From Gallipoli to Coopers Creek

by Cate Davis

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jill]

This story is based on the diary that the author's father Lieutenant Bruce Campbell kept during World War 1, plus letters, photos and family memorabilia. It is basically a straightforward tale of his experiences at Gallipoli and in France and his life as a soldier settler on a farm in NSW, trying to adjust to life after the war. The first part of the book is indeed harrowing and heartbreaking as we learn of life from a soldier's point of view and what he thought of the English officers directing their moves. It is terrible to read of the psychological effects of the war on the young men who thought it was going to be a 'great adventure'. You can understand why they didn't want to talk about it to family and friends who couldn't understand what they had been through. This book shows how one man coped, but is a mirror to the thousands of others who returned to Australia shattered in body and soul.