Henty School of Arts
Allan Street
Henty NSW 2658
In the early years of World War I, vigorous recruiting campaigns were conducted throughout Australia. It is common to find venues associated with, for example, public lectures presented to encourage young men to enlist. Many Australian communities can still identify the places where such events were held in their town.
The small community of Henty, about half way between Albury and Wagga Wagga, is situated on the Melbourne to Sydney rail link. For more than a century, Henty has provided services to a largely rural community.
In 1917, a Red Cross fundraiser and a simultaneous recruitment campaign conducted by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were held on a single evening at the Henty School of Arts. Both organisations used wounded veterans of the Gallipoli Campaign to promote their cause. Usually organised by local Red Cross committees, the event at Henty on Thursday 22 February was no exception.
Tom Skeyhill, the 'blind soldier-poet' was considered an outstanding public speaker and a huge drawcard. His supposed injury was later shown to be counterfeit. Although he was never accused of shirking his duty at the time, people in Hamilton, his home town, doubted that he was blind. He was, however, immensely popular wherever he lectured, usually working with other diggers, most of whom boasted in their press releases about wounds they had not received. Tom's manager, Private Bobby Pearce, and his various magic lanternists, although claiming spurious injuries, performed an extremely powerful if somewhat hypocritical service in the recruitment of reinforcements. They also raised large amounts of money for charities such as the Red Cross.
Recruiting lectures by Tom Skeyhill were conducted all over Australia in 1916 and 1917 in halls such as the Henty School of Arts. Hundreds of towns might discover their own 'Skeyhill story'. But it was an incident after the Henty lecture that became notable national news. Skeyhill apparently fell down a steep flight of stairs at the adjacent Central Hotel, his concussion commanding press attention for a couple of weeks all over the country.
Skeyhill's early work on the lecture platform had been encouraged by Major General McCay (later Lieutenant General Sir James McCay). McKay, who was genuinely wounded and repatriated, wrote a foreword to Skeyhill's Soldier Songs from Anzac. The book sold more than 50,000 copies during Skeyhill's 2 years of recruiting in Australia. Usually, events such as that at the Henty School of Arts were main points of sale for his book.
References
- Mechanic's Institutes and Schools of Arts in Australia, Joan Beddoe, Sandgate, Hobart, undated.
- Service Records of Thomas John Skeyhill, NAA: B2455, SKEYHILL THOMAS JOHN.
- Gerald A. Moloney, Skeyhill, Thomas John (Tom) (1895–1932), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/skeyhill-thomas-john-tom-8444/
- Anzac Cove to Hollywood: The Story of Tom Skeyhill, Master of Deception, Jeff Brownrigg, Anchor Books Australia, Sydney 2010
- Service Records of James Whiteside McCay, NAA: B2455, MCCAY J W.
- Sir James Whiteside McCay, Cristopher Wray, Oxford 2002