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ANZAC VOICE: A SOLDIER'S RECORDING LIVES ON AT THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL NEARLY A CENTURY AFTER HIS DEATH
ABC Regional News (Australia)
February 24, 2015 Tuesday 1:18 PM AEST
by Louise Maher
The voice of a young Anzac who was killed in France in 1916 lives on
in a recorded message he sent his family for Christmas.
Twenty-four-year-old Private Henry Miller Lanser recorded his letter
on a hand pressed shellac disc in late 1914 or early 1915 at the
Cairo studio of Armenian businessman Setrak Mechian.
He was training in Egypt with the First Australian Infantry Battalion
in the lead up to the Gallipoli landing.
Lanser's disc 'the only one of its kind'
Concept leader for the development of the new World War I galleries
at the Australian War Memorial (AWM), Nick Fletcher, said the private
wished his family "good luck" during the recording.
"He speaks very much as though he were in the room with the family,"
Mr Fletcher said.
"He speaks quite clearly, which is nice, but there's none of that
informality that you would get in a modern recording."
Private Lanser began his three-and-a-half minute recorded letter by
greeting his "dear" mother and father, and Ethel, Beattie and Basil.
"This is rather a novelty to come to Australia this way," he said.
"But here I am, can't see and can't be seen or welcomed in the usual
way with a hug or a kiss."
He spoke about the training which was getting "heavier every day"
and wished his family "a real, jolly good Christmas".
He signed off with "goodbye and good luck".
The Lanser disc is the only known recorded letter made by an Australian
soldier during WWI and is believed to be the only one of its kind in
the world.
A missing chunk indicates it may have been dropped at some time.
But the AWM has been able to copy the original recording from the
metal master disc, which had also been sent to Private Lanser's family.
Listening to a legendary figure in history
Private Lanser enlisted in Sydney in September 1914, just weeks after
the war was declared.
He was wounded twice at Gallipoli but made a full recovery, and was
eventually promoted to Second Lieutenant and sent to fight in France.
He was killed in action on the Western Front in November 1916, mowed
down by German gunfire in the mud of the Somme.
After Lanser's death, Mr Fletcher said, the sound of his recorded
voice would have been, for his loved ones, both a consolation and,
at times "a terrible thing to suffer through".
"You would think that as the years passed, particularly for his
parents, it must have become a more and more treasured possession,"
Mr Fletcher said.
"Through his voice we can get so close to [Henry] Miller.
"We feel like we know him because we've heard him speaking.
"To listen to the voice of a man who wasn't yet aware that he was
going to become an Anzac, one of the sort of legendary figures of
Australian history, is an astonishing thing, I think."
ABC Regional News (Australia)
February 24, 2015 Tuesday 1:18 PM AEST
by Louise Maher
The voice of a young Anzac who was killed in France in 1916 lives on
in a recorded message he sent his family for Christmas.
Twenty-four-year-old Private Henry Miller Lanser recorded his letter
on a hand pressed shellac disc in late 1914 or early 1915 at the
Cairo studio of Armenian businessman Setrak Mechian.
He was training in Egypt with the First Australian Infantry Battalion
in the lead up to the Gallipoli landing.
Lanser's disc 'the only one of its kind'
Concept leader for the development of the new World War I galleries
at the Australian War Memorial (AWM), Nick Fletcher, said the private
wished his family "good luck" during the recording.
"He speaks very much as though he were in the room with the family,"
Mr Fletcher said.
"He speaks quite clearly, which is nice, but there's none of that
informality that you would get in a modern recording."
Private Lanser began his three-and-a-half minute recorded letter by
greeting his "dear" mother and father, and Ethel, Beattie and Basil.
"This is rather a novelty to come to Australia this way," he said.
"But here I am, can't see and can't be seen or welcomed in the usual
way with a hug or a kiss."
He spoke about the training which was getting "heavier every day"
and wished his family "a real, jolly good Christmas".
He signed off with "goodbye and good luck".
The Lanser disc is the only known recorded letter made by an Australian
soldier during WWI and is believed to be the only one of its kind in
the world.
A missing chunk indicates it may have been dropped at some time.
But the AWM has been able to copy the original recording from the
metal master disc, which had also been sent to Private Lanser's family.
Listening to a legendary figure in history
Private Lanser enlisted in Sydney in September 1914, just weeks after
the war was declared.
He was wounded twice at Gallipoli but made a full recovery, and was
eventually promoted to Second Lieutenant and sent to fight in France.
He was killed in action on the Western Front in November 1916, mowed
down by German gunfire in the mud of the Somme.
After Lanser's death, Mr Fletcher said, the sound of his recorded
voice would have been, for his loved ones, both a consolation and,
at times "a terrible thing to suffer through".
"You would think that as the years passed, particularly for his
parents, it must have become a more and more treasured possession,"
Mr Fletcher said.
"Through his voice we can get so close to [Henry] Miller.
"We feel like we know him because we've heard him speaking.
"To listen to the voice of a man who wasn't yet aware that he was
going to become an Anzac, one of the sort of legendary figures of
Australian history, is an astonishing thing, I think."