auctioned on eBay. See more details by clicking on the following links:

Australian Military Uniforms 1800-1982
Monty Webb
1st Edition – 1982.

A Cavalry Chaplain
Henry C. Day. S.J., M.C.
1st Edition, Reprint October, 1922.

The Wet Flanders Plain
Henry Williamson
Reprint 1987 of original 1928 story.

The Australians In Nine Wars
 Waikato to Long Tan
Peter Firkins
1st Edition, 1972.


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Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Posted on 26/08/2012 by FFFAIF

Why not be a little more creative this Father’s Day?

Forget the socks and jocks;
Eliminate the bar-b-que mate;
Steer clear of the beer;
Replace the vacant space with:

A Gift Subscription to DIGGER Magazine
or
a Poppy Umbrella,
or
both, available through the FFFAIF.

DIGGER Magazine costs $50 p.a. for our quarterly magazine and includes 12 months membership to the Families and Friends of the First AIF. If your dad is a senior or concession holder it costs $40 p.a. (Overseas memberships have a A$10 postal levy)
Simply download a Membership Application Form by clicking here or contact the Secretary by emailing secretary@fffaif.org.au for more details.

Poppy Umbrellas – ‘Rembrellas’ are available in three styles.
FFFAIF are the importers of the Rembrella to Australia so we are able to offer excellent prices, direct to you, on these quality goods.

Telescopic:
$30 + p & h . (Members’ Price $28 + p & h.)Standard:
$33 + p & h. (Members’ Price $29 + p & h.)

Golf:
$35 + p & h. (Members’ Price $30 + p & h.)


Interested in ordering a poppy umbrella simply contact the Secretary by emailing secretary@fffaif.org.au for more details.
FFFAIF members only are eligible for the discounted price – please visit the Members’ Area for more details.

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BOOK AUCTIONS ARE BACK

Posted on 20/08/2012 by FFFAIF

The management committee of the FFFAIF are pleased to announce the auctioning of more books donated by Craig Laffin and his family.

The John Laffin Memorial Fund (JLMF) is once again the beneficiary of the generosity of Craig Laffin and his family. Craig has donated a collection of books from the professional library of his father, the late John Laffin. These books include soldiers’ stories and humour, unit stories, battles and campaigns as well as official histories and reference sources.  They will be auctioned over the coming months on line through eBay, with profits from the sales going to the JLMF.

The books, listed below, are being auctioned on eBay from Monday 20 August with final bidding taking place on Friday 24 August.

 Ships That Saved The Empire
Written by Charles R. Gibson
Pictured by Charles J. De Lacy
Publisher: Collins Clear-Type press London and Glasgow, 1st Edition, circa 1919.

Strategic Camouflage
by Solomon J. Solomon, R.A.
1st Edition
Publisher: John Murray, Ablemarle Street, London 1920.

With The Australians In Korea
by Norman Bartlett
1st Edition
Publisher: Australian War Memorial, 1954.

An English Woman – Sergeant in the Serbian Army
by Flora Sandes
1st Edition
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, London, New York, Toronto. 1st Edition 1916.

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Fromelles Commemorations

Posted on 29/06/2012 by FFFAIF

96th Anniversary Commemorations
The Battle of Fromelles
19-20 July 1916

Fromelles, France:
Friday 20th July
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery

Melbourne, Australia:

The Shrine of Remembrance services will commence at 1:30pm on Thursday 19th July at the Cobbers Statue. For more details click here.

Sydney, Australia:

This service will be held at Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park on Thursday 19th July.
The service will commence at 10:45am.

 

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Pozieres Day

Posted on 29/06/2012 by FFFAIF

During The Battle of Pozieres, from 23 July 1916 until 7 August 1916, the AIF suffered enormous losses. Charles  Bean, Australia’s  official war historian described the Pozieres ridge as being more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.

The First Battalion Association will hold a commemorative service at Saint Columbo Uniting Church, on the corner of Ocean and Forth Street, Woollahra on Sunday 22nd July at 9:30am.

The villagers of Pozieres commemorate the significant role and sacrifice that the AIF played in recapturing and holding their village against strong German resistance. During the first two weekends in July the villagers of Pozieres hold celebrations to commemorate the liberation of their village.

To find out more about these celebrations and how you can suppport the villagers in their commemorations visit the website Pozieres Remembered.

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2012 AGM

Posted on 26/06/2012 by FFFAIF

Families and Friends of First AIF

2012 Annual General Meeting and Dinner

Garden City Motel
55 Jerrabomberra Avenue
Narrabundah, ACT 2609

AGM:             Saturday 15 September at 2.15pm for 2.30pm in the Banksia Room

Dinner:          Saturday 15 September (time to be advised) in the Secret Garden Restaurant

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2012 John Laffin Memorial Lecture

Posted on 28/05/2012 by FFFAIF

John Laffin Memorial Lecture
Sunday 24th June 2012
Bathurst RSL Club
11am

FFFAIF members and guests, along with members of the public, are invited to the annual John Laffin Memorial Lecture to be held on Sunday 24th June at the Bathurst RSL Club. Charlotte Descamps, from Belgium, will give an indepth presentation on

Life on the Battlefields – 94 years later

Born in Poperinge, Belgium in 1958, Charlotte Descamps has lived her entire life (to date) on the battlefields of the Ypres Salient. In 1998, Charlotte started the Varlet Farm Bed & Breakfast operation specialising in hosting guests with an interest in the Great War. Varlet Farm B&B has been listed by tripadvisor.com as one of the Top 10 B&B and Inns in Europe in 2011.
She became a qualified battlefield guide in 2004 and is a founding member of the Passchendaele Society 1917, a charity organisingcommemoration events in the Ypres Salient. This society was a driving force behind the events commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. Charlotte’s role also included carrying out research for the Passchendaele Memorial Museum 1917 at the British National Archives in Kew.
Charlotte has also:
*guided battlefield tours for the NZ embassy on Anzac Day from 2004 till 2009
*lectured to groups visiting Varlet Farm from all over the world including students, army cadets, army officers, bomb disposal squads and amateur and professional historians
*established contact between the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 and the 48th Highlander Regimental Museum in Toronto
*represented the community of Zonnebeke at the inauguration of a new WWI memorial in Essex on November 4th, 2011.

In March 2011, Charlotte began her international speaking career at the annual seminar of the Western Front Association — Pacific Coast Branch in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Between March and December 2012, she will speak in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

RSVP: 21st June 2012 either by emailing secretary@fffaif.org.au
or calling/messaging 0448 266 634

*****

If you have always dreamt of visiting the hallowed ground in the footsteps of the Diggers of the Great War, we can get you there! There are still places available on the 2012 FFFAIF Commemorative Tour. Book now and join the unforgettable experience. Contact secretary@fffaif.org.au today for further details.

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