In May 1918, trustees from The Mitchell Library in Sydney invited Australian soldiers to have their portraits taken at Crown Studios on the corner of George and Market streets.
Relatives of soldiers already abroad were also invited to send existing photos of their loved ones for free copy at Crown.
Due to a fire in December 1918 the project was left unfinished. Now the State Library of NSW will present 230 never-seen images from its 1600-strong Crown Studio collection in an exhibition at the Library and online via Flickr Commons.
Name, birthday, and enlistment were recorded on the back of each portrait by either the librarian or donating relative, but problems with the century-old handwriting have made it difficult to establish exact details.
In the vein of the original project, the Library is offering a free print or digital file to living relatives who can identify family amongst the hundreds of portraits on Flickr.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Library Curator Louise Tegart said that any information or story provided will be added to the series:
"We want family members to come forward and tell us who these people are and what happened to them (if and) when they came home."
Portraits of War: The Crown Studios Project is showing for free at the State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney until 21 September. You can see the digital collection at flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw
Reginald Gardiner. Photo courtesy State Library of NSW.
Robert Bromham. Photo courtesy State Library of NSW.
William Joseph Langworthy. Photo courtesy State Library of NSW.