One of Perth’s outstanding feminist writers has directed a 10-minute documentary exploring the ‘forgotten stories’ of Australian girls residing via World War I.
Private Life of a War Memorial by Dawn Farnham follows three generations of ladies who lived in Anzac Cottage in Mt Hawthorn, the still-standing ‘practical memorial’ constructed to commemorate troopers who misplaced their lives at Gallipoli.
The movie can be screening at Luna Palace Cinema on the closing night time of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, July 16.
The cottage on Kalgoorlie Street was constructed by volunteers in 1916 and used to deal with returned wounded soldier Private John Porter.
“When the casualty number (at Gallipoli) started to come back, this group of people were really horrified and needed to mark the occasion,” Farnham mentioned.
“People didn’t want to build a stone cross but an actual living monument that would benefit a living returned and wounded soldier. That’s where the building of the cottage is interesting.”
WWI tales usually centre on male troopers and the battlefield however Farnham needed to take a unique method and create a movie in regards to the cottage via a feminist lens.
“I wanted to take forgotten war stories of women in history and bring them to the centre and recognise that whatever men have done, women have done,” she mentioned.
“Wherever men have been, women have been. It’s a story about what women have done and how women have picked up the pieces.
“Although this is a war memorial theoretically for men, we know women are the ones that have to cope with what comes back (from the war).”
One of three girls the documentary follows is Private Porter’s granddaughter Anne Chapple, who obtained a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2022 for her service to group historical past.
“Anne has a lot of heart and emotion invested in this place, so really trying to tell this story from her point of view was very central,” Farnham mentioned.
The documentary was backed by the City of Vincent and obtained a $7000 donation, a documentary grasp class and mentoring in the course of the movie’s improvement and manufacturing.
“We’re very grateful for the City of Vincent for backing it,” Farnham mentioned.
“I urge people to come along and see what is an extraordinary story told through a very different vein.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
