Quoting from PSnews online. Edition Number 245. Updated Tuesday, 12 August 2014. http://www.psnews.com.au/wa/Page_WApsn2452.html?utm_source=WApsn245&utm_medium=email&utm_content=news2&utm_campaign=newsletter_wa
Records Office marks centenary
The State Records Office (SRO) has marked the centenary of the start of the First World War with the digitising and placing online of the official "War" file created by the WA Premier's office in 1914.
In addition to making the digitised volumes available online through the SRO's website, the SRO will post to Facebook and Twitter selected highlights from the archive to reveal the day-to-day activity and actions of the Government and the community during the war.
Preserved by the SRO, the archive provides a behind-the-scenes and uniquely Western Australian perspective to the declaration of war and the actions of government, the military and the people at home in Western Australian.
"Along with top secret coded information, it reveals the concerns of officials and the community during the first months of the war," the SRO said.
WW1 'War' file tells inside story
"The First World War affected Western Australia deeply."
Nearly 40 per cent of Western Australian men aged 18 to 44 volunteered, enlisted and served in the conflict.
It stretched the resources of the State and created both social cohesion and disruption, according to the SRO.
"Ultimately, through the deaths of thousands of young Western Australians, it decimated a generation, devastating communities and families," the SRO said.
"It changed WA forever."
More than 1000 letters, memoranda, telegrams and notes have been digitised, so that detailed information about the commencement of the war in 1914 can be revealed as it happened 100 years ago.
The archive, entitled Consignment 1496, item 1914/0302 v1-5, can be accessed from the SRO website at this PS News link. http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/archive-collection/exhibitions-online/world-war-1-wa-tipsified-germany-glyphic
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