Thursday, April 23, 2015

UNUSUAL BELGIAN WAR SOUVENIR SENT HOME TO AUSTRALIA

One  of  the  many items of  interest in the Magnetic Island History and Craft Centre  Dinkum Anzacs Exhibition is  this engraved brass  postcard , a souvenir  le guerre , Belgium,  dated 1/3/19 , sent by a  member of the  48th Battalion, AIF,  to "my dear  wife and children" , postal address : Mrs C. Andrew , 111 Vivian Street , Boulder  City. Western  Australia . The obverse is an  engraved leaf.  The postcard is just  one of many items contributed to the exhibition  by  island resident   Gary Davies . Of particular interest are the well researched  posters he made ,   using    many  postcards and other ephemera,  covering  the war  from 1914-19 , under  headings such as  : Training ; Troopships; Disembarkation ; Egypt; Gallipoli , Anzacs ; England; France ; On Leave Paris and London ; Advance Australia; Patriotism ; Away from Home ; Coming Home;  Back Home .

 
A separate showcase display of his  deals with the white feathers  sent  to people  who did  not  go away to  fight. Another rare item is the  October 1918 edition of the Kia Ora Cooee  magazine , official organ of the Australian and New Zealand  fighting forces in  the field .