All stories
The name he helped to make
Robert Pennington
Robert Pennington was one of the first men from Western Australia to enlist. At 26, with a black swan tattooed on his upper arm, he farewelled his mother and sailed off to war. Driver Robert... » 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
A man who stood out
Herbert Crowle
In July 1916, as the British offensive on the Somme ground to a halt, Australian forces were ordered to attack at Pozières. The town was taken at a terrible cost. Unable to retake it, the Germans... » read more
Denouncing a gruesome trade in the dead
W.A. Windeyer
William Archibald Windeyer came from a privileged family. But with that privilege came responsibility. Civic-minded to the core, Windeyer worked as an alderman of Hunter’s Hill municipal council for... » read more
I baptise thee ‘Anzac’
Tasman Millington
In 1919, Tasman Millington married Ruth Martin. Together they travelled to Gallipoli and Tasman took up his post with the Imperial War Graves Commission. When Millington had fought there in... » read more
Inexpressibly dear to me
Norman Gibbins
Norman Gibbins enlisted in August 1914, the month Australia went to war. A veteran of South Africa (where he rose to the rank of Captain), he enlisted as a private—such was his haste to serve again.... » 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
No more to send
Caroline Gilbert
Caroline Gilbert was the mother of ten children. She sent three sons to war. And not one of them returned to her. Robert died of ‘multiple wounds’ in France. Both his legs were ‘shattered’ when a... » read more
The Angel of the prison camps
Mary Chomley
Nearly five thousand Australian and New Zealand troops were taken prisoner on the Western Front. Conditions differed in every camp but by the end of the war their situation was appalling. Contrary to... » read more
The little digger
Henri Tovell
The Australian Flying Corps celebrated Christmas at Bickendorf in 1918. Air Mechanic Tim Tovell noticed an unexpected guest sneaking through the crowd. A child had drifted in from the night, hoping... » read more
