AustLit

'On the 21st August 1914, George Martindale along with many of his peers enlisted for the war in service of Australia. Part of the 5th Battalion, he served for over 3 years and witnessed some of the biggest and most catastrophic battles of World War 1.

'From the very beginning, when George was sent to Egypt to undertake training with some of the first of the enlisted men, he wrote home. He would document his daily life in the war - the events, his feelings and opinions, and send these messages and photographs back to his family in Melbourne. His military experience took him through some of the most notorious battles of the war; He was sent to Gallipoli and fought in the battle of Lone Pine - eventually being evacuated when the troops were pulled out. He was then sent to France where he was a part of the infamous Fromelles battle, where in one night more than 5000 Australian casualties virtually wiped out his Division. He went on to Bullecourt also a notorious battleground on the Western front where he was seriously injured - putting an end to his army career. 

'His letters tell his story beginning with the excitement of signing up and sailing across the world to fight the enemy to world weary having seen so much death and destruction. His letters tell the revealing real-life story of Gallipoli, Fromelles and Bullecourt. Through George Martindale's letters we see the First World War through his eyes, and experience the war as he did.' (Publication summary)

'A central question in Henry Reynolds' 'Fate of a Free People' (1995) concerned whether an agreement or treaty was effected between the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land and the colonial authorities, resulting in the voluntary relocation of Aborigines from the Tasmanian mainland to Flinders Island in the 1830s. Reynolds built a circumstantial case that the 'Conciliator' George Augustus Robinson made certain promises 'on behalf of the government', including a commitment to allow Aborigines to return and visit their country. Reynolds wondered whether Governor George Arthur 'attempt[ed] to negotiate a settlement with the Tasmanians whilst the war was in progress'. Although focused on a petition later written by the Aborigines to Queen Victoria and on the role of females who accompanied Robinson, Reynolds noted in passing that the 'contemporary historian and newspaper editor, Henry Melville, reported a conversation between Arthur and Black Tom, a ''civilized'' Aborigine whom Arthur wished to employ as a negotiator'. Although Reynolds did not specifically draw the connection, he later quoted Robinson's journal description of a key negotiation that had taken place 'in the presence of Kickerterpoller'.'  (Publication abstract)