People will be able to experience the Sights and Sounds of the First World War period, by exploring a new website produced in partnership by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision in New Zealand. NFSA Senior Curator Jennifer Coombes explained that a curated selection of hundreds of rare films, songs, recorded interviews, documents and photos from the era have been expertly restored and digitized for the website, titled Anzac: Sights and Sounds of World War I.

“The power of our audiovisual collection is its ability to take us back to a particular moment in time, and see and feel that world. The footage on Sights and Sounds gives you a chance to picture yourself walking along the wharf next to the departing troop-ships, throwing streamers as they leave the dock, sharing the sense of anticipation and excitement that was felt by those travelling overseas for the first time. On this website you get to sing their songs, and look at those years through their eyes.” Ms Coombes commented.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision Head of Audience Diane Pivac explained that new content will be added regularly during the Centenary period (2015 – 2019). Initial highlights now available on Sights and Sounds include:

• The First Troopships: Departure (1914): Departure of the Australian Imperial Force from Albany, Western Australia.
• Heroes of Gallipoli (1915): Rare footage of the Gallipoli campaign (loaned from the Australian War Memorial).
• The Exploits of the Emden (1914/1928): Directed by Ken G Hall, this film combines documentary and dramatised incidents relating to the Sydney-Emden naval battle.
• Cartoons of the Moment (c1915-1916): Australian sketch artist and caricaturist Harry Julius provides a satirical commentary of World War I.
• If England Wants a Hand, Well, Here It Is (1915): A song performed by Harrison Latimer.
• Charity Bazaars in Martin Place (c1916): Fundraising for the war effort in Martin Place, Sydney.
• The Landing of the Troops in Egypt (c1916): A musical and dramatic recreation aimed to encourage support for the war effort.
• Mrs Barnard (1965): The gargantuan gingernut-baking efforts to fundraise for the war effort.
• A range of oral histories from soldiers who served at Gallipoli talking vividly about their experiences, the hardships they faced, as well as some of the lighter moments.

“Through Sights and Sounds we are hoping to convey a real, tangible connection to the past. The content has been carefully selected to give visitors a very real sense of the people whose lives were transformed by the war, and to illustrate how much our societies changed between 1914 and 1919.” Ms Pivac commented.

Editor’s Note:-

Fundraising for the war effort, Sydney
Various wartime fundraising and recruitment activities are seen in this film from about 1916, shot from outside the General Post Office in Martin Place, Sydney, after rain. In pavilion-style tent stalls, Red Cross workers sell ribbons, flowers and other produce. The top-hatted Governor of NSW, Sir Gerald Strickland, walks among the crowds. Many AIF troops are shown in this clip, their humour in evidence in a shot of a young male civilian being ‘accosted’ and compelled to enlist, while others pretend to take his measurements for a uniform.

LANDING OF THE AUSTRALIAN TROOPS IN EGYPT
This commercial sound recording includes what might be the first recorded version of ‘Advance Australia Fair’, the song that became Australia’s national anthem. In music and drama, this production recreates the 1914 arrival of the Australian troops in Egypt, before their departure for Gallipoli. It may have been aimed at giving those on the home front a sense of the soldiers’ lives. The recording is very celebratory and full of pride at the role Australia was playing in the Great War.