June 2024 General Meeting - Saturday 22 June

                

Guest Speaker:
Anne Carroll, OAM

Join us in Gordon Library Meeting Room 1
at 2 pm on Saturday 22 June 2024

Note: this is one week later than our usual meeting date, as most of our General Meetings for 2024 have now shifted to the fourth Saturday of the month.

Turning the Pages with C.E.W. Bean

Bean escorting the Queen and Duke at the opening of the War Memorial in 1954

KHS member Anne Carroll reflects on aspects of the civil life and works of her grandfather, Charles Bean, editor and writer of the official WWI histories, and champion of the Australian War Memorial.

Interspersed with personal recollections of Charles Bean, a former resident of Ku-ring-gai, Anne will talk about his formative influences, how those influences were reflected in his military and civic writings and works, in the institutions and organisations he championed, and in the collection of papers and records he left to Australia.

On display will be a selection of panels forming part of an exhibition entitled 'Charles Bean: Life and Work', held at the UNSW Canberra in 2016. The exhibition was mounted in conjunction with a forum entitled 'Charles Bean’s Legacy', to mark the centenary of Bean conceiving the idea of the Australian War Memorial. The curator of the exhibition, Professor Peter Stanley, described the overall exhibition as presenting aspects of Bean’s character and his contribution to national and historical interpretation. A selection of these same panels was on display in Gordon Library during the 2017 National Trust Heritage Festival under the banner of "Having a Voice: CEW Bean as a 'Social Missionary' (2017)".

About Anne Carroll, OAM

Anne is the granddaughter of Charles Bean. She knew her grandfather well, and has taken an active interest in his life and work. In September 2023 Anne was invited to deliver the third C.E.W. Bean Memorial Lecture at Tuggeranong Homestead in Canberra, where the writing of the Official History of World War I was commenced.

Anne has served in various voluntary positions including with the Girl Guides Association of NSW and local sporting groups, and she also co-founded and became the president of FOKE (Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment) – a position she held for 18 years. In 2003 Anne was awarded the Centenary Medal and the Medal of the Order of Australia.

As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.

The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).

It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.

For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.