Bearing Witness by Peter Rees

Author:Peter Rees
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2015-02-18T05:00:00+00:00

28

Good will not come of it

The seeds of an idea that had come to Bean at Gallipoli began to take root: he wanted to find a way to honour the memory of the men lost in war. Gallipoli had been bad, but what he had seen the men of the AIF endure in the few weeks they had been on the Western Front was altogether different. The effect on Bean was profound. A sense of responsibility to these men had grown with time and experience. Beyond the official history he would write, he started to plan a national museum—but he wanted something more than just a building that housed the war souvenirs he and others were collecting.

Just what he had in mind became clear in a letter he wrote to George Pearce in November 1916. The letter concerned a ‘set of most remarkable air photographs’ that Brudenell White had just sent to the Minister. They were the daily record of the AIF’s actions at Pozières. Bean told Pearce that the photos were supposed to be handed on by 1 Anzac Corps to the corps that was replacing it in the line. However, if the AIF had followed that course with these particular photos they would have been lost and, Bean explained, there were plenty of similar photos anyway for the new corps to have. He added that when he wrote the history of the fighting at Pozières, and the photos would be most helpful. They established the exact position reached by Australian troops after every attack. He wanted to go over the photos minutely with operation orders, the reports of scouts and of brigade and battalion staffs, in order to make a precise diagram of each attack. The photos also showed the effect of each bombardment. He explained further to Pearce:

These photos will no doubt eventually find a place in some national museum, when a national museum exists. The museum will at the same time be welcome to any little relics that I have gathered, and no doubt to many interesting exhibits which others have collected. But these photos will be the most visible record which that museum will contain.

Bean advised Pearce that it was essential that maps from the war be preserved. They needed to be classified, indexed and stored in their original form. Even the most rough-and-ready little sketch was often important. If any of these maps and documents were lost they could never be replaced.

If you do establish a national museum at Canberra it would give me great pleasure, if you would care, to help to classify and describe on labels or in catalogues for the public the war exhibits there. I think such a museum would add a great deal to the attractions of the Federal capital, and would ensure a certain number of pilgrims even from the very start.

Bean’s references to “relics” and “pilgrims” had a spiritual/religious connotation that he probably intended. His vision was of a memorial not just to the Australians who had died but to their spirit.

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