WED N ESDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2025
SBS The Best Books and Films About A N ZACS
The Anzac Book, written and illustrated by the men of Anzac A unique insight into the lives of Australians and New Zealanders on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. Anzacs contributed snippets of writing, poetry, jokes and drawings for this officially-sanctioned collection, which became an instant bestseller on its release in May 1916. Some 10,000 Anzacs had already died by the time editor Charles Bean called for contributions, but the soldiers - writing in the most trying conditions - focused good-humouredly on food, fleas and fun. A Fortunate Life, by Albert Facey This autobiography is about more than the Gallipoli campaign but the spirit of Anzac permeates every page. Facey came from an impoverished background, had only a passing acquaintance with the education system, and laid no claim to be a hero. Yet this simply but powerfully told story is a window on how Australians
thought and fought a century ago. The Anzacs, by Patsy Adam-Smith
This accessible, well-written book about the men who sailed off to the "Great Adventure", only to endure Gallipoli and the horrors of the Western Front, was The Age Book of the Year in 1978. Photos and artwork added a lot to the original edition, but are sadly absent from Penguin's new reissue. Adam-Smith tells the history, but her best work was in trawling through thousands of soldiers' letters and diaries. Their words of optimism, fear and anguish are still powerful. Anzac to Amiens, by C.E.W. Bean As the AIF's war correspondent on Gallipoli, Bean recognised the epic dimension of what he witnessed. Bean followed the course of World War I (literally taking a bullet on the way) and established much of the "Anzac legend". He wrote the multi-volume official history of Australia's role in World War I. This book is a much shorter read, but the Gallipoli section is pretty comprehensive and has the benefit of being written by an eyewitness. Gallipoli, by Robert Rhodes James This 1965 work by a British historian remains a definitive account of Gallipoli. It focuses more on tactics (and where the British went wrong) than the day-to-day life of soldiers in the trenches. Another strength is that the author talked to some of the campaign's leading participants. Gallipoli, by Les Carlyon Ever since Charles Bean, journalists have been drawn to World War I in general and Gallipoli in particular. Journo Les Carlyon's 2001 bestseller is long and opinionated, but moving and very readable. The Last Anzacs: Lest We Forget, by Toby Stephens and Steven Siewert "They shall not grow old..." but the men featured in this 1996 book by journalist Toby Stephens and photographer Steven Siewert did. All these last Anzacs have since faded away, but Siewert's photographs of their wrinkled faces, and the old soldiers' insistence that all they did at Gallipoli was dig in and hold on, make this an interesting counterpoint to other Anzac literature.
Maggie Marriott's nom de guerre
Maggie Marriott
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