By Andrew Paloczi
THE stunning military collection amassed by Lt Col Alexander (Alex) Paterson DSO MC may be headed to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra, with a couple of representatives of the organisation recently visiting the Korumburra RSL to view the extensive range of items.
Those items cover the pre and post WWI periods as well as the involvement of Alex’s 39th Battalion in the Great War.
Descendants of Alex chatted to AWM’s Bryce Abraham (curator of private records) and Nick Fletcher (head of military heraldry and technology) and will consider entrusting the collection to the organisation’s care.
As reported previously, those in charge at Anzac House in Melbourne were assessing whether the items could be housed there, but family member Margaret Scott explained that proved impractical due to space constraints.
Lt Col Paterson’s prominence as a battalion commander and the scale and completeness of his collection made it an easy decision for the AWM to send representatives to Korumburra.
Korumburra RSL’s Tony Moon provided information and photos to those at the AWM.
“I would say in this day and age it’s probably unique,” AWM’s Nick said of the Paterson hoard.
He explained that while such collections would have existed immediately after the Great War, albeit not in large numbers, the passing of time has often led to the loss of fragile documents and to items being split among family members.
By contrast, Nick described Alex’s items as being “virtually an untouched collection”, making it remarkable.
Nick noted assembling such a vast hoard was in keeping with Alex’s position.
“This is the sort of thing battalion commanders do; if you’re in charge of 1000 men you tend to be able to administrate, so this is fairly typical of a bloke who cared about his men and was deeply engaged in what he’d done,” he said.
Asked if Lt Col Paterson’s collection is the most complete individual one he has seen, Nick compared it to those of WWI General Sir John Monash and WWII prisoner of war and surgeon Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, and while he has seen larger collections Alex’s is the most focused.
“Lt Col Paterson’s war is very much the one battalion; he goes away with the 39th and comes home with the 39th so they’re his life right through the First World War,” Nick said.
“People like Monash rose through the ranks, changed jobs, did new things,” he explained, noting that while Monash’s collection is “incredibly complete”, it is therefore less focused.
‘Weary’ Dunlop’s is divided between his prewar history, his time as a medical officer and then a prisoner of war, meaning his focus changes, while Lt Col Paterson’s remains firmly on his battalion.
Bryce described Alex’s collection as “incredibly comprehensive and impressive” due to the detail it provides of 39th Battalion history and Alex’s military involvement prior to and after WWI.
The prospect of the collection heading to the AWM offers the chance for the family to achieve its objective of keeping the items together while ensuring they will be expertly preserved, Alex and his descendants have done an extraordinary job of keeping everything in such good condition to this point.