Military historian Peter Stanley argues that some military events, such as Anzac Day, have been hijacked for political and publishing ends. Images: Supplied.
Peter Stanley writes with such wit, charm and erudition that what might be seen by some as an ‘academics only’ publication becomes both an informative and entertaining read.
Beyond the Broken Years – Australian Military History in 1000 Books (New South Books, 2024) is a survey of military history writing in Australia, referring in its title to the revolutionary work of Bill Gammage, published 50 years before Stanley’s survey.
The author refers to the Lasseter’s Reef of Australian military history, uncovered by Gammage when he wrote his PhD thesis using the hitherto untouched letters, diaries and other documents first collected for Bean’s official history. He coined the term “Great Chain of Being” to describe what followed: a surge of interest among scholars in our military history.
The author examines the fickle nature of such studies and how they are influenced by public interest and both political and ‘big publishing’ agendas.
There is also (often wry and sometimes critical) commentary on historical fiction – works of the ‘storians as opposed to the historians. The question of the importance – or not – of sticking to the more well-known facts opens up a field of discussion for literary critics and reviewers.
An excoriating analysis of the cult of Anzac and how its commemoration has been hijacked for political ends will be of particular interest to general readers. The book is written with such a distinctive and conversational voice that one can be forgiven for deeming it to be popular literature, albeit scholarly in its thoroughness and scope.
The Sherrin is a fictionalised story of a wartime football game that touches on issues such as the way war affects ordinary people.
And thus it is with some solid background knowledge of such writing that we turn to Stanley’s historical fiction, The Sherrin (Big Sky Publishing, 2025).
Set in the fictional Pacific theatre island of New Aachen in 1945, the book follows the fortunes of the rival AIF and militia forces as they contend with jungle warfare.
Seen through the eyes of a military historian’s clerk (also a returned veteran), David Wachter, the story focuses on the human aspects of war. As we see the work of the war correspondents, photographers, Czech war artist Max Kreiser and the psychiatrist Asquith, we are quickly made aware of the fluid nature of truth and reporting in war.
The AFL match and the famous Sherrin ball, which gives the book its name, serve as metaphors for the greater conflicts and the passions they invoke. The Sherrin is also a hill across which the Equator runs, a theoretical no-go zone for the militia – another moral dilemma.
This is, in many ways, a historian’s novel, with most of its content based on actual events. Where it bleeds into fiction is less important than the ideas the author demands that we address.
Written in the easy and assured style we have come to know of Peter Stanley, it raises questions of human relationships and the way war affects the ‘ordinary’ person who participates in it; hierarchy and rivalry in the military; what we expect soldiers to face and return from. And potently, for me, the view of war that only the artist and photographer can give, an unflinching, apparently dispassionate gaze, that is anything but.
Writer Luca Collins provides emerging writers with examples, methods, and methodologies to practise their craft.
When we wonder how we might become writers, Luca Collins, Writer (Independently published, 2017), offers an analysis of the craft and a detailed series of practical steps towards the goal of publication.
If we believe Tom Keneally, cited by the author, that to become a good writer one must write for four hours a day for 10 years, then all of us could achieve that goal. But, of course, it is not as simple as that – writing requires not just practice, though that is crucial, but also a command of the craft.
Collins encourages the aspiring writer to develop both. The book is a practical guide to the components required for all fiction writing, including both short and long forms, with its second part devoted to the fantasy genre.
Aspiring writers will find this manual a helpful tool and an encouragement to dabble, persist and enjoy the writing process. It arms the emerging and new writer with examples, methods and methodologies to realistically pursue the ‘writing dream’, cognisant that writing is indeed hard work – just write is the mantra.
Barbie Robinson is co-founder and a content creator for Living Arts Canberra, a not-for-profit media outfit supporting arts and community in the Canberra region and books worldwide through its website, podcast interviews and a 24/7 internet radio station, at Living Arts Canberra.
