Recollections of War

02/06/2026

Finally managed to produce some images from a set of WWI glass plate negatives purchased some time ago.

Many thanks to our good friend, Derris, for giving us a light box on which we photographed them.

All of these men were from South Australia and enlisted between September 1914 and May 1915.

They are from left to right (top) - Roy Edward GREEN, Ernest George WATSON and George Henry GALLACHER; and from left to right (bottom) - GILLESPIE?, Ernest Leslie GOLDSWORTHY and Louis Clive WOOD.

We hope to uncover all of their stories and keep their memory alive.

11/05/2026

More stunning photos. Makes our place look pretty good....

11/05/2026

It was our absolute privilege to host the 10th Light Horse Albany Troop Inc. here a couple of weekends back.
We can't believe how good the photos have turned out given the weather conditions!
Lex (Alex Porebski) is a star, but he did have great subject matter. You all looked fabulous!
Well done to everyone involved.

03/05/2026

What a fabulous couple of days here with the 10th Light Horse Albany Troop Inc. providing the backdrop for their latest photo shoot.

It was a shame that the weather didn't cooperate, but no doubt master photographer, Lex, will have taken some stunning photos regardless.

Here are a few that we took to be going on with.

Full of admiration for this wonderful group of people and horses who show such dedication to keeping history alive. We salute you!

02/05/2026

A new arrival this week was a copy of the 'Australian Town and Country Journal' dated 4 October 1916.

It was purchased for the cover illustration which showed a 'Trench-bayonet exercise for the A.I.F. at Liverpool Camp'.

We have two different leather and metal helmets like those pictured plus the padded suit, and felt this would help answer the questions of our visitors as to their purpose.

Upon investigating the journal further, it was full of wonderful images, stories and advertisements from that time.

There were 4 pages in the centre devoted to the men from NSW who had recently been either reported wounded or killed in action. There were also 28 small portraits of some of those men.

We researched and identified 27/28, confirming the details, service numbers and addresses. We then isolated the individual pictures and sent them to Faithe Jones, the wonderful admin of Virtual War Memorial Australia, who has now uploaded them, adding more faces to names.

It makes us feel good to be contributing to the historical record for future researchers and family members.

Lest we forget.

27/04/2026

Great visit this morning from the Bow Bridge, Tingledale and Hazelvale ladies and their chauffeur plus a few extras from Albany - even if they did catch us out by arriving an hour and a half early!

Nobody cared and we all had a good laugh!

Thanks for coming to see us 😊

24/04/2026

On the eve of the 110th Anzac Day commemoration, here are two photos from the first, which Australians marked on 25 April 1916, a year after the landing at Gallipoli.

There were ceremonies and services across Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt, held on the banks and in the water of the Suez Canal.

These original photos were from an album compiled by Australian Army Nursing Service (A.A.N.S.) Staff Nurse Florence Agnes Manning, who completed her nursing training at the Perth Hospital.

She served in Heliopolis and Abbassia and then England before resigning her appointment on 23 April 1917 to marry Captain Hugh William Fancourt Mitchell of the Australian Army Medical Corps (A.A.M.C.), a general practitioner from Brookton.

On Anzac Day, we remember all those who have served and those who supported them - past and present.

Lest we forget.

13/04/2026

We have a large number of beautiful portraits in our collection. Sadly, many of them are unnamed and there is no way of working out who the subjects were.

Yesterday, I had a closer look at this particular portrait. It is unusual because it is an opalotype, which is a positive photographic image on milk glass.

There was a small label on the reverse with the words 'Sproul, Oak, Pt. Fairy' which provided vital clues to the identity of the serviceman. This was likely to have been put there by the framer, with the oak indicating what the original frame (now lost) was to be made from.

It was difficult to date the portrait. The uniform didn't give much away - no colour patches to indicate WWI or WWII, and a leather bandolier and possibly spurs on the boots perhaps pointing to Australian Light Horse.

With great assistance from my friend (and long term volunteer researcher), Les Emery, we believe we have cracked it.

Leslie James Sproul was born on 28 December 1907 in Port Fairy, Victoria. He was the third of five sons born to David and Edith Melita Sproul.

He enlisted in the Australian Army on 24 April 1940 at Caulfield Victoria, and was allocated service number VX12864. His enlistment photo from his paybook is shown (AWM P02468.287).

According to the AWM, Leslie James Sproul was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POW's that made up B Force were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942.

Corporal Sproul, aged 37, died from illness as a prisoner of the Japanese on 3 May 1945. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 25.

He was attached to 13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Medical Corps at his death.

It is always very gratifying to put a name to a face.

We will remember them.

09/04/2026

This month, Recollections of War is being featured on the WA Seniors Card Centre website and in their newsletter.

We thank them very much for the opportunity!

Recollections of War was established in 2009, following a trip to the UK by its founder, John Shapland. During the visit, his godfather took him to an airshow at Duxford, which reignited his passion for WWII aircraft. He returned home with brochures and booklets of aviation prints and diecast plane....

09/04/2026

If you happen to be anywhere near Harvey between 15-28 April, please check out this display.

It represents a huge amount of time, effort, dedication and passion by Tony Banner, and he will enjoy telling you all about it.