Life so full of promise, by Ross McMullin

Ross McMullin is an award-winning historian, biographer, and storyteller. 'Life So Full of Promise' is his sequel to 'Farewell, Dear People: biographies of Australia’s lost generation', and is an examination of the stories of the lost generation of World War I.  Ross is an engaging speaker and I can guarantee you will enjoy his presentation.

'Life So Full of Promise' won the 2024 The Age Book of the Year Award for nonfiction. 

 Wednesday 13 November 2024 at 7:00PM

Sam Merrifield Library  762 Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds

FREE

Please book before you attend 03 9243 1950   

or see the Library website 

Life so full of Promise

The Fair Dinkums, by Glenn McFarlane

In this recently published book, The Fair Dinkums, Glenn McFarlane examines a cohort of men from the 8th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion, who embarked on the Anchises in August 1915.  They were called the Fair Dinkums because they knew about the disaster at Gallipoli, and enlisted anyway,  knowing the risks.  Among this group was McFarlane's great-uncle Alf Layfield.

Also among the group was a name well-known to the folk of Moonee Valley - the renowned William Scurry whose invention of the drip-system of firing a rifle to aid in the evacuation of Gallipoli won him the Distinguished Conduct Medal and promotion to Commissioned rank.

McFarlane draws heavily on the letters Scurry wrote home to his mother at 70 Middle St, Ascot Vale, and mentions other local men, both with the 8th Reinforcements and other units.  

The one big hole in McFarlane's work is the lack of an index, so I have indexed references to our local men, and have put the page numbers on their web-pages in The Empire Called website.

Bowtell-Harris, James 

Fraser, Robert

Jackson, Alf (Major)

Lawrence, Bunty

Littlemore, Thomas

McKenzie, Hugh

Scurry, William Charles

Southwell, Bert

Swift, Arthur

Thomas, Bert

Wardrop, Archie

McFarlane follows the service and fate of the above men, and others from the 8th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion, including those who were transferred to other Battalions. Endnotes provide sources, though there is no bibliography.  McFarlane has provided a number of previously unpublished photos and portraits of the men.

From the Suburbs to the Trenches

I was  recently pleased to discover this book which describes the war service of two young fellows, one of them, Cecil Seccombe of Ascot Vale who served with the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, and the other Ralph Berryman of Hawthorn who served with the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade.  The author, Ralph Seccombe, is a relative of both young men, and relates his own thoughts and impressions as he traces their movements in Gallipoli and France.  The book is available through Amazon.  See also this webpage.

Victorian unit war histories

The original link I gave some while ago to the Victorian Veteran's Virtual Museum which included a link to digitised unit war histories has become such a convoluted affair with various changes at the State Library of Victoria, I thought I would repost a more direct link to them.

Not all of the infantry history books have been digitised, some are more recent histories, still subject to copyright, which have had only the covers and list of contents digitised, but still useful for discovering what books are available.

A Great War Reading List

A recent post on the Exploring Military History blog on "World War 1: selection of non-fiction books" which included a list of junior non-fiction, and a previous post on "World War 1 through children's fiction", I thought worth passing on. 

One of the books mentioned by Vicki on her blog was the one above, "And the Band Played On: how music lifted the Anzac spirit in the battlefields of the First World War" by Robert Holden.  This is a book I have read recently, and can also thoroughly recommend.

There is a booklist contained on the Empire Called and I Answered website, called "Sources", which covers all the material I have looked at for any mention of the local volunteers.   This list doesn't have as much current material as Vicki's list, but may suggest some less well-known material published a bit closer to the war which may be useful for research.

And just for fun, I keep a Pinterest group of covers of   WW1 Australian history books.

The Spirits of Gallipoli: a Centenary of Anzacs, by Kim Phillips

Anyone who has had a good browse through The Empire Called and I Answered website will know that Kim Phillips has been very generous in sharing her research into the young men who died at Gallipoli.  Kim has lately launched a book and CD: The Spirits of Gallipoli: a centenary of Anzacs, the details of which you can see at her website.

Kim has also arranged for Ancestry to make her research and images available as a collection.  There is a 14 day free trial (scroll to the bottom of the page).  I was pleased to see the first memorial stone image on the Ancestry blog was for J K Adams, an Essendon lad.

I commend both to your attention.

The YMCA at the front line

It's wonderful what you can find at the local fete.  Last week I picked up a little cloth-covered book called A Rough Y.M. Bloke by Frank Grose, without any idea of what it was likely to be about. I discovered an interesting tale by Grose who embarked as a YMCA representative with the honorary rank of 2nd Lieutenant on the Marathon on 9 May 1917.    Above is an illustration for the book by Daryl Lindsay, depicting the proximity to the front line of the YMCA support services.

This further drawing used in the book depicts Frank Grose pushing up to the Field Artillery emplacements fully laden with cigarettes, matches and newspapers to keep up the morale of the troops.  The bad roads made pedalling very hard work.    Supporting the troops with warm drinks as they came out of the trenches was much appreciated by them.  YMCA canteens could also be found in Paris and France for troops on leave to get a drink, read a newspaper, or write letters home.  James Anderson wrote a letter to his little daughter on YMCA notepaper.

The little book by Grose gives a useful account of the sort of work done by YMCA blokes both close to the front line, and behind the lines in France and England, particularly after the Armistice.

The book also contains a roll of honour of the Officers, NCOs and men of the 1st Divisional Artillery AIF who fell in the war, but it appears to include only enlistees from New South Wales.

2013 Prize for Australian history winner

Farewell, dear people: biographies of Australia's lost generation, by Ross McMullin, is the 2013 winner of the Australian History prize in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.

Congratulations to Ross, well-deserved recognition.