ABSTRACT
Music, song, performance and the relatively new medium of film all shaped social and cultural experiences of Australians in World War I. Entertainment came to have an essential disciplinary function as well as a propaganda function. Stewart's and Telfer's stories reveal the importance of entertainment as part of the fabric of everyday life in the circumstances of war. Entertainment offered continuity and stability in providing soldiers with regular distractions from their work. Soldiers were entertained by both civilian and military concert parties. Military concert parties tended to be more common, but civilian parties also performed for military audiences both in England and in war zones. Concert party performances were enthusiastically attended by Australian, British and Dominion soldiers. A variety of concert parties from other armies and nationalities also entertained the Australians, including the Thistles. Soldiers watched a range of films that catered to both their need for diversion from everyday realities and to the army's need to educate troops.
