Item #126509 An original photograph of a large group of people, including Australian officers in uniform, at a formal dinner for General Sir William Birdwood, held at Geelong on 24 March 1920. Field Marshal William Riddell BIRDWOOD, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes.
An original photograph of a large group of people, including Australian officers in uniform, at a formal dinner for General Sir William Birdwood, held at Geelong on 24 March 1920
[BIRDWOOD, Field Marshal William Riddell, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes]

An original photograph of a large group of people, including Australian officers in uniform, at a formal dinner for General Sir William Birdwood, held at Geelong on 24 March 1920

[Melbourne?], Oxford Studios, [1920].

A large vintage gelatin silver photograph (187 × 309 mm), on the printed mount of Oxford Studios; 'General Birdwood's visit to Geelong in 1920' is written in ink on the verso.

Mount slightly marked, a little worn and bumped at the corners, with a crack to the left-hand border; the photograph is lightly foxed; overall, in excellent condition.

The Melbourne 'Argus' (Wednesday 24 March 1920) contains an account of the visit. The final paragraph notes that 'In the City Hall tonight the mayor (Alderman H. Hitchcock) gave a dinner in honour of the General. There were present as guests 150 returned AIF officers who had enlisted from or returned to Geelong and also leading members of Parliament and citizens. General Birdwood stayed the night at the residence of the mayor and mayoress, and leaves for Colac tomorrow morning'. 'The Soul of Anzac' is spelled out in lights in the background of the large dining room. William Riddell Birdwood (1865-1951, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes, field marshal), was, in General Sir Ian Hamilton's 'memorable phrase ... "the soul of Anzac"'. 'Robert Rhodes James states that [Birdwood's] popularity "was something of a newspaper myth" ... Charles Bean, who saw Birdwood at close quarters throughout the war, does not confirm this view; nor does Birdwood's enthusiastic reception by Australians in London on Anzac Day 1916, nor his triumphal progress around Australia and New Zealand in 1920. Whatever the extent of his popularity, there is no doubt of the respect in which he was held for his courage and his example' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography').

Item #126509

Price (AUD): $750.00