| Time: 5 weeks Level: 7-10 Key Learning Areas: Humanities Skills required: Low level IT skills, medium level research skills |
One day I was visiting a little church in the Yarra Valley and was amazed to see a magnificent stained-glass window at the front of this small, wooden building. The window was in memory of three brothers, two had died within days of each other during the First World War and the third had died during the Second World War. Wanting to know more I asked the people in the church to tell me the story of the three brothers, but no one could remember! Over the years the story behind the window had been lost and I wondered if it would be possible to rediscover the story of the three McLeod brothers.
Asking good questions
A good historian knows how to ask the right questions. Questions that lead to facts that help them build a story of life in the past. I had three questions I wanted to find answers to:
- what had happened to each of the brothers that had led to their deaths during two world wars
- why had no one remembered the story of the three brothers even with the window in place all those years and
- were there any living family members still alive today?
You might like to choose one or more of these questions or perhaps ask one of your own and use the power of the Internet to find some answers a hundred years after the first two brothers died.
In the course below there are links to sites that can help to fill in the details of the three brothers. There are also hints that you can click on if you feel you need some extra help. Feel free to use other resources that are found on the Internet in your search for the truth.
What the window tells us
The window bears the following inscription:
| In loving Leslie John McLeod Died 29th August 1915 | memory of Alexander John McLeod Died 16th August 1915 | my sons Othel Keith McLeod Died 9th September 1943 |
What can you “guess” about the brothers from this information? Think about how old soldiers tended to be and how far apart the two wars were.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. They maintain cemeteries, burial plots and memorials which are a lasting tribute to those who died in 154 countries across the world. The CWGC web site holds the Register records details of Commonwealth war dead so that graves or names on memorials can be located.
This can be a good place to start. Go to http://www.cwgc.org/ and enter the name of one of the brothers into the Casualty name search box.
What information do you now have that you didn’t have before? How will you record it? What leads do you now have that you could follow up?
Click for Hint 1
A soldier’s service number is very helpful if you need to look them up in other databases.
Click for Hint 2
You should now have the names of the brothers’ parents.
Click for Hint 3
You now know where they are buried. As this is usually near where they died and close to the time of death this gives us a clue as to where and when they were killed.
The National Archives of Australia
The National Archives of Australia (NAA) is a government project to help preserve our history in the form of text and images. There are millions of documents and images stored and accessible from the NAA website.
You could see if there is any information on the three brothers in the National Archives.
Go to the National Archives of Australia
Click for Hint
Having trouble finding where to search? Try here and use the surname mcleod and in the Category of records drop-down menu select the appropriate war.
If there are too many McLeods try the Refine this search result button and enter a first name or the Service number.
You can view a digital copy of the records held on that person by the NAA.
The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is Australia’s national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia. If you ever go to Canberra then this is well worth a visit.
The AWM houses an immense collection of items from Austrlia’s military history from one of the world’s largest collections of VC medals to G for George, a complete Avro Lancaster bomber that saw active service over Europe during the Second World War. The AWM also displays the names of every Australian soldier killed during war time on its Roll of Honour.
The AWM also houses many military records including army war diaries kept by each battalion with details of the mundane life of the soldier and the battles that they were involved in.
If you know in which battalion a soldier served, you can read entries for particular dates.
Click here to access the Australian War Memorial.
When I visited the Australian War Memorial, I placed a poppy next to the name of each of the three brothers. You can see photographs of each one here.
Roll of Honour Photographs (click to see)
Widening the search
So far we have discovered some facts about the three brothers, but the stories are dry and need fleshing out. We can find more about the type of life the three brothers led during those terrible days of war that can help us paint a clearer and more detailed picture. The following sites are just some of many that can help us fill in the details. You might even find one of the brothers hiding in some of them.
Australian Light Horse Association | Gallipoli & the ANZACs | Gallipoli: the first day
Sharing the story
Have you been able to help rediscover the story of the three brothers? It is sad to think that their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their parents has been largely lost in the years since the wars but hopefully you have helped to keep their memories alive.
How do you share your historical research? If it stays with you it will one day be lost again so, how can you help to keep the story of the three brothers alive and fresh? To complete your research, you need to present it in some way. You might like to:
- write about the story of the three brothers
- from their point of view
- from their mother’s point of view
- create a website on the three brothers
- write an article for the local paper
- prepare a multimedia presentation to give to your class
There are lots of ways to share the story – find one that suits you and bring your journey of discovery to a close.