The SA faces of World War 1
The focus on most of the photos is soft; barely brushing young cheeks, it emphasizes the bone structure of faces and the dark uniforms, and hides away imperfections of youthful skin.
19th Battery Field Artillery
Place of birth: Quorn
Residence: Quorn
It makes the men seem younger than they were, and almost naive in a way. Which, of course, they were – about to face an enemy they did not know, in a country they had only seen on maps.
Wireless Corps
Place of birth: Largs Bay
Residence: Henley Beach
State Records has added another 400 digitised World War I photographs to its public collection on flickr, as part of commemorations for Remembrance Day, which marks the anniversary of the armistice which ended that war.
8th Brigade
Place of birth: Mt Lofty
Residence: Port Pirie
Records is hoping people will go online and find relatives or ancestors – and hopefully contribute their memories and stories, enriching the presentation.
The photos are part of a collection of about 3000 that were donated by the public after WWI. Because of that, they came in in a range of sizes and shapes, said Records’ archivist Helen Chadwick
“They’re all different. They’re standard 1910s photographs, but they’re donated by the public so they’re all slightly different in size and composition.
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“They’ve aged quite well. We make sure we keep them in non-acidic containers to preserve the longevity of the photographs.”
The 400 that Records has made available are simply the 400 currently digitised – archivists are yet to make their way through the entire file.
Go here to view the photographs.
All images courtesy State Records.
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