Twilight Talks – Season 2 Connections to War from a Ballarat Perspective: War Grieving – Doctors

Twilight Talks have been held at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute since 2001, providing a great opportunity to hear some fantastic speakers and meet up with friends over drinks.

Participants arrive at the Humffray Room from 5:00pm for drinks and conversation, followed by a 30 to 40 minute talk commencing at 5:30pm.

War Grieving from a Doctor’s Perspective.

Grief is a natural response to loss. War Grief is complex. Ballarat’ s participation in WW1 was substantial: about 4000 men from Ballarat enlisted in World War One and approximately 800 died. How was this preserved from a medical perspective- then and now?

There are many facets for discussion. Actual recorded personal notes of 1914-1918 are not easy to find as it was not discussed and written down openly, it is only now our examination and interpretation of diaries and letters that show the extent of personal grief.

Doctors did not write too many notes in those days and certainly not for History. Certainly Ballarat today is full of public war grief in it’s memorials and statues.

Speaker: Dr Jean Douglas.

The BMI appreciates the support received from the Community Bank Buninyong for the staging of Twilight Talks.