Due to our deadlines, our coverage of Remembrance Day unfortunately could not appear in this week’s paper, and will be printed in the coming edition, November 19.

This gives us the perfect opportunity in the Bombala Times to recognise the 100 year anniversary of the start of the First World War.

There is of course a wealth of local history that is available to us that documents those turbulent four years between 1914 and 1918, and the impact that the war had on our own little district.

This includes letters home from local boys who went to war - some who came home and some who didn’t - and of course accounts from those who stayed home but whose lives weren’t the same while the war continued.

There has been a recent focus on the Men from Snowy River March, and even a book written on this fascinating chapter of local war history that gives a taste of the courage and patriotism to be seen in our district. 

And so, as space can only allow us to include so much, we have opted to share with our readers the way in which the Bombala Times covered the beginning of the First World War all those years ago.

Informing the community

In 1914 the Times was printed on the premises in Bombala, and took the form of a broadsheet newspaper of between four and six pages each week.

These pages chiefly consisted of local advertisements and local news, but also included pieces of national and global news of importance.

From July 1914 there were mentions of “international complications feared”, and in the July 31 edition it was printed the “latest reports state that an outbreak of war is momentarily expected. A general conflagration is regarded as almost inevitable”.

With war being formally declared the following week, the Bombala Times started printing a “War News” column from August 7 onwards.

Ensuring that our weekly paper could still give an accurate account of happenings, this column listed the reports coming in from around the globe for each day of the week. 

In the earliest days this included everything from certain countries declaring their stance in the war, to the mobilisation of forces overseas and the outcome of early naval conflicts.

When it came to Australia it was reported that the federal elections may be postponed, that unemployment had already risen as a result of the war, that continental supplies of produce were expected to end, and that Australian cables would soon be subject to strict censoring.

On the home front the Bombala Times reported that “the residents of Bombala have established a fund to pay for the cost of the war telegrams coming through. Printed slips containing the news are issued from this office twice daily”.

By August 14, although the War News column continued, the editor felt the need to inform readers that the Bombala Times was not always able to get copious detail on events.

“The war news coming through during the week has not been of a very sensational nature, the strict censorship having dealt harshly with the cablegram fiend who has been sending along all sorts of marvellous happenings under the cloak of “it has been rumoured”, it was explained. 

Showing heart at home

On various Anzac and Remembrance Days in the recent past we have printed snippets of letters that came home from our brave locals fighting in the war, giving a very moving account of what it was like for our country boys and girls out on the front.

But looking back at the Bombala Times editions of 1914 we can also get a feel for how much heart was being shown by those at home.

Even before Australian troops had left home soil, the Bombala community was pulling together to help in the war effort in any way it could.

Just ten days after war was declared, the Bombala Times printed several pieces illustrating this.

“A patriotic gathering is to be held on the Recreation ground on Sunday afternoon when addresses will be delivered and a collection taken in aid of the relief fund. It is hoped that there will be a big muster ready to show loyalty to the Empire in its time of trouble”.

Likewise the Bombala Times reported that the school P&C had decided to hold weekly picture shows to raise funds for a “patriotic war fund for the relief and support of those actually engaged in the defence of our country”.

Even the Times donated “half the cost of all printing and advertising done in connection with any scheme for raising money for the assistance of our soldiers or those dependent on them”.     

And of course the local newspaper also reveals the many changes that war had on the day to day life of our locals.

“We have been informed that sheep owners in this district have been requested by the wool-selling agents in Sydney to make provision for storing their wool this season, as owing to the war there will be little sale for it in Sydney.”

There were also many reports of food prices rising and locals placing orders for increased supplies in preparation for shortages. This brought out another side in some retailers, which was firmly denounced by most, including the Bombala Times.

“People who are trying to make money out of the war by putting up the prices of foodstuffs that were bought before the war are to be dealt with by the legislature. And quite right, too! It should be made a criminal offence”.

In the meantime young men throughout the district were showing their mettle and preparing to lay their lives on the line for their country.

“The war is the all engrossing topic here now. A number of young men here propose to volunteer if an expeditionary force is sent from Australia in the present crisis.”      

From 1914 to 1918 the Bombala Times ran a series of supplements solely devoted to keeping the community abreast of events, and in the early months, when all thought the Great War would conclude by Christmas, it even printed daily bulletins of the latest war news.

Space insists that we pause with this local reflection for now, but the Bombala Times will of course endeavour to bring readers more material throughout the long centenary of World War I.