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Names
Kevin Hannan collection
IDs
nma-collection-169
Descriptions
The Kevin Hannan collection consists of material relating to the grieving of Winnie O'Sullivan over the death of her fiance, Australian champion boxer Les Darcy, in 1917. The collection is supported by 2 postcards and 6 photographs depicting Darcy's ill-fated boxing career in America, and friends and family of Winnie O'Sullivan central to the Darcy story throughout various periods of her life.
After rising to stardom as a champion boxer during the First World War period, Les Darcy became a political scapegoat of the first conscription referendum in 1916. A young, fit and healthy example of Australian masculinity, Darcy symbolized all males whom the greater public had deemed eligible for service and were shirking their duty of serving their country on the battlefield. Darcy subsequently left Australia to establish a boxing career in America, but died from septicaemia caused by a tooth infection in May 1917 at the age of 21.
The material speaks something of Darcy's plight, and it reflects the ways in which Australians dealt with death, loss and mourning during the early twentieth century and, more importantly, during the devastating years of the First Word War.
Copyright National Museum of Australia
Physical access to the collection by appointment only
http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/les_darcy_locket/
Related Collections
Dates
2012-05-30 23:43
2011-06-27 10:42