THEY are 400 priceless artifacts providing a unique insight into Tamworth society and its brave servicemen during the Great War.
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And now the series of glass cinema slides rediscovered after 90 years will play an important part in next year’s Anzac Day commemorations.
Several local schools are helping the Tamworth Film and Sound Archive research the lives of the men – and in some cases their families – featured on the slides.
The soldiers’ stories will then feature in a documentary to be shown around Anzac Day 2015 at the Tamworth Regional Council.
Archive volunteer Miranda Heckenberg said the veritable treasure trove of slides contained a wealth of information about Tamworth during the war.
“I suppose the interesting thing for me is the way that objects and images from the past tell stories in vivid ways,” she said.
“It’s not the kind of dry history of old documents. Diaries and things are extraordinary re- sources, but these slides give a unique snapshot of an entire local area during the war.”
The slides, which fortuitously have the corresponding names of the servicemen written on them, were originally shown at the Ison’s Open Air Picture Show in Brisbane St.
Archive president Ian Austin said after the war they were given to the newly formed Returned and Services League.
“When they sold the club and they were renovating it they found this tin box with these slides,” he said. “So they sat under there for 90-odd years through floods and whatever.”
Mr Austin said it was apparent that many descendants of the men still lived in Tamworth today and the archive was keen to get them involved in the project.
“What we’re doing with them now is working through the schools to research and find the grandchildren or great-children to do a project on what happened to the person or their family,” he said.
