1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910483764503321

Autore

Cahir Fred

Titolo

Australian War Graves Workers and World War One : Devoted Labour for the Lost, the Unknown but not Forgotten Dead / / by Fred Cahir, Sara Weuffen, Matt Smith, Peter Bakker, Jo Caminiti

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Singapore : , : Springer Singapore : , : Imprint : Palgrave Pivot, , 2019

ISBN

981-15-0849-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxi, 143 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Palgrave pivot

Disciplina

940.394

Soggetti

Historiography

Islands of the Pacific—History

Military history

Memory Studies

Australasian History

History of Military

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

“Their Last Resting Place”: Foundations of Graves Work -- The Australian War Graves Effort (1919-1922) -- “A Man of Silent Substance”: Major John Eldred Mott MC -- “He took pleasure in doing his duty”: Staff-Sgt. Frank Cahir DSM, MM -- “Dark in Complexion”: The Indigenous War Graves Workers -- “A Credible Officer befallen by Circumstance?” Captain Allen Charles Waters Kingston -- William Frampton McBeath (FC) -- Their Legacy.

Sommario/riassunto

This book relays the largely untold story of the approximately 1,100 Australian war graves workers whose job it was to locate, identify exhume and rebury the thousands of Australian soldiers who died in Europe during the First World War. It tells the story of the men of the Australian Graves Detachment and the Australian Graves Service who worked in the period 1919 to 1922 to ensure that grieving families in Australia had a physical grave which they could mourn the loss of their loved ones. By presenting biographical vignettes of eight men who undertook this work, the book examines the mechanics of the commemoration of the Great War and extends our understanding of the



individual toll this onerous task took on the workers themselves.