Page 41 - Australian Defence Magazine Oct 2018

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COMPILED BY PETER MASTERS | BRISBANE
HIGHLANDS
TO DESERTS THE HISTORY
OF 19TH CHIEF ENGINEER WORKS By Michael Tyquin Published by
Big Sky Publishing
RRP $ 34.99 in paperback ISBN 9781925675078 Highlands to Deserts
is the story of a small Australian Army engineering unit determined to use more than bricks
and bridges to make a difference, not only to Australian Army units but
to indigenous communities
THE LAST POST
A CEREMONY OF LOVE, LOSS AND REMEMBRANCE AT THE AUSTRALIAN
WAR MEMORIAL
By Emma Campbell Published by New South RRP $29.99 in hardback ISBN 9781742235783
The last post is the bugle call that signifies the end
of the day’s activities. The Last Post Ceremony is now conducted daily at 4.55pm at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and streamed live online. It is a ceremony full of emotion and Emma Campbell has captured
the essence of this in her beautifully illustrated book.
both within Australia
and overseas.
The 19th Chief Engineer Works was raised in 1963
as the Army’s premier engineering consultant,
its purpose to plan, design and oversee the construction of barracks and training facilities in the New Guinea highlands. However the
men of the unit demonstrated vision
far beyond their limited brief, reaching into local communities and building relationships with tribesmen that were to prove strong and enduring. From the wilds of New Guinea,
the unit extended its reach to the remote communities of outback Australia, designing infrastructure
that reflected local needs. With his latest book, Michael Tyquin has given
us a story that deserves to be far better known.
It was AWM Director Brendan Nelson who, after attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Belgium, introduced the ceremony to the Memorial in April 2013 with the story of Robert Poate who died in Afghanistan at the age of 23. There are some 102,800 servicemen and women whose names are listed on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour. Campbell has chosen 30 of their stories to represent
the stories of the fallen. In launching this book former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull chose to relay the story of 21-year-old Private Richard Warne who had survived the Great War only to die tragically when he jumped off the night train as it slowed to pass through his station at the small Queensland village of Owanyilla. One of many tragic stories.
MISSING IN ACTION
AUSTRALIA’S WORLD
WAR I GRAVE SERVICES – AN ASTONISHING STORY
OF MISCONDUCT,
FRAUD AND HOAXING
By Marianne Van Velzen Published by Allen & Unwin RRP $32.99 in paperback ISBN 9781760632809
Each year in France and Belgium, Australians
gather at memorials that commemorate the fallen from the Great War. Visitors search graveyards looking
for relatives to pay their respects, assuming that
the name on a headstone
AMERICA LOOKS
TO AUSTRALIA
THE HIDDEN ROLE OF RICHARD CASEY IN
THE CREATION OF THE AUSTRALIA-AMERICA ALLIANCE, 1940-1942
By James Prior
Published by Australian Scholarly Publishing
RRP $39.95 in paperback ISBN 9781925588323 Australia’s war-time Prime Minister John Curtin has achieved heroic status in the annals of Australian political history for his wartime leadership. He stood up to Churchill and Roosevelt,
is in fact the grave of their family member. But, after reading this revealing account of the Australian Grave Services, one could never be certain that this
is the case. Some 45,000 Australian men died on the Western Front. It was the responsibility of the Imperial War Graves Commission with an Australian War Graves Detachment to locate, exhume if necessary, identify and then register where all the men were buried. By the end of 1919, this had evolved into the Australian Grave Services. But, as Van Velzen reveals, beneath this veneer of respectability, there were allegations of ‘body hoaxing’ and empty graves. Following complaints from the French and two official enquiries, the guilty were quietly shipped back to Australia. Eventually the AGS was disbanded
and the IWGS took over responsibility for the work.
insisting that Australian troops be brought home
to defend Australia against the expected Japanese invasion. Author James
Prior believes the praise and adulation heaped upon Curtin for creating the American Alliance is overstated. Prior argues that the credit is largely owed to Richard Casey, who, as Australia’s first diplomatic appointment to the US, did more to secure America’s engagement in the Pacific than Curtin or anyone else. Richard Casey is a name little known now, except for those who daily walk through the doors of the R G Casey Building in Canberra to their work at DFAT. Prior makes a compelling case that it was most likely Casey’s success as a diplomat, working behind the scenes, using his own wealth and charisma to influence those he could that helped turn the sentiment
in Washington.
www.australiandefence.com.au | October 2018 | 41
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