State Library of Queensland recently launched our latest blog – Queensland’s World War I Centenary. In this blog you will find stories from our collections about the experience of Queenslanders during the years 1914-1918. We would love to hear from you and invite you to share your research and family stories of WWI.
The John Oxley Library opened its doors to the public in 1934 and many of our early collections are connected to the Great War. This newspaper article from Brisbane’s Sunday Mail from 9 October 1938 shows the kind of early collecting drives that made the holdings as rich as they are today.
Sunday Mail, 9 Oclober 1938
In the collections you will discover newspapers, books, photographs, film, diaries, letters, medals and more.
There are thousands of stories waiting to be told of the Queensland experience of WWI. Some are known already. Some are only now being discovered or have been too hard to tell. Perhaps you have your Great Grandfather’s diary in a drawer somewhere, or medals, or family yarns that connect you through time to the cataclysmic events of 1914-1918.
Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, November 12, 1931
The State Library of Queensland, as a place of memory, would like to start a conversation and we would like you to join in. We look forward to hearing from you as we keep you informed of our commemorative activities and projects all aimed at keeping alive the memory of Queenslanders from the Cape to the Tweed, from city to the bush, from the homefront to the trenches of Gallipoli and France.
Simon Farley – Librarian, State Library of Queensland