Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the Anzac landing taking place across the nation, I take this opportunity to inform the House of a particularly significant local project. Juan Mahoney, who lives in my electorate of Charlton, has produced an extraordinary pictorial titled The Diggers View, a book which presents an entirely unique depiction of the First World War. It contains handwritten letters and diary entries from Australian soldiers, describing in intimate detail the progress and consequence of the war at a personal level. It also includes an extensive glossary of military terms, battle statistics and biographies. Though it is perhaps the vivid colour photographs that serve to illustrate this tragic chapter of Australian history in a new and unseen way.

At the turn of the 20th century, and amidst the most horrid atrocities to face modern Europe, the emerging technology of colour photography was not widely used. Each of the photographs in this book has been painstakingly restored and colourised by Juan and his team, in a process that can take anywhere from one day to one week to complete. The artefacts themselves were sourced by Juan over a five-year period, and given he is a local many of these are from the Hunter region. The 9th Brigade of the AIF features prominently, as it was made up of the 33rd, 34th, 35th and 36th battalions, which were formed or trained in the Newcastle and Hunter region. It features, for example, a picture of six Air Force personnel posing with a presentation aircraft, the Upper Hunter Battle Plane, donated to the war effort by the Upper Hunter District. Another picture shows a horse-drawn carriage, loaded with comfort boxes for troops, standing in King Street, outside the Newcastle department store 'Scott's'. Yet another shows the memorial outside the Newcastle Post Office, built in 1916 and covered in floral tributes. And there is a letter from Lieutenant Arthur Lean, Newcastle's own, of the 35th Battalion, to his parents on Easter Monday, where he writes honestly and frankly about the men in his battalion. He says:

It is funny to lie here in my room listening to the men talking. They say some funny things at times especially if a few beers in. They curse and grumble but they also laugh and joke. One chap has just remarked, "When I enlisted I was full of two things, good Australian beer and patriotism."

They sometimes lie in bed and swear most vilely about work and at other things. Other times they quote poetry, sing songs and laugh for hours. They argue most heatedly on every conceivable subject and Billy Hughes gets a fair share of it.

I am sure he did!

Through the support of the Charlton Anzac Centenary Committee, copies of this book will be donated to the libraries of every school in the electorate, which will be a fine addition to their collections. I congratulate Juan on his work and thank him for his dedication to bringing these scenes from the war into living colour.