Australia’s Home Front: 1939-1945

Family History ACT is partnering with the Canberra Museum and Gallery to present two talks to accompany the museum’s exhibition Australia’s Home Front: 1939 – 1945.

When: Thursday 4 December. 10.30am

Where: Canberra Museum and Gallery, Corner London Circuit and Civic Square, Canberra City.

Cost: 12.00 general admission. Bookings:  Canberra Museum and Gallery.

Discover Australia’s wartime past through personal and historical perspectives. Join Jo Callaghan and Prof. Peter Stanley, as they share their expert knowledge of military and historical records to bring Australia's wartime experience to life.

Program:

10.30am Stories of Australians at War with Jo Callaghan. In this presentation Jo will share stories of individuals who have served, using their service records to also demonstrate how others can combine family history with military records to learn more about their own families.

11.10am – Morning tea

11.30am - The Texture of Life in Australia, 1939-45 with Professor Peter Stanley, leading military social historian and Patron of Family History ACT, Peter looks at the way the war impinged on the lives of Australian civilians, from “business as usual” in 1939, through the drama of 1942 to the hopes for a better world in 1945.

This special program is a chance to explore how war shaped the lives of ordinary Australians and to gain new skills for uncovering your own family’s wartime stories. While at the Gallery, visit the Australia’s Home Front: 1939-1945 exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the conflict. This exhibition presents some of the fascinating stories associated with this period in Canberra, and across Australia, through objects collected by Canberra historian, Rohan Goyne.