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1000801

Title
Verdi George Schwinghammer First World War diary, including Tom Cross drawings, 6 May 1916-26 September 1919
Creator
Verdi G. Schwinghammer
Call number
MLMSS 9812
Level of description
item
Date

1916-1919, printed ca 1940
Type of material
Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Drawings
Reference code
1000801
Physical Description
0.03 metres of textual material (1 volume)
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Verdi George Schwinghammer (d. 1965) was from Grafton and enlisted into the AIF in 1916 and was in the 42nd Battalion serving in Europe until his discharge in September 1919. It appears several versions of the diary were written and the Australian War Memorial, the State Library of NSW and the State Library of Queensland all hold other copies.

This version differs from other versions held by SLNSW and other institutions as it contains 20 original drawings and watercolours by T. Cross. It is likely that T. Cross was a photographer, cartoonist, and illustrator from Linville, in the Brisbane Valley.

Reference:
Library correspondence file, and Australian War Memorial http://awm.gov.au/ (accessed 6 June 2016)
Scope and Content
The diary by Verdi George Schwinghammer with original watercolours by T. Cross and discharge certificate was written after his return to Australia based on the diaries he kept while serving. Subjects include: training and travelling, combat, hospital treatment, and leave in Paris and London.

Interspersed throughout the diary, from frontispiece onwards, are 20 drawings in crayons, pen, and ink (possibly a couple are prints). Most drawings are titled, and dated between 3 June 1916 and September 1918, with 8 works between April and September 1918. Some drawings are cut from larger pieces of paper and are various sizes, with 9.5 x 11.0 cm the smallest, and several 15 x 23 cm. Drawings depict villages in France and Belgium, soldiers marching through countryside, various ruins of buildings, rural workers in field, soldiers camp.

The title page of the diary has Verdi Schwinghammer’s printed Honourable Discharge Form tipped in, and the following pages contain a transcription of a piece from The Daily Examiner, Grafton, dated 6 May 1936, and a printed acknowledgement of receipt of diary by the Australian War Memorial, dated 7 September 1936.

Loose with journal are two separate documents:
Letter from J. L. Treloar (Director, Australia War Memorial) thanking Schwinghammer for donation of coffee pot.
Typescript obituary of Schwinghammer, dated 27 October 1965.
System of arrangement
Drawings are not arranged chronologically in the diary.
Copying Conditions
Copyright status:: In copyright
Research & study copies allowed: Author has been deceased for more than 50 years
General note

Another version of this diary was acquired by the Library in 1968 (MLMSS 1683). Other versions are also held by the Australian War Memorial and the State Library of Queensland.
Signatures / Inscriptions

Front free endpaper: signed by the author top right; signed “(Mrs) G. A. Taylor / 30 Princess St / Taringa” bottom left corner.
Most drawings signed “T.Cross”, some initialled “T.C.”
Attributions / conjectures

The Australian War Memorial holds information about a soldier artist named Tom Cross, as well as six artworks by this Tom Cross. His cartoons and drawings depicted life aboard the troop ships, training in Egypt and scenes of the battlefields of France and Belgium. Some were reproduced as postcards and others were published in Punch magazine. The Australian War Memorial holds examples of his work as a cartoonist in the war.
Creator/Author/Artist
Cross, T.
Subject
World War, 1914-1918--Personal narratives, Australian.
Australia. Army. Battalion, 42nd.
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