ANZAC Centenary online

By chance this morning I heard on Radio National Breakfast a segment on the Australian submarine the AE2.  Troops landing on the beaches at Anzac Cove is the iconic image of the Gallipoli campaign, but there was also an underwater story. You can listen to the segment here : how the AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles defences and eluded capture for almost a week.  

The Royal Australian Navy features the AE2 story, and there is also an AE2 Commemorative Foundation.  One of the servicemen of the Great War which this blog is following is A.S. Reuben Mitchell, who served on the AE2 and later the E14. We introduced him in our blog of 23 November 2014.

There are now many blogs, facebook pages and websites all concentrating on the ANZAC centenary and the men and women who took part in the Great War.  

Something that came to our attention today are two Facebook pages dedicated to former Ballarat citizens who went to the War - Sister Alice Ross-King, born in Ballarat but later of Melbourne, and Bert Reynolds, originally from Sebastopol.  These Facebook pages are entering diary entries making their posts part of #AnzacLive - try using that hashtag on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook for other interesting posts.

Another blog of interest is that of James Greenbank's ANZAC story  created by Carin Greenbank in honour of her great uncle, originally from Snake Valley.  Carin has created a wonderful blog, quite simple and short, and it's an example of what can be done with research results.  It can be an effort to produce a book but creating a blog or a Facebook page is an excellent and simple way to publish research. 

Happy online searching! There is so much to follow and read.  But if you'd prefer a book, we have a copy of Stoker's Submarine by Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley, in the Australiana Room.

An illustration by Simon Dance of the Dardanelles offensive, from Stoker's Submarine

ANZAC Girls connection with Ballarat

Those who have watched the recently completed mini-series on ABC TV the ANZAC Girls may be interested to know that one of the nurses portrayed in the series has a connection to Ballarat. 

Alice Ross-King was born in Ballarat on August 5 1891 to Archibald Ross King, a storekeeper and his wife Henrietta (nee Ward).  Alice and her family moved to Perth when she was quite young but a terrible accident on the Swan River resulted in the drowning deaths of her father and two brothers.   Soon after this Alice and her mother returned to Victoria and settled in Melbourne.

Alice had a distinguished nursing career during World War 1: she was a recipient of the Military Medal for bravery, only one of seven nurses of the Australian Nursing Service during the war to receive this award.

She married Sydney Appleford, who Alice met on the ship returning to Australia, on the 29^th August 1919.  They settled in Lang Lang in South Gippsland where Sydney, a medical doctor, continued to practice medicine ably supported by Alice.  Alice died on 17 August 1968, survived by her four children.

(Photo taken from ANZAC Girls by Peter Rees. Photo provided to the book by Marion Sanders)