Printed Tributes: First World War Memorial Notices in The Sydney Morning Herald

Abstract

This article examines wartime memorial notices in the Sydney Morning Herald to understand how these printed tributes reflect the evolving nature of remembrance during and after the First World War. By analysing over 3,000 notices published in 1915 and the later decades, the themes and sources of epitaphs reveal how authors shaped an image of the dead soldier for private mourning and public commemoration. Focusing on the epitaphs of those who fell on Gallipoli and later battles provides insight into how this practice was appropriated and developed as authors adapted to the unfamiliar conditions of distant death. These notices served as a form of eulogy and a focus for remembrance. They can be regarded as among the earliest forms of war memorials, in which writers could publicly express their private grief and their relationship to the dead in a public forum.