Capital history in the news
75 years since World War Two
When peace was announced in Canberra a city delirious with joy | Extract from the front page of the Canberra Times on August 16, 1945 which tells how Canberra welcomed the news of Japan’s surrender and the end of World War Two. Note this was also covered in Victory in the Pacific and the end of the Second World War 75th anniversary.
Gunning WW2 veteran on 75 years since war’s end | World War Two Veteran Lance Cooke’s memories of the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945 and his experiences during the war as a mechanic working on Beaufighters.
Canberra's lost larrikin Hilton Tiger Bourke remembered | Canberran Hilton “Tiger” Bourke was deployed to New Guinea during World War Two and tragically died in Sydney on his return to Australia. His granddaughter Fiona Robinson has researched his life filling out the details of his life in Canberra before the war.
After 75 years WW2 still casts long shadow on soldiers' loved ones | Joe Coombs, Bert Donaldson, and Hal Buttsworth, of the 2/19th Battalion were interned as prisoners of war in Singapore and Japan. Article highlights that their war experiences left an indelible mark on the families they returned to or left behind.
Vintage aircraft to fly over Canberra to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2 | Two historic airplanes — a CA-16 Wirraway trainer and a Lockheed Hudson bomber flew over Canberra on Saturday as part of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two.
80 years since the Canberra air disaster
Military tribute returns to site of Canberra air disaster | On 13 August 2020 a ceremony was held at the Air Disaster Memorial to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the 1940 Canberra air disaster in which three senior federal ministers and members of Robert Menzies’ War Cabinet and the chief of general staff were killed.
National Museum of Australia news
Azaria Chamberlain car on display at NMA 40 years on | Lindy and Michael Chamberlain’s yellow Holden Torana which was a central forensic piece of evidence in the case against Lindy Chamberlain is for the first time on public display at the National Museum of Australia. The display is to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Azaria's death.
Azaria case leaves lasting legacy | Dr Sophie Jensen of the National Museum of Australia explains how the Museum’s collection of items from the Chamberlain’s case came about. She points out that viewing museum objects is an opportunity to understand the lives and experiences of others.
National Museum artwork too sensitive to be displayed | The National Museum of Australia's new exhibition, Talking Blak to History includes Douglas Scott’s Blood Cries Out for Justice, an artwork that has previously been judged too sensitive to display openly. This new exhibition is depicting Aboriginal people’s experience of history and how it has shaped their lives.
History happenings
History: What is it good for? | Local historian and author Nichole Overall and ABC journalist and broadcaster Dan Bourchier are debating the importance of history on 8 September 2020 in an online via Zoom event (with limited physical spots).
Australian love stories | National Portrait Gallery has a new online exhibition Australian Love Stories where viewers can choose which portraits and love stories they see and in what order. At the end of their viewing they will receive their Love Stories Profile based on the portraits they explored.
High country history
Snow a force to be reckoned with | Historian Matthew Higgins writes about how past generations in the high country understood Winter as a dangerous and deadly time.
Indigenous history
Indigenous banana cultivation dates back over 2000 years | ANU Archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of Indigenous communities cultivating bananas more than 2,000 years ago. Lead researcher, Kambri-Ngunnawal scholar Robert Williams, says the findings help dispel the view that Australia's first peoples were ‘only hunter gatherers’.
A poignant milestone, by George | Tim the Yowie Man draws attention to the 200th year anniversary on 19 August 2020 of the first time European sighting of Weereewaa. It was first seen by Joseph Wild and later renamed Lake George by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Also tells of Tim and Shane Mortimer’s visit to the Lake to find a tree grown by Shane’s ancestors for observations of the moon.
Acknowledgement: The image above is inspired by veteran Lance Cooke’s war time service as a mechanic working on Beaufighters. It is one of a series of photographs taken in 1945 of RAAF Beaufighter squadrons operating from Tawitawi in the Philippines. From the State Library Victoria collection full details are here.
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