Thank you very much for coming to the National Museum this afternoon. First, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where we are gathering, the Ngunnawal people. Of course, today is a key date. Ninety years ago on a French hillside, it was the end of summer and for us it is the end of winter, part of the process of us starting to look at this event from perhaps a different perspective. As Sandy Forbes, who is here in the audience was saying, it is very good in Australia that we have people slugging it out in the pages of the press about history.
Here at the Museum we are used to have people slugging it out about history, and we think it is great. Well, of course, historians always argue about the right and wrong use of evidence, the nature of evidence and what counts as evidence. I think that you are in for an absolutely fascinating story today about some very special evidence. He really sees this session as more of a workshop than a talk. Peter will start. Thank you for your time. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Thanks very much for coming, especially on such a day. If you do have family connections with Mont St Quentin, please feel free to say so or indeed, as Gabrielle said, to contribute in any way you like. I say Mont St. Mont St Quentin was and still is a hill overlooking the River Somme in France, but in it was crucial to continuing the offensive that would result in Allied victory later that year.
The men I will be talking about today actually joined in the final attack on the Mont, which began at exactly 1.
The capture of the Mont has been hailed as the greatest Australian feat of arms. Actually, it was touted as a great success even before the battle ended. What I am attempting to do is to trace the effects on the families of four men who died because of the battle and to follow the survivors into the rest of their lives through 20th century Australia.
