Mar2013_CENOTAPH_The Empty Tomb

Robert Keane

During April-August 2014, I propose to present performances of a multi-media piece to commemorate the centenary of the 1914-1918 War, to be called:  CENOTAPH (from the Greek for “empty tomb”).

Performances are planned for various RSL branches in the region, and the Redcliffe Cultural Centre.

CENOTAPH will feature local actors, singers, music, film, poetry, songs from 1914-1918 and especially letters, sourced from WWI participants of the Moreton Bay Region and other areas.

It will not be just about the ANZACs.  Important as that tragic event at ANZAC Cove in 1915 was, and permanently burned into our hearts and psyches as it should be, the “Great” War was played out on a much vaster stage, and has an almost limitless scope for commentary, as well as respectful commemoration.

But neither is it about the epic battles.  Much has already been written, filmed and broadcast about these massive conflicts, and, doubtless, during the period of 2014-2018, there will be many extensive retrospectives.

My principal concern is with the personal aspects – battles of conscience, divided loyalties, separation from home, loss of life of friends or family members, the psychological shock and a closer exploration of what the poet Wilfred Owen called “the pity of War.”

It will also examine political issues of strikes, labour unrest and conscription which so divided the Australian states, branding Queensland, in particular, as “the disloyal state.”

With the help of regional Media and Political figures, I wish to contact descendants of WWI soldiers from the Moreton Bay Regional area to ask for their assistance in providing access to letters, documents, or family anecdotes, in order to build up a more personal and regional consciousness of what it meant to have a family member away at that terrible Great War.

With these materials, plus a solid base of in-depth research from the collections of WWI letters held in the Australian War Memorial, The State Library of Queensland and the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, as well as Australian newspapers, songs and poetry of the period from the State Library of Queensland and National Library of Australia collections, and original film footage from the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, I am confident that CENOTAPH can form a significant part of local WWI centenary activities and reveal yet another, and very unique, aspect of local history.

Dr Robert Keane, PhD (Lond.), MMus (Lond.), 

ADipMus (QCM), AMusA.

robertkeane@optusnet.com.au

07 3265 2563   

 

The Regional Arts Development Fund is a Queensland Government and Moreton Bay Regional Council partnership to support local arts and culture.