A New Member Reports : Hawkesbury Writers Group ? Writing Dreams

A New Member Reports

Posted by Stefan on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 ? Leave a Comment?

REPORT FROM SHIRLEY SEALE

?The?Riverstone Historical Society is preparing to publish a book in commemoration of the centenary of the start of World War I in 2014. As a member of the society, and having just completed an Advanced Diploma in Local, family and Applied History at UNE Armidale, my role is to access the war records of the 22 young men from the district who died in that war, and whose names appear on the Riverstone Cenotaph, and write each soldier?s story for the book. For many years I have been writing and speaking about Australian History, so this is a writing task that excites me.

I have been surprised at the depth of emotions this research has awakened. The war records describe each young man, his height, weight, eye colour. I have identified his parents and siblings and followed the farewells given to each by the local community, which worked so hard to give them a great send-off, a farewell gift and then provide for ?their? soldiers in the trenches. The local paper ?Windsor Richmond Gazette, prints letters from them or news of their whereabouts and then their wounding or ?missing in action? and finally their deaths. I feel that I know them!

The diaries of the Battalion commanders give details of the battles when each was wounded or killed and are horrific to read with their descriptions of the carnage. The Medical History of WWI, available also on line, shows what little could be done for the wounded as there were no antibiotics and it was sometimes 48 hours from the time they were dragged from the trenches? and sent by rail to the hospitals, before they were treated.

I know before I start writing what the ending of each story will be, but I was not prepared for the letters to and from the army to the parents, the fact that the medals, Memorial Scrolls and Plaques awarded to them were not finalised until 1923, and the heartbreaking belief of some of the parents of those missing in action that they were still alive somewhere and would be returned to the family one day.

I joined the Hawkesbury Writers? Group this year to give impetus to the book I hope to write about Mary Bligh, but this project has pushed that into the background. The deaths of the soldiers makes me sad, but the families approached are so pleased that the valour of these men will be remembered once more by new generations a hundred years later.

Source: http://hawkesburywriters.org.au/a-new-member-reports/

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