Nasho '57: 98 Days at Pucka

Overview

Bendigo Military Museum with ANVAM presents Nasho ’57: 98 Days at Pucka, a photographic exhibition documenting Australian Army national service training in 1957.

The exhibition features candid photographs taken by Warrnambool-born journalist Robert Lennox Suggett during his 98 days of training at Puckapunyal.

The images taken by Suggett - who described himself at the time as “just a kid with a camera” - capture everyday moments of national servicemen, from departure at Royal Park to routine duties and sporting activities. The photographs remained as unprinted negatives for nearly 60 years before being rediscovered and printed in 2016-17.

The exhibition offers a rare, personal insight into the lived experience of national service and pays tribute to those depicted more than six decades on.