Since August 2013, a dedicated group of volunteers, as part of the Pitch In! digital volunteering program, have been working to identify and correct the scanned text of digitised newspaper articles related to World War 1. Principally, the articles come from The Queenslander , The Brisbane Courier and The Northern Miner newspapers. They have created an interesting and thought-provoking overview of Queenslander’s experiences of the first year of the First World War, as reported in the newspapers of the day.
The inexorable march to war reached a breaking point in the early days of August, 1914 when Britain issued an ultimatum to Germany.
Britain was forced to abandon their neutrality and declare support for the French. They stated that they would offer France all assistance possible in the coming conflict; should French soil be attacked directly, Britain and her allies pledged to intervene. On August 4th, 1914 the tensions finally boiled over, and Britain, along with Australia, was now at war.
Patriotic fervour swept through Australia, and stirring scenes of eagerness and patriotism played out across Queensland. The outpouring of support saw veterans called up, regional forces mobilising, and mustered troops marching shoulder-to-shoulder through the streets of Brisbane.
Somewhat less inspiring, the grim realities of war-time measures required that Germans in Australia identify themselves to the nearest police officer as precautionary measures.
Each week we will be sharing news stories from the week, and we invite you to add your thoughts and comments.
Want to join in and find and correct newspaper articles from 1915? Here's more information about how to get started text correcting newspaper articles on Trove.
If you find something you'd like to share we'd love to hear from you at discovery@slq.qld.gov.au
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