004 The Database

The database is in MS Access.  It has approximately 4,600 records.  That sounds a lot, and it is.  It has taken several years to get to its present stage.  I designed the database myself.  It has grown like Topsy.  Besides containing every phrase, sentence, and/or paragraph of Thomas's letters (categorised by subject and "theme") it also has many entries to do with wider research - of the family, of the war, book or 'Net references, of places where Thomas lived - sometimes of only passing relevance or possible use in the book(s).  Any hard copy material of any significance is entered to the database, has its own ID number, and is then filed away in ID number order.

Each database record has fields for: who; what; when; how; where; why;  theme; document reference.  This is totally flexible and caters for any piece of information I (or anybody) is likely to want to include.

Also, I have added a facility within MS Access (the same file) which enables input of the text & pictures for the book, paragraph by paragraph.  And I have created many queries and reports for accessing and/or printing reports giving all or part of the book (by paragraph range).  Totally flexible.  So why is progress in finishing off the book so bogged down?

SUBJECT LISTING FROM THE DATABASE

Here's the first two and last two pages of a report from the database --

what -

6th (Training?) Division, new, formed
Ablutions etc
Ablutions etc - English/Euorpeans don't bath much
About 20 to leave and go to Weymouth
Absenteeism, level of
Abstinence earns respect
Accompanies Thomas on a walk in the countryside
Account of umbrella trial
activities
Activities - dodging work, etc
activities - shaving
activities, domestic type chores need doing
activities, leisure
Admire Australian attitude towards the war
Advertising Australia
Advice to May
Advice to May - financial
Advice to May - working & worrying too much
Advice to May re health etc
Advice to May re Snodgrass
Advice to May re Snodgrass - conditions of the
agreement are generous so do not be soft on him
Advice to May re Snodgrass - get legal advice re
agreement
Advice to May re Snodgrass - he should work hard at
farm work seeing as he has avoided the duty to enlist
Advice to May re Snodgrass - ignore his legal
threat/suggestion, rely on the agreement
Advice to May re Snodgrass, if he breaks any part of the
agreement
Advice to May re the children
Advice to May re the farm
Advice to May re the farm - bore probably needs
attention
Advice to May re the farm - burning mallee shoots
Advice to May re the farm - burning stubble
Advice to May re the farm - crucial to maximise own
wheat crop even though labour shortage exists
Advice to May re the farm - diagram
Advice to May re the farm - get your brother Hack to
help out
Advice to May re the farm - Hansen agreement
Advice to May re the farm - he not looking for profit, just
maintain things
Advice to May re the farm - mice
advice to May re the farm - money from sale would
create opportunities
Advice to May re the farm - plant trees
Advice to May re the farm - reasons for sale of farm
Advice to May re the farm - sale of farm has to be at a
good price
Advice to May re the farm - sell it if anyone wants to buy
it
Advice to May re the farm - sow as much wheat as
possible
Advice to May re the farm + affirmation
Advice to May re the farm, wheat from harvest should
be held in store because prices will rise due to the war
Advice to May re the farm/cropping depends on whether
Snodgrass is still there
Advice to May re using Power of Attorney
Advice to May re what to include in her letters.
advice to May re what, and what not, to say about
Thomas
Advice/comment to May re the farm
Advice/encouragement to May
Advice/encouragement to May re the farm
Advises shrewdness rather than bravery for survival in
the trenches
Aeroplanes - English vs German
Aeroplanes described
Agreement on role/duties of NCO's
Agreement with Hansen (legal doc)
Agreement with Snodgrass (legal document)
Alcohol
Aliied guards of German POW's now under orders to go
to the front.
Aloofness from rest of men
Ambition helps console/drive him
Ambition lost, he fears
ambition still a commission
AMC course to last 8 days, then who knows?
AMC lecture cancelled (Matron too busy)
AMC status brings welcome upgrade in camp
experience/conditions
AMC status relieves him of guard & other duty
AMC training - Matron has them bluffed
AMC training - reaction of the men to
AMC training begins
AMC training described
Anniversary of departure soon
Anticipation of future good things
Appearance of
Application for a Commission - risk, pros & cons
Application for a Commission, states intention to make
Application for discharge in England made
Application for discharge in England made - implications
Archival sources - Boer War
archival sources - WW1
Arms manufacture - British
army "business", absent for a week while Thomas in
hospital
Army "business", criticises
Army decision to allow Thomas to return to Australia
explained
Army DID make use of, surely (so what is Thomas's
thought process here?)
Army discipline - relationship with Lt Joy (bomb
instruction officer)
army discipline - Thomas "demoted" for breach of
instructions (failure to submit routine written report)
army discipline - Thomas imposes on trouble-maker
Army discipline suppresses his own will
Army policy re returning soldiers to Australia
army service, length of, etc
Arrive at
Arrive at Hurdcott on 20 July 1917
Arrives at (put into a tent with all strangers)
As I write
Asks May how she is managing
Asks May to get photos taken of the kids
Asks May to pray for him.
Asks May to send his thanks to Mr Thomas of Durban
Asks May to tell him if she is tired of his adulatory
phrases.
Asks re big photo of him
Asks to be remembered to friends and family
Assessment of himself
Assessment of himself as farmer
Assessment of, after their compulsory haircut and shave.
Assures May of his fidelity and attention
Atmosphere/background/colour
Attitude - figuring out ways of getting home again
attitude - patriotism subjugated, this is the only chance
of return home
attitude - to entertainers
attitude - to entertainers (reminds Thomas of May and
home)
Page 1 of 15
25 May, 2011
what
Attitude compared with Boer War
Attitude pessimistic
Attitude positive/philosophical
Attitude positive/philosophical/hopeful
Attitude re Germans in Australia voting on conscription
Attitude to African natives
Attitude to army discipline
Attitude to army discipline etc - pride dealt a blow as
private
Attitude to army lectures/orders
Attitude to being at
Attitude to Belgians
Attitude to censors reading his letters to May
Attitude to chances of avoiding France
Attitude to chances of return home
Attitude to chances of return home - first mention of
Weymouth
Attitude to chances of return home - to go to Weymouth
in two days time
Attitude to christianity.
Attitude to civilian men who have not enlisted.
Attitude to conscription.
attitude to courage of nations involved in the war
attitude to death
Attitude to discipline etc
Attitude to England
Attitude to England compared with Australia
Attitude to English & Australians, hostile
Attitude to English upper class
Attitude to English women
Attitude to enlisting
Attitude to enlisting - origional feeling/reason to do so still
with him
Attitude to excess
Attitude to farm if not sold
Attitude to farm life wheat etc
Attitude to French/France
Attitude to future
Attitude to German neighbours.
Attitude to Germans in Australia who have not enlisted
Attitude to Germany
Attitude to Germany U-boats
Attitude to his situation
Attitude to his situation - a "self-putdown"? &/or
signifying a change in his perception of self and his
situation? IMP?
attitude to his situation - could make a go of it if May
were here with him
Attitude to his situation - leaving Hurdcott
Attitude to his situation - leaving UK etc
Attitude to his situation - pleased at own decision not to
have operation
Attitude to his situation - predicts will be home for
Christmas dinner
Attitude to his situation - professes to not feel guilty in
going home to Australia
Attitude to his situation - raring to go, after spell at
Tidworth & in Fovant hospital
attitude to his situation - reasons why he should NOT
stay
attitude to his situation - reasons why he should NOT
stay, sop to conscience
Attitude to his situation - reasons why he should stay
Attitude to his situation - states preference for France
but knows that is unlikely
Attitude to his situation - still uncertain
Attitude to his situation - strategy/actions were so
Thomas could get home sooner to May & kids
Attitude to his situation - works the system
Attitude to home life, etc
Attitude to home life, etc Attitude to his age.
Attitude to horses
Attitude to hospital
Attitude to Irish
attitude to legal protection/agreements
Attitude to marrying May
Attitude to May's letterwriting
attitude to meeting up with
Attitude to money.
attitude to news that May helped by neighbours
Attitude to officers
Attitude to process of getting back home
Attitude to process of getting back home - settled and
"in control"
Attitude to process of getting back home - undecided
but "in control"
Attitude to prostitutes
Attitude to rank & file
attitude to rumours
Attitude to smoking
Attitude to the sea.
attitude to theft and profiteering
Attitude to Thomas K
Attitude to Thomas K & vice versa
Attitude to time-wasting
Attitude to troops in France
Attitude to unmarried troops' situation
Attitude to VD
Attitude to war - determined
Attitude to war - did not matter who started it
Attitude to war.
Attitude to wheat growing
Attitude to women
Attitude to work
Attitude to work dodging &seeking warmth
Attitude to, by British
Attitude towards
Attitude towards coalminers, wharf-lumpers, etc
Attitude/response to May's letterwriting
Austerity measures
Austerity measures - Government backdown
Australia affirmed
australian troops affirmed by
Australian, proud of being
Ballarat (travel in)
ballarat sinking - Thos sends newspaper article to May
Ballarat's progress
Ballarat's seaworthiness -
Band/music
Battalion Orderly Sergeant today
Battalion parade - Major falls on his bum due to icy
ground
Been in UK 15 months, seen no fighting, just lucky
Befriends Sergt Major of Mons (Ware)
Behaviour
Behaviour - emotional bank invested towards May
Behaviour new years eve
Behaviour of Ballarat ship's company towards
Behaviour on night prior to departure
Behaviour, ribald
Bijou Theatre vaudeville performance by
Bluebell in Fairyland - program re Ellaline Terriss show
that Thomas attended on 22/12/1916 with other soldiers,
at the invitation of Miss Terriss.
Bluff and combativeness
Bombing display - two men hospitalised
Bombing sergeants, only ones left with Thomas
Bombing work, believed in by
Book
Page 2 of 15
25 May, 2011
what
training - grenades, live: men getting careless with
(increases danger)
Training - gun deck
Training - homework
Training - homework/lectures, effect on Thomas
Training - mock trench raid (Thomas impresses the big
brass]
training - more work and lectures
Training - Officer Cadet Training School mentioned
Training - semaphore signalling
Training - semaphore signalling - Thomas sees
usefulnes for farm life
Training - semaphore signalling to aeroplane
Training - shooting at imaginary periscopes
Training - squad drill begins
Training - Thomas gets a bomb fragment in his temple
training - Thomas not on list of permanent training staff
= disappointment + greater risk of being sent to France
training - Thomas now a fully fledged bomb instructor
(lists skills & knowledge gained)
Training - Thomas's acting as musketry instructor
Training - Thomas's describes his role & proficiency
Training - Thomas's duties
training - too many sergeants (unexplained)
Training - wet conditions do not preclude
Training and discipline
Training and discipline - Codford compared with Mitcham
Training and discipline, compared with Boer War
Training Battalion not exempt from front line (risk)
Training Battalion structure and intake/deployment
Training conditions
Training conditions - kit, etc
training conditions - now includes Sat & Sun
Training conditions compared with Mitcham camp in
Adelaide
Training of the men commences
Training of the men continues
Training of the men continues but all the old lot have
gone
Training syllabus sent to May
Training, Australian, compares favourably with current
English traning quality
Training, Australian, considered not worthless
Training, Australian, considered worthless
Treated better by May now than when at Loxton
Treatment of by English thought too soft
Troop deck
troopships, extra coming, rumours of
Undecided still?, at crisis time
VD
VD - contracted by a bombing sergeant who says he
won't go home to Australia
VD - how the army deals with soldiers who contract this
visit Lyndhurst to inspect etc training
visits German prisoners-of-war
Voting day for Australian soldiers & nurses is coming up
Wagon
war - 1918 campaigne foreshadowed by Churchill
War - Allied fighting capacity affirmed
War - Allied fighting capacity compared with Germany's
War - Allied victory definite
War - Allied victory surer
war - America stirs into action
War - assessment of Germany loss is based on what he
knows of his German neighbours
war - breaking point must be coming
war - British merchant losses contained but still too high
war - casualties, gassed
War - concerted Allied effort needed
war - consequences for Australia if Germany wins
war - cutting off food supplies effective
war - England unlikely to sue for peace so things will get
worse
war - fierce fighting will continue all this summer
war - food shortage only indication of
War - German aeroplanes fight over England
War - German air raids on England
war - german air raids on England, optimism despite
War - German endurance incredible
War - German gas shells fired at French civilians
War - German resistance (machine guns & men) hard
to wipe out
War - German submarines cause heavy Allied shipping
losses
War - Germans losing
War - Germans winning
War - Germany won't be beaten in battle but the country
may implode internally
war - Germany won't be beaten in battle but their
civilians may have life blood squeezed out of them by
British navy
war - ground conditions, freeze/thaw, precludes any
Allied advances
war - March 1917 Allied initiative would pre-empt
Germany growing food next summer
war - men fighting on 115 mile front
war - men wanted in millions
war - Messines battle fought (described as a victory and
due to "machinery" and "ammonal")
war - mud prevented possible English advances
war - peace moves fail, therefore is fight to the finish
war - philosophises upon
war - predicting frightful battle to be fought on Western
Front
war - reasons why Germany losing the war
War - Russia can't be trusted and are naïve to trust
Germany
War - Russian involvement
War - Russian revolution will hasten the war on
War - toll
war - use made of German grenades from captured
trenches
War doesn't seem to have affected some English
War duration
War duration - 12 months more
War duration - 5 months more, but some tough stuff to
endure meantime
War duration - depends on winning, not a truce
War duration - hopes it is over before his "On staff"
status runs out (6 months time)
War duration - unknown but Thomas vows to be home
by Christmas
War duration judged to be extensive, based on signs of
British war effort/preparations
war effect- creates "dodging disease"
war effect- depressing him
war effect- want it over and done with (would pitch in to
do so)
War end, obsessed by thoughts of
war losses - English and French as great as Germany's
so no easy or quick victory likely
war losses, Gallipoli a small affair compared with France
War news
War news - America's involvement would/will hasten the
end of the war
war news - Bagdad a wonderful victory
war news - Ballarat troopship sunk
War news - British doing well
War news - darkest in history of England
War news - expecting German (Kaiser) announcement
War news - German Chancellor (new) breathing
defiance and resolution
war news - Germany internal affairs, little known
War news - Haig's latest despatch
War news - little, despite fierce fighting
war news - no news re if Australian ships have been
sunk
War news - papers accurately cover in Australia
Page 14 of 15
25 May, 2011
what
War news - papers said to tell lies
War news - papers without, may be boring
war news - promptness of
War news - wounded being kept in France (German
subs sinking hospital ships)
War news and strategy, comments by
War progress, popular opinion
war toll - Battle of Fromelles
war toll - necessary for Allied victory
war toll - Thomas doesn't want to be part of it
war wounded - many Aussies seen
War Zone appearance
War, Allies will win if not beaten by German submarines
war, cost of, etc
War, first-hand accounts
War, first-hand accounts - Post traumatic stress
War, immediacy of, causes Thomas to feel sad for wife
& children and to doubt that he can get through it
War, outcome of, pessimistic view
warned for Ladysmith by Major Sloan
Watercolours painted by
Way of valuing a commodity.
Weather -
Weather - a hint of Spring
Weather - Australian and English compared
Weather - cold (but some improvement soon?)
Weather - cold, described
Weather - cold, no break in
Weather - cold, rain turns to ice on (slippery) pavements
Weather - dark at 4 pm
weather - daylight until 9pm
Weather - effect on camp conditions
Weather - effect on men
Weather - effect on ship and men
Weather - effect on the mens' demeanour/spirit.
weather - French
weather - hot
Weather - not so cold near the coast
Weather - preference of
weather - rough seas, no ships in sight off Weymouth
Weather - snow
weather - still wintry
weather - summer officially begins, clocks put forward
one hour
Weather - too cold for bathing (though Weymouth is
good beach)
Weather - warm & lovely (snow & frost gone)
weather - winter of 1916/17 the worst in living memory
Weather - winter sun sets at 5 to 4
weather - wintry, just before official start of summer
Weather, Australian, wet
Weather, Australian, wet - 69 pts in January
Weather, Australian, wet - causes damage to crops
Weather, wet - sun will never shine again
Weather, wet, does not bother
Weather, wet, muddy - causes difficulties and
depresses spirits
Weekend leave rostering
welcomed warmly by Durban folk
Weymouth - address of Weymouth Library
Weymouth Camp full, awaiting ship transports to
remove to Australia, this delays his transfer
Weymouth rumour
wheat crop said to have been badly affected by rain in
Wheat crop, loss of, causes anger
Wheat prices, effect of the war and food shortages
wheat prices, set by Government?
Whereabouts
whereabouts - at the/a dock (where?)
Whereabouts & weather
Whereabouts not disclosed
whereabouts unknown
White South Africans, his opinion of
Will and probate documents
Will of (copy)
Willingness to undergo bad things back home rather
than be in the army
Willingness to work hard for good harvest.
Winter "offensive" by England predicted by
Wishes for good luck & a safe return.
Wonders how May is coping
Wound described, seems of no account, but Thomas
rates it highly.
Wounded (Blighty) are the lucky ones
wounded get to wear gold stripes
Wounds and death counted as nothing
Xmas parcels
Yellow flag (quarantine) flown
Zealandia (steamer) sighted by Ballarat (ship)
Page 15 of 15
25 May, 2011