New South Wales has a resource sharing network comprising some 100 major public library services, based on local government areas.
Local history collections, as well as published works on war involvement, are excellent sources for researching individual service personnel who served from a given area. Family history resources may also be used to trace a serving person's life, and some libraries have recorded oral histories of old soldiers's reminiscences to "bring-to-life" the hardships of past active service.
Local newspapers invariably ran news stories associated with the dedication of local war memorials, as well as feature articles on those who served. Microfilmed newspapers represent an excellent source for tracing the development of a war from a community's view point - the initial patriotic involvement and farewells, followed by years of great sadness and sacrifice, to finally, the euphoria of hard earnt peace celebrations.
The State Library of New South Wales, with its many support services for public libraries, houses a vast and unique collection of war research materials in many formats. From its early beginnings in the first half of the 19th Century, the Library has collected extensively in all subject matter relating to the state of New South Wales. Books, early newspapers, war diaries, original letters and postcards, photographs, plans of war memorials in architectural journals, oral histories, and extensive family history records are available to the researcher keen to learn more of a local community's contribution in time of conflict.
A major work on Australia's war memorials was published in 1998:
AUTHOR: Inglis, K. S. (Kenneth Stanley), 1929-
TITLE: Sacred places : war memorials in the Australian landscape
K.S. Inglis assisted by Jan Brazier.
PUBLISHED: Carlton, Vic. : Miegunyah Press at Melbourne University Press, 1998.
ISBN/ISSN: 0522847528.
Visit the State Library of New South Wales website, check the catalogue and learn more of the above mentioned resources and services.
For public libraries, check the New South Wales Public Libraries Directory for locations, contact numbers, Web address, and hours of opening.
