Research

C.E.W. Bean
In class today, the John Therry team
watched a documentary that focused
on the well-known war correspondent
and founder of the Australian War
memorial museum, Charles Edward
Bean. Bean identified as neither an
Englishmen or as an Australian, as he
was born in Australia but raised in
England. However when he became
the war correspondent, he quickly was
able to regain his identity as an
Australian and projected this onto his
recounts of war.
Charles Bean received the most votes that resulted in a war correspondent position. He
travelled alongside many soldiers as his journey to Egypt began. At some point, Bean gained
an assistant, Arthur Berzley who was actually underage. However, Bean still was determined
to vouch for him despite his moral conflicts regarding the matter. During his time in Egypt,
Bean published a controversial article that had offended many soldiers as it depicted them
as young men who were only concerned with drinking, visiting brothels and having a good
time. This left a division amongst the soldiers and Bean consequently leaving him with a
deflated self-esteem. The article resulted in Bean being silenced, he was officially declined
the right to publish any of his work.

After Egypt, his next stop was at none other than Gallipoli, where he was located in the front
lines. He didn't set foot in Gallipoli until a majority of the soldiers were on the island. The
reason for this was so that he didn't get in the way and could be safely guided to document
the occupancies and the events taking place. In his writing, Bean mentioned the distant
sounds of drums, implying that gunfire was raining down upon the arriving soldiers. It was in
Gallipoli when Bean realized that all of Australian involvement and achievements would be
surely overshadowed by the British. This where Beans sudden interest on the Australian
role in the war began.
Unfortunately, at this time Bean was still banned from publishing any of his work because the
previous article that had offended many soldiers. He was replaced by an Englishman who
wrote in a way that had infuriated Bean. This Englishman glorified the ANZACs and their

victory when in fact they were losing the battle. This angered Bean as he believed that truth
should be told despite the horrors that come with it. Bean was still determined to write
despite not being able to publish. His writing was detailed and was full of descriptive
language, truly exploring what life was like for the ANZACS. He even counted the average
amounts of bullets per minute.
After much request from Australian citizens, Bean was able to publish his writing once again,
providing readers a true sense of what the battle was like and the environment that the
soldiers had to encounter. He demanded that Australian photographers to be present in
order to create true Australian authenticity in his writing. In order to provide the correct
information and truly capture the spirit of the Australian soldiers, he reported from the
frontline and put his life on the line to prove his dedication. Bean had not only recorded what
had occurred, but he also got involved. He was living upon the soldiers in the trenches and
interviewing them to get their input and point of view. At times, Bean has even asked them to
sketch and mark where the battles were. Over time Bean was able to gain the respect of the
soldiers, after putting his life at stake and saving one of them.

After the war had ended, Bean started working on the

Australian War Memorial. Bean had finalised his plans for the
Australian War Memorial/Museum during the year 1921 and
began building. However due to the Great Depression that
followed the first world war, his budget was crushed and it was
an uphill battle from there. Fortunately, after several years of
hard work and effort, he was able to overcome and complete
the Australian memorial museum. Bean was also offered the
title of the knighthood, however he refused, stating that what
he had accomplished wasn't done for an award or special
privileges.
To summarise, Bean was an Australian war correspondent who
recorded information from the frontline. In order to create
unique authenticity in his articles, he focused solely on the
Australian soldiers, as he knew that they would be
overshadowed by England. His brutal honesty and descriptive
language is clearly visible throughout his writing. He provided a real sense of the war to the
readers and captured the true spirit of the Anzacs, aiding in the creation of the Anzac legend.
Bean founded and built the Australian War Memorial Museum, allowing people to remember
the soldiers and the sacrifices that they made. It was also used to honour the Anzacs and
carry on the Anzac legend.
Researching Charles Bean has helped us with the project and has allowed us to truly
capture the life of the soldiers and the spirit of the Anzacs. It allowed us to comprehend
where the legend of the Anzacs came from and the history from behind the scenes. By
studying Charles Bean, we were also able to grasp the concept of the role of the Australian
soldiers and the courage it took both them and Bean to tell their tales.

Simpson and his Donkey

Today during Gifted and Talented, we read a book called
Simpson and his Donkey by Mark Greenwood and Fran
Lessac. The book was about a man named John Simpson
Kirkpatrick, simply known as Simpson who was a part of the
first wave of Anzacs which landed at Gallipoli. He was attached
to the 3rd Field Ambulance unit. Very soon after they landed,
he found a stray donkey which he named Duffy and thought it
would come in handy.
Day and night Simpson would go with his donkey in and out of
the battlefield carrying badly wounded men and bringing them
back to the medical station. Simpson got more donkeys to help
him on the way. He wasn't troubled by the bullets which would
whiz past him.

John would like to rest and sleep with his animals

and donkeys he used for the transport of the
wounded instead of his human comrades. On the
19th May, 1915, Johns luck had ran out and he
was shot in the heart. On the 15th of June, his
sister sat down and wrote him a letter. She
received the letter back with the address scribbled
out and it said: killed. Simpson was never given a
military or government medal.

This story of Simpson and his donkey relates to the

legend of the Anzacs as it shows the courage and
determination of soldiers such as Jack Simpson
who risked their own lives to help other soldiers in
need. Through this the Anzac spirit lives on. The
stories of soldiers such as Simpson are taught in
schools and classes and this contributes to the
Anzac legend.

Furthermore, this story of Simpson and his donkey relates to our project as it gives a further
insight to the tragedies, deaths and the heroic stories that came out of the Gallipoli
campaign. His heroic actions saved many men who were then able to continue on to fight in
the Western Fronts.

The Battle Of Fromelles

The battle of Fromelles was the first major battle ever fought by the Australian forces on the
western front beginning on the 19th July 1916 and then ending the day after on the 20th July
1916. The fight was directed towards strong enemy German troops in an effort to draw the
Germans away from the front line of the Somme and then pursuing them further to the
south.
However the Australian and British forces met failure as at 6pm on the 19th July they were
met with extremely heavy machine gun fire which caused the loss of thousands of soldiers.
Small parts of the German trenches were captured by Australian soldiers but to no avail as
by 8am the next morning, they were forced to withdraw and the battle was over. The
Australian forces lost 5,533 men and women that day causing them to not be able to be
involved in any offensive action for many months. This battle had soon to be realised as
even more as a failure as the Germans only lost a thousand troops and they also realised
the fact that the fight was only supposed to be a distraction.

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/fromelles/what-happened-here.php

Within the film, "Charles Beans Great War" (History Channel), it was revealed that although
the battle is now long over, many very recent discoveries have been found, such as a large
mass grave of hundreds of people at the site and supposedly there are 30-35 more of these
as well as many documents that were located detailing what happened at the battle for
Fromelles. Thousands of war relics that had once belonged to a soldier were also found on
the scene with some pieces being extremely well preserved, free from mud and debris.
These relics also include large amounts of letters that had either been sent to the soldiers or
sent back home to their families and some of these are very emotional as they had been
sent just days before their deaths.
This battle is significant to our research because the battle of Fromelles was essentially used
as a decoy to take German attention off the battle of the Somme, which was one of the most
devastating battles we endured as sixty thousand soldiers were lost on the first day. It is
important to research this because it makes us think about the amount of courage the
soldiers who were involved with this battle must have had to go ahead with this idea to try
and help out the Somme. This battle is an extremely good view on our Anzacs and the
humility they have for their fellow man-kind.

Battle of Pozires
Pozieres is located in the North of France, on the north - east of a small town named Albert.
The battle of Pozires was considered the most important observation point for the
surrounding countryside. The battle scene was horrific, devastating and tragic resulting in
many lost lives.
The first big conflict between the Australians and the Germans was during the Battle of
Pozieres. The whole objective for the Australians to participate in the battle of Pozieres was
to capture the Pozieres trenches, the outskirts of the village and the main road which ran
straight down the middle of the village.
The village of Pozires represents one of the first engagements of Australian troops. The 1st
Australian Division made an assault using heavy artillery fire on the 23rd of July, 1916, which
resulted in the village being captured. The division held on for their gains despite the
artillery fire and the continuous attacks from Germany, which they had suffered greatly. Even
with the significant achievement of capturing the village of Pozires, within five days of the
attack there were already over 5,000 casualties in the 1st Division alone.
https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/anzacvoices/fromelles-pozieres/

The second division took over the

first division and continued with
two more attacks, however the
attack which took place at
12.15am, on the 29th of July
1916, was a devastating failure.
The second attack on August 2nd
resulted in the takeover of further
German positions away from the
village. The Australians yet again
suffered from the gunfire and
bombs of these attacks. They
were subject to large number of
gassy, which was the nickname given to gas shells. The soldiers were pardoned by the 6th
of August after suffering over 6,800 casualties. Due to this result the fourth division was
called into the next line at the battle of Pozires. On August 7th, the fourth division had also
endured the effect of the artillery bombardment, when defeating the German counterattacks.
In early September, the Australian divisions were finally taken out of the main battle and sent
back to Flanders. They were sent to recover and rebuild their strength.
For the soldiers fighting, the Battle of Pozieres was an experience that can only be described
as devastating. The fighting was wild and the shelling was constantly tearing up the ground.
This caused the trenches to fold in, blowing away any protection. Artillery fire was coming
from both sides of the battle, attacks from soldiers came in, with some ground being taken
until the enemy would counter-attack.

For Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the battle of Pozieres was important as it was
one of the first battles they had won successfully. The First Division suffered its heaviest
casualties of the war during the Battles of Pozieres. This reason is why many of its veterans
selected the village, the area opposite the ruins of the Gibraltar Blockhouse as the site for
their memorial.
Another reason as to why the Battle of Pozires was important to the Anzacs, was because
there was some 23,000 Australian casualties, of which 6,741 died.

A Student Connection with the Great War, by Hayley Pope

After looking into my family tree, I discovered that my great
uncle was Lieutenant Charles Pope, a soldier on the Western
Front. Unfortunately my great uncle Charles Pope passed away
in action, on the 15th of April 1917, at Louverval, France. I am
proud to say that Lieutenant Charles Pope is my great Uncle; he
was brave and didn't stand down even when he knew that he
would be injured or even worse killed. He stood his ground,
putting other people's lives before his.
Whenever I think about how brave my Great Uncle was, I
instantly think about how my Uncle would have felt. I think about
how he would've been missing his family, but would have felt
comforted knowing that his accomplishments would have
greatly affected his family and made them proud.
After Pope's death, he was awarded a Victoria Cross medal. It was for "most conspicuous
bravery and devotion to duty when in command of a very important post in the sector held by
his battalion, his orders being to hold this post at all costs".
Knowing that someone in my family stood out because of his bravery, shows the perspective
of the war. People are given awards for saving others and being brave, others are given
medals for killing others to save their country.