What's On - 13 June 2012

This exhibition will tell the stories of Cass' service over two wars, the Boer War
(1899-1902) and the First World War (1914-18) at Gallipoli, Krythia and later in Fromelles. These events were interwoven with the personal stories of Cass and his wife, Helena, a Canadian war nurse, who married after the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. The outstanding collection of Cass' personal photographs, letters and diaries, uniforms and medals provide the content for this exhibition.

Between July 1942 and January 1943, Australia fought three costly campaigns against Japanese forces in Papua, New Guinea: at Kokoda, Milne Bay and the Beachheads.  The Kokoda Track, winding through the Owen Stanley mountain range was the setting for the most famous of these, a campaign which many believe to be Australia’s defining episode of the Second World War (1939-45).  

This Shrine exhibition remembers the brave men of Kokoda and acknowledges the lesser known Milne Bay and Beachheads campaigns, which, with the victories of the Kokoda, brought an end to enemy power in Papua and helped secure Australia.