An album of photographs, letters, postcards, cuttings and printed ephemera relating in part to the war service of 5551 R.L. Swan, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, and his brother 5579 J.C. Swan, Australian Army Pay Corps SWAN, 2nd Lieutenant Richard Lionel and John Cuthbert SWAN Australia,First World War,Militaria,Photography

Oblong quarto, [50] pages of contents, comprising approximately 180 items mounted neatly on thick card album leaves. Cloth stained and a little worn; a few leaves partially detached from their cloth hinges; the contents are in very good condition. Richard Swan enlisted in Melbourne on 12 August 1915. He was on active duty in France for the duration of the war, and embarked on HMAT A36 'Boonah' on 20 April 1919. John Swan enlisted in Melbourne on 5 July 1915; he spent most of his years overseas in London. The album appears to have been compiled by their mother Edith. The contents are quite a miscellany, and they include three vintage photographs of Gallipoli; 'Anzac Poems and the Landing at Gaba Tepe. By Returned Soldiers' (a 16-page booklet published in Melbourne in 1918); 25 photographs of military interest (including signed portraits); 17 snapshots of London; a 1917 Christmas card from the '3rd L H F. Amb. Palestine'; and a processed letter from the National Service Bureau, 1 November 1917, thanking a family member 'for volunteering your services in connection with the industrial trouble recently experienced' (the Australian General Strike of 1917) . Approximately 70 snapshots depict the Swans enjoying post-war life with family and friends. At the end of the album are eight letters or telegrams and a handful of newspaper cuttings relating to Richard Swan's return voyage to Australia (confusion reigned). Not last, but definitely not least is a duplicate typescript of 'The Day', the anti-war poem by Henry Chappell, first published on 22 August 1914.