Somewhere in France: Australians on the Western Front – exhibition & public program

Noel Shaw Gallery, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne
11 March – 26 June 2016

This bilingual exhibition developed by the School of Languages and Linguistics (French Studies) and the University of Melbourne Archives, is about the lives of young Australians in France and Belgium during World War I. A century after the arrival of Australian troops on the Western Front in March 1916, this exhibition focuses on the experiences of the soldiers in the periods that they spent away from the front line.

Join us for an inspiring program of public lectures and seminars with a range of stimulating speakers including artists, curators and historians.

New languages, food and culture challenged and modified the attitudes of the young soldiers, nurses and volunteers, and they returned to Australia with new insights into the people, places and landscapes which they had encountered. Contemporary diaries and letters, photographs and ephemera in the collections of the University of Melbourne Archives provide a wealth of little known details about day-to-day life during this tumultuous time.

Public lecture: Reading and writing communities in the trenches 1914–1918 (France & Italy)
17 March 2016 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Professor Martin Lyons, Emeritus Professor of History (School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales)

Research seminar: Everyday reading and writing during the Great War: écritures ordinaires in extraordinary context
18 March 2016, 9:15am – 12:30pm

Curator’s floor talk
14 April 2016, 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Exhibition curator, Jenny Long, will present a floor talk that engages directly with the themes of the exhibition.

More information, registrations and image gallery here.