Australian
Expeditionary Force. Broadmeadows. Breaking Camp prior to their departure for
the front. From a stereographic slide by Geo. Rose. Image courtesy Coburg
Historical Society.
In this image we can see that the
city of tents at Broadmeadows is being
dismantled. Those ‘crop circles’ you see in the centre of the image are
actually the spaces where the tents once were, trimmed with wooden tent pegs.
The men are sitting around on their bedrolls and belongings, finishing
their meals (I’m sure those are spuds in one of those pots), reading the
newspaper or having a chat. It must be later in the year now and at least one
man has a scarf wrapped around his ears and part of his head to keep out the
cold.
The camp doesn’t look as tidy
as in earlier images, but very soon it will be empty space and the men and their belongings will
be sailing for the war. Quite soon they will be surviving (or not) in the
trenches of the Gallipoli Peninsula, and what quite possibly seemed at the time
primitive conditions at Broadmeadows will transform in their minds into a month
or two (or more) spent in a luxury holiday camp.
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