Lemnos and Gallipoli Revealed – Jim Claven

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects on our gallery floor.

In this episode, we explore the story behind a Norwegian language certificate that sheds light on the lengths some prisoners of war went to to escape captivity during the Second World War.

The certificate belonged to Squadron Leader James Catanach, and for fans of the movie ‘The Great Escape’, this episode is sure to interest you.

Music: Across the Line - Lone Canyon

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects on our gallery floor.

Just before Anzac Day in 1971, Melburnians woke to the news that the Shrine had been graffitied. Officials were understandably furious, but the identities of those involved remained a mystery.

Shrine curator Kate Spinks-Colas joins us on this episode to unpack what happened, and why. 

Music:  Across the Line - Lone Canyon

Image: Reproduced courtesy State Library Victoria 

Whether you're a history lover or someone looking to learn more about Australia's wartime history, this podcast is for you. 

Bep-Rie Gomperts was two years old when the war started in the Netherlands. It soon became clear that she and her family needed to go into hiding for their safety. 

Bep spent the next several years moving from family to family and was seperated from her mother just shy of her sixth birthday. 

Listen as Bep recalls her childhood with several different families and what life was like amid the uncertainty.  

Music: If I Were You, Alsever Lake

Silke Hesse was among more than 12,000 people who, at the peak of Second World War, were held in internment camps across Australia.

She was almost six years old when she first stepped foot in Tatura internment camp. 

Listen as she shares her story experiences of internment.

Music: If I Were You, Alsever Lake

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects on our gallery floor.

In this episode, we explore a poster on display in the Vietnam War section of our Galleries.

The poster was originally made and distributed in the United States as a protest piece. However, the one hanging at the Shrine has been re-designed and adopts a whole different meaning despite its similarities to the original. Join the Shrine's Collections coordinator Toby Miller as he unpacks this story. 

Music: Across the Line - Lone Canyon

Garry Fabian was just eight years old when he and his parents were interned at Theresienstadt - a ghetto, concentration camp and transit camp used by Nazi Germany to house Jews from across Eastern Europe. 

Of the 15,000 children who went through the camp, only 150 survived. 

Listen as Garry shares his story and reflections on his childhood.

Music: If I Were You, Alsever Lake

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects on our gallery floor.

In this episode, we get festive by exploring two Christmas tins that were sent to soldiers in the Boer War and the First World War. 

Join Exhibitions and Grants Coordinator at the Shrine Katrina Nicolson as she uncovers the contents of these boxes and how they were sent to the troops. 

Music: Across the Line - Lone Canyon

Leading Aircraftman Vern Roberts was a fitter with No. 24 Squadron RAAF and was posted to Morotai during the Second World War. 

On the 9^th of September, 1945, Vern witnessed the Australian commander-in-chief Field Marshal Thomas Blamey accept the formal surrender of the 2nd Japanese Army. 

Now 99, Vern has an impeccable memory and shares with Shrine curator Neil Sharkey his memories of service and life at Morotai.

Music: Kevin Grahams, Together

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects in the Shrine's Galleries.

In this episode, award-winning historian, storyteller and biographer Ross McMullin shares the story of Australia’s first official war artist, William Henry Dyson.

Will Dyson created hundreds of drawings of Australia’s soldiers at the Western Front, and managed to capture something no other artist could.

Ross references several of Dyson's paintings and lithographs, which can be viewed here.

This episode also discusses the below artwork, Welcome back to the Somme, in detail.