Letters and Stories

Read the stories of the brave men and women who went to war

and their connection to the region.

1917 - No kin left

William Harold Wilson, who was accepted for active service yesterday, enlisted under most remarkable circumstances.

It is not necessary to leave now. Les Australians will hold them.

Fleeing in the face of the German offensive of 1918.

British Army Graveyard Kindermord

The first battle of Ypres began on October 20, 1914, near the end of the Race for the Sea.

Pozieres II

The Pozieres map is stylised to represent the relative position of opposing forces on the Western Front and the locations of some major battles fought by Australians.

The first week

Unable to achieve their objectives on the heights of Chunuk Bair and Achi Baba, the Anzacs and the British dug in. Gallipoli.

Quinn's Post

‘Thus ends that fateful day that took all my mates away’

Turkish tenacity and a brilliant leader

A Turkish Lieutenant Colonel with piercing blue eyes and a powerful presence stepped forward as the Anzacs landed.

A chap's nerves soon get a bit unstrung after he has been here a bit

The year 1917 is considered the most costly for Anzacs.

Indigenous Attitudes

‘Too Dark for the Light Horse’

My nerve is completely gone

L/Cpl J. F. Kerr: Just a few lines to let you know I am safe.

Barely one in 10 returned

Lt. George Alfred Still, from Maryborough, awarded the Military Cross at Fromelles.

Changing Attitudes

A shift in attitudes to failed leadership and a valiant enemy

Hamel

Hamel was a small town but its capture by the Australians inspired the Allies on the Western Front.

The Turkish Offensive

Turkish May offensive: The Man with the Donkey dies and another legend is born.

Disease, heat and flies

As the summer swelter set in, the Anzacs cursed billions of flies drawn by unsanitary conditions.