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Q ANZAC 100 in the Regions: Bundaberg

By JOL Admin | 25 April 2018

 

Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery

Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery launched For Country, for Nation, the exhibition on Friday 13 April 2018. Through objects, photographs, and art commissioned and acquired by the Australian War Memorial, For Country, for Nation retold the stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military service and sacrifice.

The launch of For Country, For Nation, the traveling AWM exhibition at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Friday 13 April, 2018.

During the launch, Gavin Bannerman, Director Queensland Memory spoke about the research uncovering the indigenous soldiers who fought in the First World War, within the broader role of State Library of Queensland collecting the Anzac Story.

Gavin Bannerman speaking at launch of For Nation for Country exhibition.

Q ANZAC 100 team members, Niles Elvery and Jacinta Sutton also attended to show the Q ANZAC 100 regional projection nightly, and to condict Picture it Post it workshops the following week as part of the exhibition events.

Picture it/Post it workshops in the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.

Each day at 10am, 11am and 1pm, a corner of the Gallery was transformed with beanbags and iPads to conduct these workshops. Young people aged 7+ and their parents/carers joined in to explore the use of postcards as a communication tool during the First World War. State Library of Queensland is a custodian of many postcards that were written by soldiers and sent to their loved ones back home in Queensland. Digital renditions of postcards are available on State Library's catalogue, Onesearch. (See References below)

The school holiday Picture it, Post it workshops saw participants using curated and digitised First World War postcards, digital collage techniques and an iPad app called Freemix to playfully remix positive imagery from the postcards into a new original artwork. This artwork was then turned into a postcard, using another app, Touchnote. The participants then received a physical copy of the postcard in the mail a few days later.

Postcard being created by a Picture it, Post it workshop participant.

The Preservation team at State Library prepared several original First World War postcards for travel to Bundaberg with Jacinta and Niles. These were showcased to emphasise the personal connection to the stories of Queensland's Anzacs and the context of State Library as a collecting institution.  81 Bundaberg kids participated in the workshops throughout the week, with Gallery and Bundaberg Library staff joining in as well. See some of the completed postcards displayed here in a Flickr album.

'One of the most rewarding aspects was seeing the messages written by the kids on the back, how they referenced the Anzacs and understood the concept of how important it was for the soldiers to write to their friends and family when they were in the midst of a terrible war and so far from home. Getting the kids to think about the personal stories of the soldiers helped them absorb Queensland's First World War history', explained Jacinta.

Workshop participants viewing original First World War postcards from SLQ Q ANZAC 100 collections.

A Teacher Professional Development session was held on Wednesday evening, with teachers from Bundaberg and Bargara learning about the Q ANZAC 100 project and how they could implement Q ANZAC 100 online resources into their classroom. Teachers also made postcards in a Picture it, Post it session, finishing with a viewing of the Q ANZAC 100 projection in BRAG park.

Niles and Jacinta also spoke at the Bundaberg Genealogical Society, sharing the many resources available for tracing First World War family history links.

Teacher Professional Development session, Wednesday 11th April 2018 at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.

Each evening between 7 and 9pm, the Q ANZAC 100 projection was shown on the back wall of the gallery building. Projected across BRAG park the images tracked our wartime experience, from recruitment to victory parades. The Q ANZAC 100 projection is a moving selection of beautiful historic images that tell the story of Queenslanders during the First World War.  This emotive, thought-provoking collection of images from State Library of Queensland is accompanied by a Queensland Symphony Orchestra ensemble soundtrack, curated especially for the project.

Q ANZAC 100 nightly projection in BRAG park.

Watch a short extract of the projection in the park here.

The nightly Q ANZAC 100 Projection at BRAG park.

Account of the events by Niles Elvery, Q ANZAC 100 Senior Project Officer and Jacinta Sutton, Q ANZAC 100 Project Officer.

References:

30560, Reginald Walter Barrett postcard albums, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

30413, Una Margaret Stitt Postcard Album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

 

 

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