Why is this history hunt so much fun? Why are scavenger hunts, antique stores, flea markets, jigsaw puzzles, or easter-egg hunts fun? Add in a NY Times Sunday crossword, a Friday sudoku, and … it just is.
Inside the research rooms at the Australian War Memorial, National Library, National Archives and State Library of Victoria, are rooms full of documents for us to digitally crawl through and even get our digits on. Each small found piece fits into the next, and the whole puzzle sits on a table of their time's world events.
Even more fun are the interesting people that have joined us in the search - people who also love a good adventure story and historic novel - people that we would never have met had we been tourists without a cause, without a quest.
So far: chatting with military academy cadets intently studying old battles; introduction to an ex MP, ambassador and Defense Secretary who is now director of the museum; a brilliant old research assistant working in the bowels of the National Library who looked up from his computer and dryly asked me, “Have you seen this 1943 photo of your mother in front of Buckingham Palace?”
And Craig, Cameron, Deborah and Fred, who all dug deep; a history professor who also knows her Aussie wines - and Ashley, who was our guide at Gallipoli in 2008, now the Head Historian. He literally wrote the book on Gallipoli.
Seeing the physical artifacts in the beautiful AWM museum brings 1915-1919 back to life. At center stage of their new multi-millions WWI wing, is the surviving pontoon Granddad used to get across the Jordan River - to link Lawrence of Arabia’s Arab army with the allies charging out of Jerusalem - to capture Amman then Damascus - and put an end to the Ottoman Empire.
Jean finds other treasures - a couple of small oil paintings that show bridges important enough during the WWI that they were painted by the official illustrator - bridges we find were also built by Granddad. My favorite is a warning sign from the engineers digging trenches and mines at Gallipoli - maybe from the very spot where Granddad fell and was almost carried to safety by Corporal J H Precious - who then fell himself.
There is a diorama of the parched horses drinking after the desperate charge by the Light Horsemen to capture the wells at Beersheba - Arab wells that Granddad restored and got pumps going. History, drama - and I am thirsty for more. If you are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeuh4XZI7nk
All this patrimony is displayed on top of the Memorial’s research rooms - giving everyone access to the documents and photos Australia has saved from those days - now a 100 years ago.
It is harder to sleep than usual - for me at least. My head spins. Jean is sawing 'em off. Yesterday, she found a 1918 news clip that reports on my great-grandfather dropping dead in front of his house. His name was John, and he was a “painter.” The address led to an item about his wife, Annie - my great-grandmother. We then found that her maiden name was … Roderick. Yes, this is fun.
- Roderick Roderick
Inside the research rooms at the Australian War Memorial, National Library, National Archives and State Library of Victoria, are rooms full of documents for us to digitally crawl through and even get our digits on. Each small found piece fits into the next, and the whole puzzle sits on a table of their time's world events.
Even more fun are the interesting people that have joined us in the search - people who also love a good adventure story and historic novel - people that we would never have met had we been tourists without a cause, without a quest.
So far: chatting with military academy cadets intently studying old battles; introduction to an ex MP, ambassador and Defense Secretary who is now director of the museum; a brilliant old research assistant working in the bowels of the National Library who looked up from his computer and dryly asked me, “Have you seen this 1943 photo of your mother in front of Buckingham Palace?”
And Craig, Cameron, Deborah and Fred, who all dug deep; a history professor who also knows her Aussie wines - and Ashley, who was our guide at Gallipoli in 2008, now the Head Historian. He literally wrote the book on Gallipoli.
Seeing the physical artifacts in the beautiful AWM museum brings 1915-1919 back to life. At center stage of their new multi-millions WWI wing, is the surviving pontoon Granddad used to get across the Jordan River - to link Lawrence of Arabia’s Arab army with the allies charging out of Jerusalem - to capture Amman then Damascus - and put an end to the Ottoman Empire.
Jean finds other treasures - a couple of small oil paintings that show bridges important enough during the WWI that they were painted by the official illustrator - bridges we find were also built by Granddad. My favorite is a warning sign from the engineers digging trenches and mines at Gallipoli - maybe from the very spot where Granddad fell and was almost carried to safety by Corporal J H Precious - who then fell himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeuh4XZI7nk
All this patrimony is displayed on top of the Memorial’s research rooms - giving everyone access to the documents and photos Australia has saved from those days - now a 100 years ago.
It is harder to sleep than usual - for me at least. My head spins. Jean is sawing 'em off. Yesterday, she found a 1918 news clip that reports on my great-grandfather dropping dead in front of his house. His name was John, and he was a “painter.” The address led to an item about his wife, Annie - my great-grandmother. We then found that her maiden name was … Roderick. Yes, this is fun.
- Roderick Roderick
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