Phillip Schuler: The remarkable life of one of Australia's greatest war correspondents

by Mark Baker

Phillip Schuler, a handsome young journalist from the Melbourne Age, covered the Gallipoli campaign alongside Charles Bean. His bravery was legendary. His dispatches were evocative and compassionate. He captured the heroism and horror for Australian newspaper readers in ways the meticulous yet dry prose of Bean never could.

Gallipoli would also propel Schuler on a collision course with his former friend and Age colleague Keith Murdoch, who made his name lobbying against the campaign after a brief visit to Anzac.

After his classic account of the campaign, Australia in Arms, was completed in early 1916, Schuler abandoned the relative safety of a correspondent's job and joined the AIF as a humble soldier. In June 1917, he was killed in Flanders. He was 27 years old.

Mark Baker's meticulously researched account of Schuler's brief but extraordinary life gives us a true insight into the man. As a correspondent, a lover and a soldier, Schuler left an indelible mark on all who encountered him. He was a shining light of the generation decimated by the war. Baker's biography gives us a new and compelling perspective on the power of journalism and Australia at war.

Genres: Biography Memoir

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2016

About the author

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Reviews

[Michael Haseloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations to Mark Baker this is up with the best books about Gallipoli. I say this because over the years my view of Ian Hamilton has softened. In part because I read an article about his service record which fully impressed on me that he was not a coward. I believe Hamilton had the right attitude to be successful in the peninsular campaign but was let down by London through lack of reinforments and material support. Phillip Schuller and his family's story is worth reading for me as a descendant of German migrants in the1860s. Thank you for this wonderful addition to my collection of books about the 1st AIF.

Mike Haseloff
July 16 2023

[Mark Nicoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story from the Great War so deserving to be told and written so well.

[Ruth Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look at that time in history, my only criticism would be that at times it strayed quite a long way from Phillip Schuler. I didn't mind this as it is still a good read.