21 July to 2 September 2018
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. 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.
The exhibition showcases a selection of the photographs as handmade traditional darkroom prints and draws on the Memorial’s own collections to tell the story of these men in their own voices.
Image: Band of the 2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion, November 1918. In the middle row, third from right is Private Stanley Walter George Thorpe of Norward, South Australia. Courtesy Kerry Stokes Collection, the Louis and Antoinette Thuillier Collection. AWM P10550.003