FOR the first time in nearly a century, the lost portraits of more than 60 World War I soldiers will be unveiled for public viewing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Opening fittingly on Anzac Day, the Lost Diggers of Weston exhibition consists of photographs enlarged from glass plate negatives produced by Scottish migrant photographer Alexander Galloway in 1916.
For nearly 100 years, they laid forgotten until a builder unearthed more than 400 glass plate negatives during the renovation of a home in Weston in 2011. He handed the collection over to the Coalfields Heritage Group.
And for the past 14 months - in partnership with Towns with Heart - they have laboured to restore and digitise the portraits, working at the Edgeworth David Memorial Museum.
Towns with Heart's Bill Holland said the portraits were all exceptional but exhibition organisers were drawn to the portraits of World War I Diggers - taken just prior to their departure for Europe.
"The vast majority of these boys are from the Coalfields. It was incredible," he said.
"We thought these men went off to war, and a lot of them didn't return home and then they sat under a house. We decided people need to hear their stories."
The two groups have prepared biographies of all soldiers they have been able to identify. It was a painstaking process with the would-be historians working "hammer and tongs" to discover the lives of the Diggers.
"We wouldn't change the experience and impact that this has had on all of us," Mr Holland said.
"It's been absolutely phenomenal. So many people in their lifetime would never get the opportunity to do what we've done.
"We felt that we owe it to these people them, and their stories deserve to be told."
The group has prepared biographies on more than 20 of the 60 plus soldiers.
The exhibit, located at Kurri Kurri Anglican Church Hall, will run for just four days from April 25 to April 28.
As for the future of the Lost Diggers of Weston exhibition?
"We are hoping this becomes a traveling exhibition so people can read the stories of ordinary men who did something extraordinary with their lives," Mr Holland added.
"After all, the ode says lest we forget."