by Graeme Massey
What happened when teenage students and their teacher started researching about the Light Horse as a local history research project?
They produced a comprehensive book, in an outstanding piece of research!
This school project was conducted during half-year electives. It could be readily adapted by other schools, or local history groups, interested in other Light Horsemen from any other parts of Australia.
Graeme Massey was actually a trailblazer. We asked him to explain how he went about it……..
How it all began
The Ian Jones and Simon Wincer film ‘The Lighthorsemen’ was the main focus of part of a middle-school history half-year elective unit at Warracknabeal Secondary College (western Victoria) in 2005 and 2006.
In one of the film’s scenes, Light Horse soldiers Chiller, Scotty and Tas go to visit their wounded mate, Frank, in the hospital at El Arish. Frank has opened a letter from his girlfriend, Joyce, in which he is told that she has married a bloke from Warracknabeal and shifted to Geelong…………… This intrigued many of the students. They asked questions such as “Who was the bloke?” “Did Joyce and Frank come from Warracknabeal?” and “If Scotty’s film character is really Trooper Sloan Bolton, 4 LHR, then surely the others are real as well?”
They were informed that the letter scene is imaginary. However, there were Lighthorsemen who did come from the towns and farms around Warracknabeal and most of them were in the charge at Beersheba!
So it was decided we should found out who they were…. I knew that two are featured in the film:
Major James Lawson, who led the first squadron, worked for the Union Bank at Warracknabeal when he came out from England in 1908. He boarded at the Commercial Hotel and ended up marrying Effie Franklin, whose family ran the hotel. He left the bank and he and Effie shifted to Rupanyup to run one of the hotels there.
Lieutenant Frank Burton, who was killed leaping the Turk trenches at Beersheba, was a farmer at Nullan, a district between Warracknabeal and Minyip.
How we tackled the task
My next step was to work out how the students could discover who these men were by researching available resources. Neil Smith’s book Men of Beersheba provided the starting point: at the end of his book there is a nominal roll in alphabetical order of the 4th Light Horse Regiment. [1] Smith indicated who he believed were chargers by placing a cross (+) after their name. This gave us our first list. There were 627 men over the 33 pages. We knew our work would be cut out! Given that the regiment’s strength on 31 October 1917 was just under 500 and that only about 400 of these men charged, we had too many names…. The book’s nominal roll was photocopied.
My 2005 class numbered 24. It was agreed that we would form six groups of four and each group would research 5 pages. This division fitted in nicely with internet access in the college library – there were 12 computers, all connected to a printer. Each group was to nominate one student to co-ordinate their group. The stipulation was that the group leader had to have home internet and be willing to keep their group’s research on track to our timeline. I was fortunate that the 2005 cohort include some quite competent IT students, who were also keen on this subject.
Above: History Project: Warracknabeal Secondary College students (from left) Eve Lindsay, Donna Robinson and Lucy Morcom research the history of the Battle of Beersheba in which numerous Warracknabeal residents were involved. The school’s Year 10 history students are creating a book of the event.
The class met each week for one single class of 50 minutes and one double period of 100 minutes. We would use the National Archives Australia (NAA) website to go into RecordSearch using surname and regiment number to access each file. I thought we could do this step in a couple of months. Not to be! It was slow going even though each student was shown how to find the appropriate page on the soldier’s file. The internet speed in 2005 was not fast and the individual files were not in the same sequence. After two weeks the students had confirmed 18 names. At this rate we would only be halfway through checking Neil Smith’s possible chargers when the unit concluded!
Time for a reassessment…..To speed up the research the group leaders and I would go through the files at home and print off the attestation sheet, the medical page and the soldier’s casualty form- active service. Progress took a giant stride as the number of confirmed names rapidly increased. It also allowed the students to have a hard copy of each man’s service record to use later to write up their research.
However it also confirmed what Neil Smith had pointed out in his book. His research had limitations. His book was printed in 1993 when the internet was in its infancy and individual files had yet to be digitalized. Some of men were not at Beersheba as he had indicated and Ethan Schilling told us that his family believed that his great grandfather, JC Hunter 3241, had been in the charge, but not acknowledged as such in Neil Smith’s book. Jack Hunter’s file was accessed and it showed that he was with the 4th LHR on 31 October 1917. Neil had overlooked him. Were there others?
Possibly. Not to be a concern at the moment. Press on with this first step, print off the necessary sheets from the NAA website and confirm or reject the men who Neil Smith had suggested as chargers. We accomplished this before the unit ended. Our list at the end of term in 2005 had reduced possible chargers to 454. Logic suggested that not all these men took part in the charge. Some were shoeing smiths, drivers and cooks. They probably didn’t, but they could have. We kept them on our list.
As each charger was confirmed students worked in pairs to complete a template that included year and place of birth, occupation, residence, place and date of enlistment, height, weight, facial description, religion, marital status, next of kin and their address. A relatively easy task. The embarkation roll from the Australian War Memorial website was used to add the date, port and vessel of departure.
Compiling the service record was the most difficult task. Only four students were able to navigate their way through this part of file and I finally realised that I would have to assist them to compile this part. We would only do each man’s war service details to Beersheba. But enthusiasm and interest was waning.
When the unit ended at the midyear of 2005 we had our list of chargers and about 120 half completed profiles. Not a bad effort I thought. When the unit is offered again in 2006 I would be better prepared having a clearer understanding of student capability and if a couple of the keen students from 2005 came back we could just about finish the task.
My elective class in 2006 had been scheduled for second semester and 21 students had enrolled. All were Year 10. Eight of them had returned to continue the research, which was most gratifying. All were keen, willing and able and I knew they would persist with the task. Over the break I had perused all 441 files and sorted them into two piles. Those that had relatively easy service records to follow, then the rest. The class would do the first group and I would do the second group. I set up 3 groups of six, each with two students from 2005 as leaders. The other three would work on mapping the towns associated with each man and compile the table that would go with each map.
By the end of the unit we had a profile on each of the chargers up to 31 October 1917. Twelve maps and accompanying information were half completed. We had achieved far more than our initial step, which was to find out who from our part of the Wimmera was in the charge. We discovered that twenty-three of the chargers came from our area. And that the great grandchildren of two of them, Fred Robinson and Jack Hunter, were students at our college!
2007 arrived and it would be ninety years since the charge at Beersheba. The federal government announced that this event would be commemorated at Remembrance Day ceremonies on 11 November. It would also be acknowledged at Reserve Forces Day at Horsham on 24 June. Perhaps we could do something with our research…… Maybe a booklet……. We should apply for a grant……
Most of the material had been researched. The middle school elective unit timetable for second semester could put the finishing touches to it. Six students from 2006 were in my Year 11 Twentieth Century History class of ten and four of them were also studying Studio Art. If we received our grant they offered to finish off the maps and design a front cover…. Nothing like being positive.
I would complete each soldier’s war record and write up the historical details surrounding the charge.
Getting funding and other assistance
In May 2007 the college submitted an application for $3000.00 under the federal government’s Saluting Their Service Commemorations Grants. This was the maximum amount available under the two sections our project addressed- Public Awareness Activity and Schools Initiative. (In 2003 the college had been successful in obtaining that amount from this source to assist with publishing a book commemorating the men from the western half of Victoria who died at Gallipoli. We hoped that members of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Commemorations Grants Advisory Committee would be familiar with that book and look favourably at our application). Our local member, John Forrest MHR, also wrote a letter of support to the minister.
Above: Final touch – Warracknabeal Secondary College history teacher, Graeme Massey and students (from left) Jessica Ross, Ellie Baxter and Lauren Lehmann discuss the final touches of their book on the “Battle of Beersheba” with North West Press manager, Geoff Ward (left) and compositor Scott Stewart (front).
I obtained a quote from our local printer, North West Press, to print 460 copies of a book of 136 pages. It would cost us $7250. It fitted in our budget. We already had a kitty of just over $4000 from sales of our 2003 book Gallipoli Heroes. The grant would boost this to $7000. We intended to donate 200 books to schools, RSLs and Historical Societies. The postage costs were $5.10 per book. This added a further $1020. The gap would be covered by selling the rest of the books.
On 13 June I received a letter from Project Support & Grants, Department of Veterans’ Affairs acknowledging our application, which would be considered by the advisory committee at its next meeting in late June. Their recommendations would be passed to the Minister, the Hon Bruce Billson MP. This process would take six to eight weeks.
In the interim our research would be compiled ready for printing. The middle school unit students were given the task of scrolling the photographic collection of the AWM website for photos relating to Beersheba, the 4th LHR and individual soldiers.
On 13 September an email was forwarded to the eSales Unit, AWM, requesting permission to use two images in the book. The copyright on photos of soldiers had lapsed and did not require approval. Permission to use the images of the two chosen photos was received the next day.
On 21 September the college was notified that it had been successful in obtaining a grant of $3000 to publish a book titled Beersheba Heroes. This was interesting as no title was mentioned in our application……. The committee must have done some due diligence, as our previous two books that had been printed assisted by grants from DVA were called Fallen Heroes and Gallipoli Heroes……. The Year 11 students voted to call the book Beersheba.
My students were excited to become published authors. They took photos of each other at the computer and refined the material ready for publication. It was a tight time-line as we wanted to have the book out before 31 October, five weeks away.
North West Press staff was most co-operative. They had the presses rolling by mid-October and the books were delivered to the college ten days before the end of the month.
Publication Day
News articles had appeared in the local paper on two occasions since September announcing the grant and informing people of book’s availability for $15. It was no surprise that some letters and emails requesting copies had already been received. The first week of its release, 48 copies were sold and our budget deficit was gone.
Two hundred and ten complimentary copies were sent to the RSLs, Historical Societies, Family History Groups and schools throughout Victoria – places where the chargers had lived. A carton of twenty books was donated to both the Creswick Light Horse Group and the Horsham Light Horse to assist them with their fundraising.
The students who had been group leaders in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were given a copy. There were only about 150 books left………..
Requests for books had been steady and by the end of the school year in December there was only one carton left. It was decided not to sell any more until we returned to college in February 2008.
Awards and responses
Well, my mailbox was full when I came back after the holidays! Most letters were thanking the college for the donation of a book, many of them including additional information about individuals.
The Victorian Government, through Information Victoria, announce their annual Victorian Community History Awards each May. The college entered Beersheba in the Best Community Research, Registers & Records category for publications printed during 2007. It was the third occasion the school had submitted an entry. Fallen Heroes won the award in 2003 and Gallipoli Heroes was successful in 2005.
Perhaps we could capture the hat-trick? Not to be…… but the book was shortlisted and received a commendation certificate. Still a great honour, as entries for the award has increased dramatically over the years since 2003.
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria had favourably reviewed Beersheba in their February-March 2008 issue, “a splendid demonstration of what can be done by middle school students in history using the resources of the internet…”
In 2009, Rupanyup RSL wanted to honour James Lawson and other men from the former Dunmunkle Shire who had served with the 4th LHR, especially those who took part in the charge at Beersheba. I helped with their research and provided the names of 41 men who served with the 4th LHR. The RSL applied and received a grant to erect a memorial to commemorate this and the memorial was unveiled on Saturday 31 October by Lawson’s granddaughter. David Holloway the historian of the modern Army Reserve unit (4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse) who are their successors, was the guest speaker.
I corresponded with David Holloway and found that men from Camel Corps reinforcements had been posted to the 4th LHR prior to Beersheba. An email from Gary Johnson suggested that Steve Becker had been researching chargers at Beersheba and had posted his names on the Australian Light Horse Association forum website. I cross-referenced these additional names with our book and discovered that a further 56 men may have been with 4th LHR chargers on 31 October. Of course, I forwarded this list to 4/19 PWLH for its historical collection/museum in December 2015. We knew that some names would be overlooked and are grateful that this has now been remedied.
Some last thoughts
- I would love it if other schools took on similar research.
- As teachers know, student motivation often comes from a sense of relevance (some of ours were direct ancestors of Light Horsemen, some had neighbours who were, others live near where a trooper had lived long ago).
- Keep any research simple enough and achievable.
- A limit, like a focus on one particular town or district, would be useful.
- Websites with advanced databases like NAA and AWM need some introduction and guidance when students first try to use them.
Footnote:
[1] There are many individual Light Horse Unit histories that provide extensive rolls listing all those who served, often with quite full details about them (eg more recently published in 2011 , the history of 4th LH Regiment 1914-19 called ‘Endure and Fight’ by Dr. David Holloway)