To mark the Centenary of World War I and the significant impact it had on Goldfields communities, the Western Australian Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder launched its very poignant Faces From the Front exhibition last Friday.
Developed by the WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the exhibition features more than 80 historic photographs by local photographers JJ Dwyer and T McKay, all featuring soldiers whose portraits were captured on their enlistment and when they returned home at the end of the war. The exhibition also features historic photographs of events taking place in Kalgoorlie during this turbulent period.
WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the impact of WWI was felt across the whole of Western Australia, with families that welcomed home soldiers and those that mourned their passing, affected by the events of those years.
“Across the mining towns and communities of the Goldfields, people rallied to the call of the Empire, enlisting to fight for King and Country as soldiers and nurses,” said Mr Coles.
“After the war the loss of men from some small gold mining communities was so severe that the industry in those towns never fully recovered.”
Regional Manager of WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder Zoe Scott said curating this exhibition had been a moving exploration of the region’s history, with members of Goldfields WWI families providing artefacts, medals and personal effects to support the stories of their ancestors.
“It has been a poignant journey reading the war records of soldiers, learning what their lives were like at the front, and meeting with their descendants who are so proud of what their forbearers did,” Ms Scott said.
Faces From the Front includes a number of artefacts from the Museum’s own collections, as well as items loaned from the Goldfields community. The Museum has also received support from regional Returned and Services League groups, the Army Reserve in Kalgoorlie, and the Army Museum of Western Australia in developing this exhibition.
From this week visitors to the exhibition will be able to use on-site technology to research their own family connections with World War I through the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial.
Faces From the Front will be on display at the WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder from Saturday 23 August until Monday 2 March, 2015, with the portraits and stories from the exhibition available on the WA Museum website throughout the life of the exhibition.
Jane Rosevear
Media and Publicity Officer
Western Australian Museum
(08) 6552 7805
jane.rosevear@museum.wa.gov.au
