2DRL/0020 - Collection relating to Adlard, John Evan (Lieutenant, b.1888 -d.1980)

ID number
2DRL/0020
Title
Collection relating to Adlard, John Evan (Lieutenant, b.1888 -d.1980)
Makers
  • Adlard, Charles "Chas";
  • Adlard, John Evan;
Object types
  • Diary;
  • Typescript;
Places made
  • Australia;
  • North Africa: Egypt;
  • United Kingdom: England;
  • Western Front;
Date made
1915-1918; 1930; 2003
Measurement
1 wallet: 3 cm
Access
Open
Copying provision
Copying permitted subject to physical condition
Collection
Private Record
Description
Collection relating to the service of 4352 Lieutenant John Evan Adlard, 1 Division Artillery, AIF, Australia, at sea, Egypt, Gallipoli, Malta, England, France, Western Front. Collection consists of three original diaries kept by Lieutenant Adlard from February 1915 until March 1918. Diaries are roughly bound together and enclosed within black cardboard casing. This collection also includes typescript extracts from Adlard's diaries, made in 1929 at Australia House, London, at the request of the Australian War Memorial, Melbourne, and a typescript copy of the complete diaries, made by Adlard's son Charles 'Chas' Adlard in 2003. This typescript by Charles Adlard includes a short story titled "Life on a Shoestring" which describes John Evan Adlard earlier life, and another short story titled "Bites of Fright" by Chas Adlard.
Summary
In a letter which he wrote to the official secretary at Australia House, in September 1929 regarding his original diary, Lieutenant John Evan Adlard said: "It is the diary of a young man, but has the merit at least in that I wrote it day by day throughout my experiences; and had the good fortune to keep it intact to the end."

In a later letter which accompanied the original diary upon their formal presentation to the AWM, Adlard wrote: "Regrets in parting [with the diary], but my love of Australia impels me to do this small thing now that it appears to be really of some interest in the archives of the Australian people." (3 April 1913)

Lieutenant John Adlard's son, Chas Adlard, has made the contents of the diary available online at http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~cadlard/shoestring.htm
Permalink: http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/2DRL/0020

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