AustLit

'William ‘Mont’ Montgomery was a 24-year-old art student at the National Gallery School when, concerned at the dire war news from France, he enlisted on 29 January 1915.1 When the new Victorian 6th Brigade was raised at Broadmeadows in late March, No. 929, Private William Montgomery was assigned to D Company, 21 Battalion.2 Over the next four years Mont fought in many major battles – Gallipoli, Pozières, Ypres and Mont St Quentin among them – learning the art of soldiering and attaining the rank of sergeant. Tragically, on 5 October 1918 and with the Allied victory so close, Mont died of wounds in the battle for Montbrehain village on the Hindenburg Line.3 It was the last day of the last battle fought by Australians on the Western Front.' (19)

'University High School was just being established in Melbourne when the Great War began in 1914. In December of that year, the brilliant scholar, 38-year-old Matthew Stanton Sharman (1876–1953), was appointed as its second principal. It was his task to guide the school through the tumultuous years of the war. A remarkable album of letters that Matthew Sharman assembled as a memorial to the war experiences of his school community is now held in the State Library Victoria collection. This article is an introduction to the album, and the school’s response to the war.' (44)

'In August 1928, writer and journalist Dale Collins published an in-depth article in the Melbourne Herald on the Victorian notable John Garibaldi Roberts and his extensive book collection and ‘home-made encyclopaedia’.1 Roberts, a former manager of the Melbourne Tramways and Omnibus Company, had begun collecting books and ephemera in 1878. A renowned bibliophile, Roberts was a patron of writers and artists, including CJ Dennis, John Shirlow, Tom Roberts, Jeannie Gunn, and Robert Croll. Referred to familiarly by friends as ‘Garry’, Roberts was well known in artistic and literary circles as a collector and compiler.2 The existence of his scrapbook encyclopaedia, particularly the volumes covering Australian Federation, was legendary;3 so too was his vast personal library of over 4000 books.4 In addition to this, Roberts was an inveterate collector of journals, approximately 4000 by his own reckoning, from which 50,000 articles had been taken and pasted into his 161-volume encyclopaedia' (124)

'In the days leading up to the battle of Fromelles in July 1916, First Lieutenant Eric Chinner was on fatigue duty, repairing trenches along the battlelines in France, near Fleurbaix. He was serving with the Australian Imperial Force in the 32nd Battalion of the 8th Infantry Brigade. At 6 pm on 19 July 1916 he led a party of grenadiers into the German trenches near Fromelles. On that one night the 5th Australian Division lost 5533 soldiers. The 32nd Battalion alone suffering a devastating loss of 17 officers and 701 other ranks.2 Chinner was mortally wounded during the battle. An exceptional young man, dearly loved by his family and friends, the letters and personal belongings he left behind give an insight into the experiences of a young officer serving in the Australian Imperial Force, and are now held in the State Library Victoria Manuscripts Collection.' (145)