More than a luxury: Australian soldiers as entertainers and audiences in the First World War

In 1918, Aussie: The Australian Soldiers' Magazine, a trench newspaper produced on theWestern Front, commented that concert parties were 'something more than a luxury-they are a necessity' (Aussie 8 March 1918: 4). For soldiers of the British, American, and Dominion armies, live entertainment, most typically concert parties, was an integral part of their experiences of the First World War. Yet we know very little about what these experiences were, or what entertainment meant to soldiers. This article examines the experience of live entertainment for Australian soldiers in the First World War. Firstly, it explores entertainment organized for the first AIF, focusing on the soldier concert party. Secondly, it attempts to ascertain some of the responses of soldier-audiences to this entertainment by looking at evidence left by members of those audiences such as that recorded in letters and diaries. It also examines soldier-entertainment and audience experiences in order to reveal something about soldiers' interaction with popular culture, as well as the trench culture shared by soldiers.