PLAQUE NO. 75 ... Spanish Civil War View attachment 2911 Spanish Civil War Plaque is located on the shores of Lake Burly-Griffin, Canberra behind the Hilton Hotel. The memorial commemorates all those Australians who gave support to the armies involved in the Spanish Civil War. The plaque was unveiled by the last living Australian survivor of the war in 1993. Text from Plaque This monument honours the seventy Australian men and women who went to Spain during the Spanish civil war of 1936-39 to defend the cause of the Spanish republic. A republican government was elected in Spain in 1931 and a democratic constitution promulgated. In July 1936 a group of generals led by Francisco Franco staged a military uprising against the popular front government precipitating a bloody civil war. When the conflict ended in 1939 general Franco's nationalist forces controlled the country. During the civil war some 50,000 supporters from fifty-three countries went to Spain to defend the republic. For them the Spanish civil war represented the first battle in a larger war against fascism. The Australian writer Nettie Palmer who was in Barcelona when the uprising occurred said of those who supported the Spanish republic - though they were few in number and not powerful and seemed often to be shouting against the wind theirs was truly a brave chapter in Australia's history. This monument erected by the Australians in Spain memorial committee was dedicated on 11 December 1993 by Lloyd Edmond's, international brigade veteran.
There were all kinds in Spain during that conflict. Including a number of NZers. And I was interested to discover that the NZ Trade Union History Project is running a seminar quite soon about NZers fightiing / helping in Spain during that time. Trade Union History Project Seminar: "New Zealand Connections to the Spanish Civil War" Friday 3rd November 2006 - evening Saturday 4th November 2006 - daytime, with evening film screening Location: central Wellington. Exact venue to be advised. The seminar is being run with the support of Victoria University of Wellingtons School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, and of the New Zealand Film Archive . The New Zealand Film Archive will also be running a concurrent festival of films about the Spanish Civil War. Topics which it is intended will be discussed at the seminar: - New Zealanders who fought in Spain, including a paper discussing Tom Spiller. - The role of New Zealand noncombatants, such as doctors and nurses. - New Zealand Foreign Policy in the 1930s. - The Response of the Catholic Church in New Zealand to the Spanish Civil War. - The New Zealand Communist Party and the Spanish Civil War. - New Zealand Literature about the Spanish Civil War, and New Zealand Literature which draws upon, or utilises, the Spanish Civil War. Kiwimac
And on a lighter note, please (if you will) download the following PDF. I found it gently amusing. www.europe.canterbury.ac.nz/news/NZESC_michael_oshaughnessy.pdf Kiwimac
And on a lighter note, please (if you will) download the following PDF. I found it gently amusing. www.europe.canterbury.ac.nz/news/NZESC_michael_oshaughnessy.pdf Kiwimac Nice. I particularily liked: Joseph was clearly no ordinary New Zealander. His was a life full of diversity, richly lived experiences and unexpected twists. Is it really that sedate over there... tempting. Cheers, Adam.
