The NSW State Library is currently exhibiting a selection of the Louis and Antoinette Thuillier Collection – Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt.
The exhibition showcases 74 photographs specially hand-printed in traditional darkrooms from the original glass-plate negatives. Containing almost 4,000 glass-plate negatives, The Thuillier collection covers many of the significant aspects of Australian involvement on the Western Front, from military life to the friendships and bonds formed between the soldiers and civilians. More than 800 of these negatives, featuring Australians, were generously donated to the Australian War Memorial by Mr Kerry Stokes AC in August 2012.
The small French village of Vignacourt was always behind the front lines. For much of the First World War it was a staging point, casualty clearing station and recreation area for troops of all nationalities moving up to and then back from the battlefields on the Somme.
Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt, tells the story of how one enterprising photographer took the opportunity of this passing traffic to establish a business taking portrait photographs. Captured on glass, printed into postcards and posted home, the photographs made by the Thuillier family enabled Australian soldiers to maintain a fragile link with loved ones in Australia.
Now showing at the State Library of NSW until 18th January, 2015
Admission: Free
More information: www.sl.nsw.gov.au
