Lumen Summer 2015 - Flipbook - Page 4
story by Ian Williams
Rallying for the Great
The outbreak of the Great War marked an
enormous upheaval for the University of
Adelaide with its impact felt throughout the
institution. As Australia commemorates the
ANZAC Centenary – 100 years since World
War I – Lumen reßects on some of the
extraordinary sacriÞces made by University
staff, students and graduates.
Once war had been declared in Europe the response from
the University of Adelaide was immediate and emphatic.
There was unreserved patriotism displayed towards
the Empire with 14 staff and almost 500 students and
graduates volunteering to serve in some capacity. Many
enlisted immediately or the following year, including
medical graduates and engineers and a disproportionately
large number of Roseworthy students.
In late 1916 when University Registrar Charles Hodge
sent out a memo asking families about the wellbeing of
their loved ones, the response was huge. It transpired
they had family members fighting across the Western
Front, in Gallipoli and in many other battle zones.
Letters reveal the tragedy of war
A fascinating collection of letters from family members
of soldiers fighting in the First World War provide a
poignant and moving insight into the hopelessness
and anguish felt by those left behind.
University of
Adelaide Registrar
Charles Hodge
was sent several
hundred letters
after issuing
Above: Lieutenant
a memo on 4
Joseph Blacket
December 1916
inquiring about the wellbeing of staff and
students on the frontline. The responses
are now held in the University Archives.
Archives Officer Andrew Cook says they
are important on several levels. “Most
obviously there is the raw information
about where students, staff and graduates
fought – recurring names familiar in military
history such as Pozières, the Somme,
Ypres and Gallipoli,” says Andrew.
“The poignant phrase ‘somewhere in
France’ can be found, often in inverted
commas suggesting that it had already
become a widely used expression.”
Inevitably there are reports of deaths
and injuries among the men associated
with the University. By December 1916,
the toll was already 20 killed and 24
wounded. This would increase to 61
killed by the end of the war.
The tragedy of the conflict is evident in
many of the letters.
2 Lumen | Summer 2015
The Reverend John Blacket of Norwood
wrote about his son Captain John W.
Blacket: “My boy was killed by a shell
in the trenches when in charge of A
Company who were being bombarded
by the Germans on 4 July 1916.”
In the same letter Reverend Blacket
reports that his other son, Lieutenant
Joseph A. Blacket, had been injured in
the trenches. He too would be killed,
almost two years after his brother, in
June 1918. Both sons studied Arts at
Adelaide before the war.
“There is mention of a ‘nervous breakdown’
in another letter, a relatively new expression
that suggests a growing awareness of the
psychological damage that
could be done by extended
exposure to extreme
violence,” says Andrew.
There are also indications in
the correspondence of the
way South Australians
were thinking about the
war – the world view
through which they were
processing events and
the way in which they
were coming to terms
with the mounting losses.
“But overall the dominant sense is
of pride that sons or husbands were
fighting for a worthy cause, namely the
preservation of the British Empire as a
just and civilising force in the world.”
To view more letters relating to the
World War I military service of staff and
students visit the University Archives blog
at www.bit.ly/1sIww7T
