Name: 1919: A time to mourn, a time to hope
Start: 2019-03-05T09:00:00
End: 2020-02-28T17:00:00

When the Armistice came into effect on the Western Front at 11am on 11 November 1918, the most destructive war of modern times finally ended. After the five-day celebrations died down, the people of NSW faced the anticipation of welcoming their service men and women home, the realisation that many would never return and pondered what the future would bring, all with the looming, insidious threat of Spanish flu.

The Great War changed the map of the world. Empires had fallen, ethnic and nationalist groups were inspired to seek freedom, and an official peace with Germany was not signed until the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.

Australians were weary of war, but optimistic about the post-war world.

In an age before the internet and smartphones in every pocket, newsprint was the medium for mass communication. Newspapers and journals were the voice of the people and informed their understanding of what was happening at home and abroad in a world coming to terms with peace.

Brad Manera, Senior Curator and Historian, Anzac Memorial

The cartoon is of a gentleman dressed in a dressing gown, pulling back a curtain to look through a set of French doors. A caption under the cartoon says: "1919; What will it bring to the cause of all our misery?' - courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

1919: A TIME TO MOURN, A TIME TO HOPE uses the language of the media and contemporary photographs to remember the period that followed the Armistice.

The exhibition examines six principle topics, including:

Sydney’s joyous response to a premature report of an Armistice on the Western Front;
the problematic repatriation of Australia's deployed army, the AIF;
the outbreak of the Influenza pandemic throughout NSW;
the ongoing conflicts being fought by the men of NSW across the globe;
the numerous prisoners of peacetime, including German internees in NSW; and
the speculative and often fraught notions of the future in a post-war world.

The Sun printed this photograph of a 'Carnival of Peace' where thousands gathered in Martin Place. Allies' flags hang from poles edging the public space

Returned servicemen queued inside the Repatriation Office in June 1919 to get information on their benefits

A group of nurses and doctors dressed in surgical whites and masks about to get on motorbikes and cars to tend influenza patients

Article's title: "Australia's future, a question for the diggers" The article goes on to say: "Both soldier and civilian... are to-day wondering what this great Victory has really done for them...

Objects on display are drawn from the Anzac Memorial Collection and loans from Sydney institutions and private collectors. The exhibition's centrepiece is an Australian red ensign that was flown from the Hooker family home in Sydney when they welcomed one wounded son from France and another, a member of the NSW-raised 7th Light Horse Regiment, from Palestine. Another exhibition highlight is a glass-topped table of curiosities and wartime souvenirs created by the Pines family, including brothers and cousins from around rural New South Wales, who served in a range of units from infantry battalions on the Western Front to the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol in the Middle East.

Brad Manera, Senior Curator and Historian, Anzac Memorial

Curatorial talk - Researching the 1919 exhibition

The Anzac Memorial's Exhibitions Research Officer, Jacqueline Reid, speaks to the tumultuous year that was 1919 as she unpacks the curatorial ethos behind the exhibition "1919: A time to mourn, a time to hope."

Filmed by Afterglow on 29 March 2019

1919: A TIME TO MOURN, A TIME TO HOPE uses the language of the media and contemporary photographs to remember the period that followed the Armistice.

Curatorial talk - Researching the 1919 exhibition

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