Rare Brunswick WWI photos unearthed

A RECENTLY unearthed collection of rare WWI photographs has shed new light on Brunswick’s wartime history.

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The 750 glass plate and glass negative collection features several telling images of the era including rare photographs of local soldiers on the eve of their departure and on their return to the suburb.

One such image, which is known to historians, shows a room full of Brunswick soldiers from the 1st Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force at a farewell dinner on September 9, 1914 just before being shipped off to war in Europe.

Many of the youthful faces would never return to Brunswick or Australia’s shores.

Another captures Pte Arthur Bond of Tinning St, Brunswick, surrounded by family on return from overseas service.

But perhaps the most telling, is that of a marked grave in Malta of a Brunswick soldier who landed on Anzac Cove and died of wounds at 22 in July, 1915.

The soldier, Pte Frederick Walsh of Ormond St, was a member of the 12th Battalion, and sailed from Adelaide with his unit in February, 1915 to be one of the first to land on the beach.

Council historian Tony O’Brien said the one image had enabled the council to unravel the soldier’s story, one that was representative of so many young men.

The collection, which also shows family photos, images of horse-drawn trams and Brunswick’s landmarks, was originally prepared and shown at Brunswick’s Centenary celebrations in August, 1939.

At the end of the night the collection was presented to the Brunswick Council mayor of the day.

It is believed to have disappeared from public record for almost seven decades before being donated to the Brunswick Library.

But Mr O’Brien said the significance of the collection had only been realised about three weeks ago.

``I saw a couple of the images and realised someone should re-examine them,’’ Mr O’Brien said.

``It wasn’t until I saw them that I grasped what it was.’’ 

He said apart from being a pictorial history of Brunswick’s first 100 years, the quality of the images far surpassed many known images of the time.

``From a historical content the images are very good,’’ he said.

The council is working on transferring them onto high-quality film for preservation and a future exhibit, and will donate the original slides to the public records library.