A remarkable collection of 110 ebooks, each charting the personal story of an Australian who served in the First World War, is being released and made available for free in public and school libraries.
Publication of the 110 stories commemorates the 110th anniversary of the start of The Great War, in which 416,000 Australian soldiers and 3,000 nurses voluntarily served.
The collection is published as part of the Australian War Stories project, a custom-book initiative undertaken by the Australian media services company Mediality Pty Ltd. Hundreds of individual wartime biographies were created for the project and now the most engaging 110 titles have been converted to ebooks, facilitating mass distribution.
Mediality has partnered with leading audiobook publisher and innovator Bolinda, whose digital library platform BorrowBox is available in all Australian public libraries and most schools.
The Australian War Stories ebook collection will be available to access by BorrowBox users from November 1. (BorrowBox can be accessed by downloading the app on iOS and Android devices using an active library membership.)
“Publishing the collection and making it available through the BorrowBox platform means all Australians can now access these extraordinary and unique stories,” Mediality project co-ordinator Philip McLean said.
“It creates a rich and lasting legacy to the courage and sacrifice of a selfless generation of Australians.”
The ebook collection is complemented by a study guide for the Year 9 history curriculum, providing a bridge for students between an individual soldier’s experience and learning more broadly about the “war to end all wars”. (The study guide can be downloaded at australianwarstories.com.au).
The Australian War Stories ebook collection is generously supported by the Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants Program, which is funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
For more information contact Philip McLean [email protected]