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The Sphinx Memorial & the Oxfam Trailwalker

26/8/2017

On Saturday a friend of ours, Sophia Kang, and her three workmates, all anaesthetic nurses at Concord Hospital working with my partner Stelios, set off at 9am to walk 50kms to raise money for Oxfam on their annual “Trailwalker” event.

It’s a tough gig, even just walking the half event of 50kms and though the women were all enthusiastic at 10.45am when we met up with them at the historic WWI Sphinx Memorial for this photo at the 7km mark, only two, Sophia and Rhoda, were able to complete the walk at 2.42am this morning. Two of the team, Katie and Vanessa, had to withdraw at 10.27pm when they reached the checkpoint at Ararat Reserve, at around the 40km mark. Their team name is CAN for Concord Anaesthetic Nurses, Team # 655 and they have raised $3,075 so far but you can still donate until 8 September.

It’s not the first time I have been part of a support crew for the tough Oxfam Trailwalker event. Three times I have been involved with teams who have walked the 100kms event and managed to complete it….but it is a punishing endurance trial. What is so special this time for me is that the walk takes all the entrants, over 700 teams of four, past this wonderful WWI monument.

I didn’t know it existed until I was checking out the route Sophia and her colleagues would be walking. The Sphinx and two small pyramids is a surprising memorial carved out of the local bush sandstone by Private William Thomas Shirley while he was a patient at the nearby Lady Davidson Home for veterans.

Private Shirley joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 11 January 1916 at the age of 39. Born in the Lake District in the north west of England, he was by trade, a stonemason and builder.

He served as a private with 13th Battalion in the trench warfare on the Western Front in France at Pozieres, in August and September. He would have experienced heavy German shelling and seen many of his comrades killed and injured. On 11 April, 1917 his battalion was involved in the first battle of Bullecourt and just three days later he was evacuated to Rouen suffering debility after being gassed. No doubt the same hospital my grandfather Harold Lilja was taken to in October that same year.

Suffering with pleurisy Pte Shirley was evacuated to London and eventually shipped home to Australia in October 1917 suffering senility and debility. He spent a further time in hospital and was discharged in November with a fortnightly pension of 15 shillings, in today’s currency $1.50. In August 1922 he received the Victory medal, Star medal and British war medal.

Then in 1924 he was one of 85 patients in Lady Davidson Home suffering with tuberculosis. As part of an occupational therapy program, Shirley began enthusiastically carving a sphinx out of a rock in the nearby bushland. Using chisels, hammers and a mallet, Shirley had been working on his replica of the giant Egyptian sphinx at Giza and working just a couple of hours each day, eventually completed the sphinx and pyramids 18 months later.

The 4th Infantry Brigade, of which Shirley's 13th Battalion was a sub-unit, had been based originally in Egypt. Shirley’s sandstone sphinx and pyramids were to serve as a memorial to those soldiers, his 'glorious comrades' of the Australian Imperial Force and all those who did not return from the battle fields. But his memorial also validates the death of those who, like Shirley himself, died or would later die as a result of injuries caused by their war service.

Jim Low writes of Shirley’s story and this remarkable monument on his website Simply Australia and I quote directly from his website in the following paragraphs:

In his book Sacred Places, K.S.Inglis states: "The making of Great War memorials in Australia was a quest for the right way, materially and spiritually, to honour the soldiers."

Shirley successfully accomplished this "quest" without the aid of committees, fundraising or divisive debate. Commenced as a project to help repatriate a broken soldier, it took a new direction as Shirley realized the potential for his sphinx and pyramids to become a memorial.

He worked in a beautiful, bushland setting where consideration of the memorial's prominence or accessibility would not have concerned him. Over the years, the seclusion, serenity and quiet of the memorial's location would provide visitors with a place for contemplation and acknowledgement of the service and sacrifice of the A.I.F. soldiers. Shirley's memorial shines a modest light on the horrific, violent and impersonal nature of warfare and gives us cause for serious reflection. He thus created a special space for generations to come.

You can read more about Private Shirley and the Sphinx at the following websites:

http://simplyaustralia.net/article-jkl-shirley.html

https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/sphinx-memorial-ku-ring-gai-chase-national-park

Private Shirley carried out the work on the Sphinx between 1926 and 1928, and died not long after in 1929 leaving an unusual legacy in stone to be contemplated by the many bushwalkers who enjoy the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. You can find the Sphinx Memorial just inside the park at the end of Bobbin Head Road in North Turramurra.

Oxfam Australia works with local communities to help them create their own sustainable solutions to poverty. Together they promote education, ensuring access to clean water, teaching skills to grow food and advocating for basic rights. By supporting Oxfam Trailwalker you can make a significant difference to people living in poverty around the world! Sydney Trailwalker 2017 has raised $2,762,834 so far.

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Remembering WWI through postage stamps

26/8/2017

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When I was just six years old I started collecting stamps. Dad must have bought me one of the Seven Seas stamp packs from around the world I think. Anyway, each Christmas I would go and knock on all the neighbours’ houses asking if they had any stamps and I was never disappointed! So many had letters or cards from overseas for the festive season.

Eventually in my 30s I sold my stamp collection in order to fund the purchase of my first darkroom equipment, but to this day I get nostalgic for those old albums and can’t let a stamp go untouched on incoming mail wherever I work.

That is how I came across the more recent stamps in the above photo of how we remember WWI and other significant conflicts like the Vietnam War. While the Great War was underway British stamps were quite simple and plain, usually a single motif like a sovereign’s head, be it King George V, Edward who abdicated, or Queen Victoria prior to that.

According to Wikipedia: In Australia, the six self-governing states having just merged into one federation, the Commonwealth of Australia, we too had simple motifs of King George V and the kangaroo and koala. Most states had their own postal service and stamps dating back to the 1850s, but with Federation in 1901 a new Australian postal service commenced with the Postmaster-General’s Department (PMG), which operated as such until 1975. It then became the Australian Postal Commission, operating as Australia Post.

The pre-Federation colony stamps continued on sale and became de facto Commonwealth stamps. Some of these stamps continued to be used for some time after Federation following the introduction in 1913 of the Commonwealth's uniform postage stamp series. Those stamps continued to be valid for postage until 14 February 1966 when the introduction of decimal currency made all stamps bearing the earlier currency invalid for use.

For most, Australian philately proper begins on 2 January 1913 with the issue of a red 1d (one penny) Kangaroo and Map, the design of which was adopted in part from the entry that won the Stamp Design Competition. This was the first definitive stamp with the sole nomenclature “Australia”.

One penny became the uniform domestic postage rate, and one penny postcards and lettercards also appeared in 1911. That same year the PMG held a Stamp Design Competition for a uniform series of Commonwealth postage stamps. This competition attracted over one thousand entries. One of those entries was by my grandmother’s Aunt Evelyn Whiting. At our family reunion in 2006 one her descendants brought along the artwork for that stamp competition to show the family.

The first definitive issue of “Roo” stamps had fifteen stamps ranging in value from ½d (halfpenny) to £2 (two pounds). According to Wikipedia the Kangaroo and Map design was ordered by the Fisher Labor Government, which had in its ranks a number of pro-republicans who strenuously opposed the incorporation of the monarch's profile on Australian stamps. Apparently you can’t even keep politics out of stamp design and issue, because one of the first acts of the Cook Liberal Government, sworn in on 14 June 1913, was to order a series of postage stamps with the profile of George V.

On 8 December 1913 the first of these, an engraved 1d carmine-red, appeared. Soon after, typographed values of the design ranging from ½d (halfpenny) to 1/4d (one shilling and four pence) appeared. The Postmaster-General's Department then went on to keep both basic designs on issue – 38 years for the Kangaroo and Map design and 23 years for the George V. Of course after George V’s death his son George VI became king after his brother Edward famously abdicated. And that is how eventually after George VI’s death his daughter Elizabeth became our monarch.

The last base domestic letter rate definitive stamp featuring Queen Elizabeth II appeared on 1 October 1971. Since then, the designs of all Australian definitive values have focused on fauna, flora, reptiles, butterflies, marine life, gemstones, paintings, handicrafts, visual arts, community and the like. From 1980, a stamp has been issued annually to commemorate the Queen Elizabeth's birthday.

For the simple Monarch’s head, kangaroo and koala which adorned our stamps during the WWI years (shown in the photo), each different definitive value had a different colour. And of course the stamps issued to commemorate the WWI centenary years show many different aspects of Australia’s involvement in both WWI and later conflicts, with each stamp including the famous “Flanders poppy” associated with the horrific events of those muddy bloody battlefields of long ago.

My friend Colleen lent me her stamp albums for this project and seeing all those old currency stamps has reawakened my childhood memories of collecting, a passion that has never quite left me. Thanks go to her for sharing these early WWI stamps with us. Lest we forget!

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Henry Costin.....WWI explorer and The Lost City of Z

13/8/2017

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My friendship with Mary Wilson goes back fifteen years to a time when we both had stalls at Balmain Markets – she selling hand blown glass mushrooms with her husband Bob and me selling my photography. Mary and Bob’s mushrooms were quirky and colourful and they had even made a pine mushroom which started off a conversation and friendship that has never stopped!

Mary and Bob moved from Sydney to Sandy Beach, just north of Coffs Harbour, years ago but Mary still calls every so often for a catch up. This year when she asked me if I was still doing my photography I told her about my WWI project. That is when Mary told me her father Henry Costin’s remarkable story.

Henry had been a corporal and a gymnastics instructor in the British army, and was also an excellent marksman, when he answered an advertisement in 1910 to join an exploratory expedition to South America with British Army Colonel Percy Fawcett. Henry and Fawcett got along so well that Henry journeyed with him three times, mapping borders in Bolivia and Brazil for local authorities. And with Henry’s sharp shooting skills procuring their dinner on many occasions. After one of their journeys they returned to civilisation to discover the world at war in Europe.

Both explorers then served in WWI with Henry seeing action on The Somme and rising to the rank of Lieutenant. It was during his war service that Henry made a small tortoise from Turkish shell casings and telegraph wire and sent it home to his “sweetheart” Annie, Mary’s mother to be. When Mary showed it to me and we opened it there was tiny letter inside to her mother explaining what it was made of and how to open and close the tortoise. Mary also has two embroidered postcards made by French women that Henry had sent her mother. Inside one was a tiny lock of hair and some pressed flowers, no doubt put there by her mother, nearly a century ago.

If that wasn’t extraordinary enough, Mary has several photographs of her father, dressed both in his WWI uniform and in his explorer’s clothing. But most prized of all are a copy of Fawcett’s book and four letters Henry wrote in 1940s to Mary when she was a teenager. The letters document his exploits with Fawcett in South America and contain a hand drawn map of the country they were exploring. Totalling over 50 pages the letters are a priceless memento of Mary’s father’s travels with Fawcett.

Henry turned down the last great adventure with Colonel Fawcett. Possibly because he was married and starting his family, but also because he didn’t get on with Fawcett’s son Jack – so when asked to accompany them back to the wilds of South America looking for the fabled “lost city” Henry didn’t go. Fawcett’s party never returned and to this day it is a mystery what happened to them!

After WWI Henry chose the trade of marbler and grainer, and became so proficient that he could paint a wall to look like marble, wood or any texture required. His craftsmanship was such that he was invited into many private residences in the UK and Europe, including Buckingham Palace, to undertake work. Henry and Annie had four children: Frank, Eric (who died in WWII), Mike, and Mary. Frank and Mike both had careers in the aircraft and racing car industries, and famously designed aerodynamic bodies for the Lotus racing car.

Mary and her husband Bob raised a family, moved to Australia, flew gliders and have just celebrated their 60th diamond wedding anniversary amongst friends and family across four generations. Mary is also a talented artist and keen gardener still at 85 years of age.

Most surprising of all in 2017 is that on 24 August the movie The Lost City of Z will open in Sydney. Starring Charles Hunnam as Col Fawcett and Robert Pattinson as Mary's father Henry Costin the film documents their exploits in South America looking for the fabled lost city! A fitting way to remember this WWI veteran and explorer!

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Remembering Pvte Thomas Robinson....an original ANZAC

6/8/2017

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Photios Brothers, the much loved bead, crystal and fashion accessories shop on Druitt Street, started in 1920s by Basil Photios, is a strange place to start my next story. As long as I’ve worked in the city, over 45 years, I can remember this glorious shop with its gorgeous display of colourful feather boas and spangled baubles in the windows.

Back in October 2014 I wandered in on way from City of Sydney council after collecting my “We wish we’d known you grandpa” photographic entry. It had been on display in Hyde Park in the Australian Life Photo Prize as part of the Art & About festival. Somehow I got talking to Karen, the woman in the shop, and it turned out her grandfather had served in WWI, and so I told her about my project to honour our grandfathers.

Karen remembered that Athol Robinson, her grandfather, served in Gallipoli, and that he was wounded and survived, and then married an English nurse while recuperating in England. She also thought there was a tree in Melbourne somewhere dedicated to her grandfather. She couldn’t remember where he was buried. The family story also goes that her grandfather played cards with Squizzy Taylor, a notorious Melbourne underworld figure. An intriguing story!

So in March this year, whilst visiting Melbourne to celebrate our daughter’s 30th birthday, I decided to do some research into Athol’s service. At first all I could find was another Athol who was killed at Gallipoli. After talking to Karen again I discovered that Athol enlisted under his middle name Thomas because he was under age and didn’t have his parents’ consent to sign up. A much repeated occurrence for many young men during WWI.

Meet Private Thomas Robinson born in 1895, a 19 year old labourer from Broadmeadows, who enlisted in the 7th battalion on 9 November 1914, service number 1412. He may have regretted signing up that day, when he found himself landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915! Athol was one of our original ANZACS! He survived the landing that fateful day but was seriously wounded in the leg by a bomb during action at Lone Pine on 8 August 1915 and evacuated to Malta and then by hospital ship Carisbrook Castle to England, and eventually to the 4th London General hospital in Denmark Hill to recover.

Whilst recovering this is where he met nurse Gladys Brackenborough, a young woman of substance from a well to do family. The two young lovers got married but once recovered young Thomas was sent back into the battlefields in France where he was wounded three more times. No doubt wishing to be reunited with his wife, one of the wounds was self-inflicted, as was the case with many men trying to escape the horrors of the muddy bloody Western Front. A telegram to his family notes he was wounded for the fourth time in France in August 1918.

Thomas eventually returned to Australia on ship Bremen and disembarked on 25 July 1919. He continued to work as a labourer and he and Gladys went on to have six children. When he died at Heidelberg on 7 February 1976 Thomas was accorded a military funeral.

Taking a punt that he may be buried near his family home of Broadmeadows I found Thomas’s grave listed on the William Fawkner Memorial Cemetery burial listing and we visited his grave which had been renovated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne also has Thomas listed in their Books of Remembrance. During our visit to the Shrine I discovered that the tree Karen had mentioned was actually a tree planted to honour the 7th battalion and is on the approach to the Shrine.
According to a letter on his service file, on 4 April 1967 Athol (Thomas) Robinson wrote making an application for an Anzac medallion stating that he was at the 25 April landing at Galllipoli with 7th battalion. Sadly, the family have declined to be photographed with Thomas’s medals. Lest we forget!

Extract from Books on War Australia, an AIF 7th battalion history book:
The 7th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Like the 5th, 6th and 8th Battalions, it was recruited from Victoria and, together with these battalions, formed the 2nd Brigade. The battalion was raised by Lieutenant Colonel H. E. "Pompey" Elliott within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914.

After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving on 2 December. It later took part in the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, as part of the second wave. Ten days after the landing, the 2nd Brigade was transferred from ANZAC to Cape Helles to help in the attack on the village of Krithia. The attack captured little ground but cost the brigade almost a third of its strength. The Victorian battalions returned to ANZAC to help defend the beachhead, and in August the 2nd Brigade fought at the battle of Lone Pine. While holding positions captured by the 1st Brigade, four members of the 7th Battalion, Corporal A. S. Burton, Acting Corporal W. Dunstan, Lieutenant W. Symons and Captain F. H. Tubb, earned the Victoria Cross - Burton posthumously. The battalion served at ANZAC until the evacuation in December.

The 7th Battalion’s next major action was in France at Pozières in the Somme valley where it fought between 23-27 July and 15-21 August 1916. Following on the Battalion fought at many of the major WWI battles including the Somme in 1918, Bullecourt Hindenburg Line 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Hazebrouck, Amiens and Albert during latter part 1918. There was a high human cost to gain the 7th Battalion's Battle Honours - 1045 members were killed with over 2000 7th members wounded.

The tree above is growing on the approach to the Shrine of Remembrance on St Kilda Road Melbourne. We asked at reception and they located the tree and showed us on a map how to find it. You can also view the Books of Remembrance which are placed inside locked glass cases. The books contain the names of all Victorians who served in WWI and are handwritten in a lovely script. The attendant will open the case and you can use cotton gloves to open the book at the page of your relative. We saw Thomas Robinson's name listed. Lest we forget this original Anzac!

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WWI: Mementos of our Grandfathers

The Sphinx Memorial & the Oxfam Trailwalker

Remembering WWI through postage stamps

Henry Costin.....WWI explorer and The Lost City of Z

Remembering Pvte Thomas Robinson....an original ANZAC

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