I chose this topic for my project on the basis that it was not a subject I had previously studied or had much awareness of. This interesting moment in Australia’s political history is something I believe that the general public has no or very limited knowledge of. This project therefore is designed to simply educate the audiences of the Queensland Museum. In conjunction with the Queensland Museum, I have developed a website which will address the specific issue of the conscription debates which occurred in Queensland during the First World War. This website has defined and discussed the idea of conscription and plebiscites.
Structured into separate sections it discusses specific topics relating to the conscription plebiscites. These sections are titled “Political Warfare: The Conscription Debate in Queensland”, which provide background to topic of conscription on a national level. It discusses how as the war slowly progressed war weariness, events in Ireland, and the growing casualty rate impacted upon the rate of recruitment in Australia. The second section, titled, “Divided Nation,” analyses the personalities of Prime Minister William Morris Hughes and Queensland Labor Premier Thomas Joseph Ryan in their respective campaigns advocating and opposing conscription. Within these are located two subsections, titled, “The Anti’s Creed,” and “The Blood Vote.” These titles were selected from a range of pro and anti-conscription posters and provide an emotive depiction of the conflict caused by the question of conscription. Within these sections will be discussed events such as the Warwick Egg incident and the censorship of the Hansard newspaper. Both of these events should resonate strongly amongst the Queensland audience that the Queensland Museum is striving the appeal to.
My research for this topic has relied heavily on secondary and academic works. Despite this I have attempted to use a wide variety of images from conscription posters and newspaper cartoons to convey the imagery that was circulating at the time. The majority of these images I have been able to download digitally through the Queensland State Archives, and the National War Memorial. The newspaper cartoons on the other hand been gathered from digitized archives on the Trove website, specifically cartoons from the anti-conscriptionist Worker Newspaper. The wealth of references and the number of primary sources that mention and discuss the conscription debates at the time have made this subject difficult to research. The strength of this project I believe revolves around the imagery I have implemented to make this topic more emotive.The secondary materials I have gathered relates more the results of the conscription debates and allow a narrative of the events to be told more effectively. These sources include academic journal entries and scholarly books concerned with the issues of the conscription debates in Queensland and Australia generally. Murphy and Jauncey have proved crucial in shaping the general framework of the website and the content discussed within each respective section.
Despite the fact that the platform I have chosen for this subject is an educational website, I believe the narrative I have composed from the primary and secondary evidence could also be used in the form of a transcript for an educational video clip or in informative leaflets that accompany an exhibition.
Structured into separate sections it discusses specific topics relating to the conscription plebiscites. These sections are titled “Political Warfare: The Conscription Debate in Queensland”, which provide background to topic of conscription on a national level. It discusses how as the war slowly progressed war weariness, events in Ireland, and the growing casualty rate impacted upon the rate of recruitment in Australia. The second section, titled, “Divided Nation,” analyses the personalities of Prime Minister William Morris Hughes and Queensland Labor Premier Thomas Joseph Ryan in their respective campaigns advocating and opposing conscription. Within these are located two subsections, titled, “The Anti’s Creed,” and “The Blood Vote.” These titles were selected from a range of pro and anti-conscription posters and provide an emotive depiction of the conflict caused by the question of conscription. Within these sections will be discussed events such as the Warwick Egg incident and the censorship of the Hansard newspaper. Both of these events should resonate strongly amongst the Queensland audience that the Queensland Museum is striving the appeal to.
My research for this topic has relied heavily on secondary and academic works. Despite this I have attempted to use a wide variety of images from conscription posters and newspaper cartoons to convey the imagery that was circulating at the time. The majority of these images I have been able to download digitally through the Queensland State Archives, and the National War Memorial. The newspaper cartoons on the other hand been gathered from digitized archives on the Trove website, specifically cartoons from the anti-conscriptionist Worker Newspaper. The wealth of references and the number of primary sources that mention and discuss the conscription debates at the time have made this subject difficult to research. The strength of this project I believe revolves around the imagery I have implemented to make this topic more emotive.The secondary materials I have gathered relates more the results of the conscription debates and allow a narrative of the events to be told more effectively. These sources include academic journal entries and scholarly books concerned with the issues of the conscription debates in Queensland and Australia generally. Murphy and Jauncey have proved crucial in shaping the general framework of the website and the content discussed within each respective section.
Despite the fact that the platform I have chosen for this subject is an educational website, I believe the narrative I have composed from the primary and secondary evidence could also be used in the form of a transcript for an educational video clip or in informative leaflets that accompany an exhibition.