In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

To mark Remembrance Day we have revisited an old post to bring you  some WWI/Archive themed links.

Miss Ripley’s WWI postcard album

I can’t say enough wonderful things about this postcard album from WWI. There are over 100 postcards which are gradually being posted to Flickr. As the postcards are gradually interpreted and transcribed more and more information is being discovered about Miss Ripley and her nursing experiences in France during WWI. Watch the mystery unfold.

Find out more about Remembrance Day in Australia

The Australian War Memorial website has a section devoted to Remembrance Day and its commemoration. It has links to online bugle calls of The Last Post and The Rouse as well as information about the significance of Red Poppies and other customs. The War Memorial has also digitised a selection of documents from its collection that relate to Remembrance Day.

Commemorate Anzacs from WWI

Visit the Mapping our Anzacs website to commemorate the troops who served in WWI. This is a great interactive site developed by the National Archives of Australia which allows you to view a service record, make an entry in the online digital scrapbook or build a tribute to a group of service personnel.

Discover information about Australian War Graves

To learn more about the commemoration of our war dead visit the sites of the Office of Australian War Graves or search the Debt of Honour Register from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This register records the 1.7million men and women from Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars and the locations where they are commemorated.

For the kids and grandkids

There are some great educational resources for children on the Australian War Memorial website including a guide on how to make your own poppy.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has produced a 10 minute clip called Glory Days – Football in Times of War . It is introduced by David Beckham and looks at the history of football players in the two world wars.

A history of soldier settlement in New South Wales, 1916-1939

‘A Land Fit for Heroes?’ is a new website dedicated to the memory of Soldier Settlement in NSW.

Over 300,000 soldiers returned to Australia from WWI. In all some 40,000 returned servicemen and women took up an offer of farming land, made possible by Soldier Settlement schemes in all the states of the Commonwealth; fewer than half remained on the land fifteen years later. NSW boasted the largest of Australia’s Soldier Settlement Schemes and the NSW State archives record the bitter trials and enormous achievements of Australia’s first soldier settlers.

A project, which has been generously funded by the Australian Research Council, Monash University and the University of New England, under an ARC linkage scheme, together with linkage partners State Records NSW and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, will be exploring the history of soldier settlement in NSW.