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Exhibition dates: 17 June -15 August
This exhibition focuses on the great courage and sacrifice shown by Australian men and women during the final year of the First World War on the Western Front in France. Australian soldiers earned world wide recognition for their fighting in the battles of Hamel and Amiens in France in 1918.
Representing the human face of war, the exhibition contains first hand accounts and images of Australians killed in action in the final battles of the First World War. This is presented with text and graphics and includes display cases containing relics of the First World War.
It considers the task of collecting war relics that commenced with the formation of the Australian War Records Office in London in 1917. CEW Bean, the Official war historian, played an important part in commencing the collection of relics, thereby laying the foundations for the Australian War Memorial collection. The Official War Art Scheme, commenced in 1917, is mentioned in the exhibition text as are AIF official photographers. Works by the latter are included in the exhibition, but there are no paintings or drawings included.
The great battles of Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens, and Mont St Quentin, are covered along with a focus on the new technologies and strategies that were developed because of the war and contributed to the success of the allies.
The exhibition acknowledges the appalling high casualty rate among the 300,000 Australians who served in the First World War, representing as they did such a high proportion of the small Australian population of less than 5 million at that time.
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