A Tribute to the Anzacs and our Freedom at Brighton Beach

While walking along the Brighton foreshore on Anzac Day something in the distance caught my eye. Out on the sand flats I could see an Australian flag fluttering in the breeze, hoist up on a piece of drift wood. My eye was drawn to a mound on the pathway further along the waterfront.

As I approached I could see stones in piles along the sea wall, a mountain of fine seashells and more drift wood with boots and thongs hanging from it. I was intrigued by what I saw and surprised to find that someone had fashioned this artwork as a tribute to the memory of the personnel and their families to remember the ANZACS.

John Oxley Library holds an interesting array of materials documenting the contributions and sacrifices made by Queenslanders in times of war. The examples below are from the Original Content Collections and can be viewed at the State Library of Queensland.

API-42   Garland Photograph Album 1924
An interesting album dedicated to Canon D J Garland presented by the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee, in celebration of the unveiling by His Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Forster, G.C.M.G., and Dedication of the Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance, erected in Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane on Anzac Day, 1924. Box 10890 O/S A3

OM95-48 ANZAC Day Cutting Book Box
9467 O/S with clippings Anzac Day 1918 and 1919; and World War I.

Janette Garrad - Library Technician, State Library of Queensland