Christmas at War

‘This’ll be over by Christmas’ became more difficult to believe each year that passed during World War I. Australian soldiers, some who had served since the beginning of the war, had spent Christmas days in camps and trenches far from home.  In 1918, an article in a Sydney newspaper reported some words given by a […]

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Getting Along Alright

black and white postcard with image of packed beach with people in early twentieth century fashion, many hold parasols

Leslie Clouten was recovering from his wounds on 28 September 1917 when he wrote a letter to his parents on the back of this folding souvenir postcard booklet. While serving at the front in France in June, Leslie had been injured by a gunshot wound in the abdomen, and was removed to England, suffering continual […]

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En Route

In November 1916, as the troopship HMAT Borda approached Cape Town, Private Leslie Clouten and his mates on board were surely impressed by the scenery – the city at the southern tip of Africa nestled between the shore and Table Mountain, rising behind. His ship had already called at Durban a few days earlier, and […]

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A Tragic Paper Trail

In 1925 William and Jane Clouten of Tacoma added the final letter to this pile of correspondence they had been collecting. Creased where they had been folded for dispatch, the documents’ worn edges and dog-eared corners suggest they may have opened and read many times. Each document was a terrible reminder of the loss of […]

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Personal Effects

In this official Australian Imperial Force (AIF) postcard portrait made in 1916, Leslie Clouten, a 20-year-old fisherman from Lake Macquarie, looks proud and confident, still unscarred by the horrors of war. During battle in France in 1917, Leslie was shot in the abdomen. After recovering, he returned to the front, but was wounded again at […]

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A Promising Young Life

It was a solemn occasion in October 1916, when Morpeth farmer Alfred Peacock and his wife Charlotte stood in front of their fellow members of the Berry Park Progress Association, Morpeth. As a gesture of respect and affection, the committee presented them with this photographic portrait of their son Norman Peacock (1896-1916), expressing their regret […]

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An Interrupted Note

It had been a long day on the road in central France for Lieutenant Herbert Harold Maynard, when he habitually took out his pencil and scribbled an entry in this diary; ‘Left Berles au Bois 26th for Senlis’. It was 26 March 1918, and the young man from Swan Street, Morpeth had carried this diary […]

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