Schoolkids enlisted to research diggers

Newcastle Museum is enlisting Hunter schoolkids to research servicemen and women to be part of its Field of Remembrance display on Anzac Day.
 
Schools are invited to research a service person with a local connection to add to the collaborative project, which commemorates the lives and wartime stories of the servicemen and women who have lived in Newcastle and the Hunter.

Each year the Field of Remembrance displays around 750 white crosses acknowledging the names of servicemen and women on the Museum's lawn.

"This project is a great way to engage students in a meaningful community project and I strongly encourage teachers to get their kids involved," Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
 
"They will help to build on this historical research project by finding service personnel and adding their stories to the Museum's Field of Remembrance.
 
"The kids will be able to see their service person's name on a cross each Anzac Day as well as access their research information on the Museum website, thereby helping future students remember those who served."
 
To take part, schools need just provide 100-200 words of text plus an image of the service person and class responsible for the work.
 
Submissions should be made here by 9 April and, for more information on the project, please email Bree Rooney at brooney@ncc.nsw.gov.au.
 
The Field of Remembrance will be on public display at Newcastle Museum on Wednesday 25 April from 10am - 4pm.
 
^{Picture caption: Victoria Cross recipient and member of the Museum's Field of Remembrance Captain Clarence Jeffries hailed from Wallsend and served with the 34th Battalion AIF.
 
Jeffries was killed in action at Passchendaele on 12 October 1917 aged 23.
 
He won the highest military honour for the most conspicuous bravery in attack when his company was held up by enemy machine-gun fire from concrete embankments.}