As shown in the photo below, a toy kangaroo, made of brown velvet and with movable legs, was dated between 1914 and 1918. Pinned to it was a collection of World War I fundraising badges made of materials such as brass, enamel and glass. Some of the badges were first issued when the Australian Government wanted to identify and thank the nearest female relatives of members of the Australian forces on active service. Separate badges were issued to signify relatives serving in the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Imperial Force.
Funds went to the repatriation and rehabilitation of soldiers, the erection of war memorials, and to children and families affected by the war in France & Belgium. At school, children learned about Empire, citizenship, national pride and duty. The war reinforced their lessons and inspired them to contribute.
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Funds went to the repatriation and rehabilitation of soldiers, the erection of war memorials, and to children and families affected by the war in France & Belgium. At school, children learned about Empire, citizenship, national pride and duty. The war reinforced their lessons and inspired them to contribute.
Australian diggers (soldiers) and a kangaroo,
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Velvet kangaroo and war badges 1914-8
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World War One Love & Sorrow was an exhibition in the Melbourne Museum in Carlton back in 2014. It explored the enormous impact of the war on Australians. A shared experience in towns and cities across Australia was the worry of having loved ones serving overseas. Newspapers were searched for announcements of deaths and injuries. The sight of a minister or telegraph messenger approaching a family's front door could fill the family with dread. Many of the objects in this exhibition relate to WW1 in one street: Normanby Ave Caulfield, a typical street where almost everyone was touched by war.
Millions of letters were posted around the world during WWI; letters and cards were the only ways most people kept in touch.
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Australian Christmas card 1916
Mena Camp in Cairo, Dec 1914
Photo credit: Australian Geographic
Visitors can see this velvet kangaroo at the National Museum of Australia’s Terence Lane Collection, amassed by the former Senior Curator of Australian Art. With 180 objects of Australiana, predominantly featuring the kangaroo, this is considered the best collection of kangaroo theme items in Australia and is therefore of important cultural value.
The kangaroo has long been a patriotic symbol, and one used widely in wartime. But not only toy kangaroo were popular. In the shadows of the great pyramids and amid kitbags and Lee-Enfield rifles, an Australian Imperial Force infantryman encounters a kangaroo. Skippy was on permanent shore leave at Mena Camp, the British Empire's training ground in Egypt. Members of the 9th and 10th Battalions smuggled these "mascots" from home aboard transport ships. The first Australian troops to arrive in Egypt in 1914 were proud to be serving the British Empire, and some men took kangaroos and wallabies aboard ship when they left home. Apparently they were a common sight in the Australian camps at Mena, Heliopolis and Ma'adi in 1914-15. There were at least a dozen, and they were mentioned frequently in soldiers' letters home.
These men had just signed up, voluntarily, for war. They were young, with not a lot of thought for the future. The soldier in the photo treated the marsupial expat with tenderness and homesickness. It is believed it ate the same food as the British force's horses and donkeys, a hay and chaff mix. In March 1915, after three months of military training, the men left Mena bound for Gallipoli, bequeathing their mascot to the care of the Cairo Zoological Garden.
Visitors can see this velvet kangaroo at the National Museum of Australia’s Terence Lane Collection, amassed by the former Senior Curator of Australian Art. With 180 objects of Australiana, predominantly featuring the kangaroo, this is considered the best collection of kangaroo theme items in Australia and is therefore of important cultural value.
The kangaroo has long been a patriotic symbol, and one used widely in wartime. But not only toy kangaroo were popular. In the shadows of the great pyramids and amid kitbags and Lee-Enfield rifles, an Australian Imperial Force infantryman encounters a kangaroo. Skippy was on permanent shore leave at Mena Camp, the British Empire's training ground in Egypt. Members of the 9th and 10th Battalions smuggled these "mascots" from home aboard transport ships. The first Australian troops to arrive in Egypt in 1914 were proud to be serving the British Empire, and some men took kangaroos and wallabies aboard ship when they left home. Apparently they were a common sight in the Australian camps at Mena, Heliopolis and Ma'adi in 1914-15. There were at least a dozen, and they were mentioned frequently in soldiers' letters home.
These men had just signed up, voluntarily, for war. They were young, with not a lot of thought for the future. The soldier in the photo treated the marsupial expat with tenderness and homesickness. It is believed it ate the same food as the British force's horses and donkeys, a hay and chaff mix. In March 1915, after three months of military training, the men left Mena bound for Gallipoli, bequeathing their mascot to the care of the Cairo Zoological Garden.
National Museum of Australia
In 1915 recruiting committees were formed in nearly every sizeable town in Australia. In the central west of New South Wales a movement began under the leadership of Captain Bill Hitchen; 20 rural men enlisted and started to march to Sydney on the Kangaroo or Coo-ee March. Gathering other recruits along the way, they numbered about 300 by the time they reached the capital city. Their example was soon followed by other marches from around New South Wales and Queensland, including the Waratahs, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Men from Snowy River, Kookaburras and Boomerangs.
The total number of recruiters was only 1,500 but the marchers relied on the support of the towns they passed through, which was often enthusiastic. They attracted wide publicity, encouraging fund-raising and enlistment. The longest was the Kangaroo March in Dec 1915, going to Wagga Wagga, Junee, Cootamundra, Yass, Goulburn, Moss Vale, Campbelltown and ending at The Domain, Sydney.
Posters were used for various government propaganda campaigns over the course of WWI, most significantly to encourage enlistment, but also to raise money for war charities, to encourage saving and frugality and to rally the home front.
In 1915 recruiting committees were formed in nearly every sizeable town in Australia. In the central west of New South Wales a movement began under the leadership of Captain Bill Hitchen; 20 rural men enlisted and started to march to Sydney on the Kangaroo or Coo-ee March. Gathering other recruits along the way, they numbered about 300 by the time they reached the capital city. Their example was soon followed by other marches from around New South Wales and Queensland, including the Waratahs, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Men from Snowy River, Kookaburras and Boomerangs.
The total number of recruiters was only 1,500 but the marchers relied on the support of the towns they passed through, which was often enthusiastic. They attracted wide publicity, encouraging fund-raising and enlistment. The longest was the Kangaroo March in Dec 1915, going to Wagga Wagga, Junee, Cootamundra, Yass, Goulburn, Moss Vale, Campbelltown and ending at The Domain, Sydney.
Posters were used for various government propaganda campaigns over the course of WWI, most significantly to encourage enlistment, but also to raise money for war charities, to encourage saving and frugality and to rally the home front.
"Australia has promised Britain 50,000 more men. Will YOU help us keep that promise"
1916, lithograph, recruitment poster.
1916, lithograph, recruitment poster.
Australian War Memorial
**
World War One Love & Sorrow was an exhibition in the Melbourne Museum in Carlton back in 2014. It explored the enormous impact of the war on Australians. A shared experience in towns and cities across Australia was the worry of having loved ones serving overseas. Newspapers were searched for announcements of deaths and injuries. The sight of a minister or telegraph messenger approaching a family's front door could fill the family with dread. Many of the objects in this exhibition relate to WW1 in one street: Normanby Ave Caulfield, a typical street where almost everyone was touched by war.
Millions of letters were posted around the world during WWI; letters and cards were the only ways most people kept in touch.
posted home by servicemen and women.
World War One Love & Sorrow exhibition