A guardian angel of the Anzacs
Ettie Rout
Not long after the landing at Gallipoli, Ettie Rout made her way to Egypt. There she established the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood, a small contingent of expatriate women… » read more
A lost opportunity
Alfred Morris
Alfred Morris, a young journalist from Geelong, enlisted in the first weeks of the war, and departed Australia with the First Contingent. Trooper Morris served with the Light… » read more
A motherly chat at the Cheer-Up Society
Alexandrina ‘Annie’ Seager
All three of ‘Annie’ Seager’s sons enlisted in the first week of the war. Annie’s youngest boy, George, was barely seventeen when he was killed at Gallipoli. Partly it was the… » read more
An Anzac by any other name
Thomas Henley Manns
Thomas Henley Manns was one of thousands of British immigrants who sought a new life in Australia. In 1914, he was employed in one of the timber camps near Busselton. In October,… » read more
Conscription by stealth
Giovanni Ferrando
Signor Giovanni Ferrando was a former consul for the Kingdom of Italy, a successful businessman, and twenty-two years an Australian resident. He volunteered for service in the… » read more
The boy soldier
Bernard Haines
Bernard Haines was one of Australia’s boy soldiers. The papers tell us he was 14 when he enlisted, 15 when they sent him to France, 16 when he was gravely wounded at the Battle of… » read more
The Empire's bidding
James Ferguson
James Ferguson was a farmer from Midlands, Western Australia. He served as a trooper in the 8th Light Horse, saw savage action in the Middle East and, when Turkey sued for peace… » read more
The first to arrive, the last to leave
Rose Venn Brown
Rose Venn Brown was the first Australian woman to sign on for war work in France. She would also be the last to leave. When war broke out, Rose was working as the Assistant… » read more
The man in the bath
Samuel Rolfe
Gas was one of the Great War’s greatest horrors. There were seventeen types of gas developed during the Great War. The Allies and the Germans competed for new ways to blind, choke… » read more
This striking case of courage and devotion
Hilda Williams
In October 1918, HMAT Boonah sailed out of Fremantle harbor. She carried a cargo of over 1,000 soldiers, all destined for the battlefields of Europe. The Boonah was the last such… » read more
