Battalion

Victor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915.

• When the first roll call was conducted on April 29, he was nowhere to be found.
• His record was amended to read “missing”, something guaranteed to send any parent into a blind panic.
• It was not until January 1916 that it was determined Farr had been killed in action in Turkey sometime between April 25 and 29.
• Read more:
  How Anzac Day came to occupy a sacred place in Australians' hearts

A heavy price

Almost half of the eligible white, male population of Australia volunteered and enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force between 1914 and 1918. Of the 416,000 who joined up, more than 330,000 men served overseas. Of these, more than 60,000 would never return. These are among the highest casualty figures for any combatant nation in the entire war.

• So the burden of bereavement fell on the shoulders of ageing parents.
• The impact of wartime bereavement on ageing parents was enormous.

Some ended up in mental hospitals

• She died unexpectedly at the age of 54 from heart failure on the first anniversary of her son’s death in France.
• As I outlined in my PhD thesis, many working class mothers and fathers joined the wards of public mental hospitals, such as Callan Park in Sydney.

• The psychiatric files I examined from several major mental hospitals showed evidence of delusions, fantasies and complete denial about their son’s death.
• Upper class families avoided the stigma of public mental hospitals, as they could afford to see private doctors, and have nursing assistance at home.

How mourning changed

• The scale of loss was as shocking as it was unprecedented, and permanently changed the culture of mourning practices in Australia.
• Funeral services and overt displays of mourning differed according to class.

• Neither was available to the bereaved in Australia during the Great War.
• Read more:
  Friday essay: images of mourning and the power of acknowledging grief

  Instead, and with so many who were bereaved, the notion of claiming loss in public was seen as tasteless and vulgar.

• The practice of wearing mourning black fell out of style.

Jen Roberts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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