... The search for the missing by Vera and the enquiry bureau during the First World War led to the Australian Red Cross tracing services. The 32,000 enquiry bureau case files digitized by the Australian War Memorial form part of the bedrock of the war archive, and are an invaluable source for the thousands of descendants who continue to honour the missing today. ...
When WW1 brought Australians face to face with mass death, a Red Cross Information Bureau and post-war graves workers laboured to help families grieve for the missing.
The unprecedented death toll of the First World War generated a burden of grief. Particularly disturbing was the vast number of dead who were “missing” - their bodies never found.
This film and series of photo essays explores two unsung humanitarian responses to the crisis of the missing of World War 1 – the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and the post-war work of the Australian Graves Detachment and Graves Services. It tells of a remarkable group of men and women, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, who laboured to provide comfort and connection to grieving families in distant Australia.
