Author(s): Mark Butz

Canberra | Military | Australian

History under your feet: This is the story (so far) of one of the most surprising finds in the history of Canberra - a World War I trench system within sight of Australia's Parliament House. Through 1916-17 hundreds of Army officers and senior NCOs from across the country participated in the Trench Warfare and Bombing School, based at the Royal Military College - Duntroon. The instructional trench system which was dug next to the Molonglo River enabled practical demonstration of new technologies and 'scientific warfare' then in use at the Western Front. Participants engaged with complex trench designs, grenades, machine guns, bomb throwing machines, mortars and barbed wire, and then went on to train tens of thousands of troops in trench systems constructed at major Army camps in six States. This was a concerted attempt to prepare officers and troops for what they would encounter in this particularly deadly theatre of war, as well as providing reassurance to decision-makers and the greater public that the nation was up to the task. Trench systems across the country were the subject of detailed descriptions and enthusiastic pictorials in newspapers of the day, and some appeared in a 'preparedness' feature film. The Duntroon system came in for particular praise - being the last major system to be built, it was able to include notable new technological and design developments. In 1916 the Governor-General declared it to be 'the best system of trenches in Australia'. This publication marks the centenary of the Duntroon instructional trench system, describing how a long-forgotten place is becoming recognised as an important part of the heritage of the nation and its capital. The previously untold story charts this transition, from the initial detective work to locate it; through the documents which have explained its origins, use and fate; to archaeological excavations which have begun to reveal it, and plans for presenting and interpreting the place to the community of today.