People collect items to remember a specific event or time in their life. In 1992 the family of Stoker William Sorell gave the Museum twenty-three items gathered during his war service during the First World War. Like most collections, Sorell's may have been culled over the years, as objects were no longer deemed important enough to keep. Sorell and his family retained material that is almost exclusively to do with the ship he worked on, and his family.

H.M.A.S. Melbourne.

William Sorell was a stoker on H.M.A.S. Melbourne during the First World War. He worked below decks, keeping the ship's engines fuelled with coal. Sorell's Navy Service records are unavailable and it is difficult to know exactly where he served. The ship was commissioned in 1913 and Sorell was probably on board in August 1914 when it was sent to the Pacific to capture Germany's territories.

Telegram home

Card from King and Queen.

Friendship card.

Sorell kept several Christmas cards, and they make an interesting case study. In 1914 Sorell received a card from King George and Queen Mary, wishing him well. In 1917 his mother sent him a card depicting a white sailor shaking hands with an Asian sailor. Japan had become Australia's ally, but there was still considerable racism in Australia. This card was produced in England to encourage inter-racial 'friendship' and a stronger alliance.

Best Country

Union Jack over us all.

H.M.A.S. Melbourne produced its own Christmas cards, which may illustrate how those on board the ship imagined themselves. The 1917 card asserts Australianness under the Southern Cross, 'but the Union Jack over us all'. The Navy was Australian, but part of a bigger, over-arching Empire. By 1918, the message was that, for the roaming patriot, 'his first, best country is at home'. Australian nationalism could now be more fully expressed because the war was over.

Sorell kept things which related to his work life, his public life. There is a series of photographs which show aspects of Sorell's daily life on board ship. The less official ones show men below decks near their engines, covered in coal dust, but relaxed and smoking pipes. We have no personal letters, nothing which shows us how Sorell spent his leisure time or where he went on shore leave. On the whole, his collection reflects the public aspects of his naval service, not his personal experiences of the war. We do not have any direct evidence of how Sorell felt about his war service, or how he made sense of it after it was over.

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