Stories 91 - 100
Their name liveth for evermore?
Abas Bhawoodeen Ghansar
Abas Bhawoodeen Ghansar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) at the height of the British Raj. The young man worked his passage to Australia (via London) and landed in Sydney in 1907. Australia must... » read more
That other war
Reginald Biggs
Little more than a boy when he went to war, Private Biggs served as a signaller. He was often near the frontline, often shelled, gassed, and afraid. Certainly, Reginald Biggs recalled the danger,... » read more
The second Count of Monte Christo
Leo Galli
To some, Galli was a patriot, an idealist, even a hero. Born in Italy, but a naturalised British subject, Galli was amongst the first to volunteer. And from the moment he put his pen to the Army’s... » read more
I am against all wars
Archibald Baxter
By 1916, New Zealand’s voluntary recruitment was failing. Despite massive opposition, a conscription bill was pushed through parliament. Unlike Australia, there was no chance to vote ‘No’ in a... » 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 absence of her own boys... » read more
Like a broken doll
Margaret Broadhurst
In the years before war took hold of the world, Margaret and Tom fell in love. On the eve of his enlistment, Tom proposed to Margaret with a diamond ring and their engagement was announced.... » read more
She prefers the khaki uniform to the feminine mode of dress
Maud Butler
In December 1915, Miss Maud Butler, a waitress working in Sydney, cut her long brown hair, donned the woollen uniform of an Australian soldier, and walked down to the transport ships moored at... » read more
War Horse
Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin’s diary is one of the few extended accounts Australian soldiers kept at Helles. Some ten miles south of Anzac, the flat ground of the Peninsula was held by the British and the French,... » read more
Like a spring wound up
Thomas Dowell
Private Thomas Dowell sailed to war just before Christmas 1914. He served at Gallipoli from the very beginning of the campaign, and he survived the Landing and months of attrition in static trench... » read more
My broken heart
Frances Edgeworth Somers
Today it is impossible to imagine Melbourne’s skyline without the Shrine of Remembrance. But to the generation that built Victoria’s state war memorial, its final form was far from inevitable. The... » read more
The ugliness of Anzac
Mary Booth
‘Anzac’ meant everything to Mary Booth. A patriot and imperialist at one and the same time, she helped to create the legend we live with today. Dr Booth founded the Soldiers’ Club in Sydney, a... » read more
