'In 1901 Sydney Laughton went to war in South Africa. In 1914 he went to war in Turkey, Palestine and France. Throughout both campaigns he kept a diary, which he transcribed back home in Tasmania. A century on from those wars the diaries, brought together, form the basis of this story about 'an occasional soldier'. Sydney Laughton received no high honours and invested his memoirs with neither self- aggrandisement nor flamboyant rhetoric. His is essentially a story about a man who for the simplest of reasons - answering the call of Empire - became one of the thousands of Tasmanians who endured the horror of warfare. His experiences are framed against the backdrop of antecedents who came to Van Diemen's Land and played a vital role in the development of the colony. It also encompasses years he spent in the Tasmanian bush, at sea and on the fabulous gold reefs of the South African rand. Sydney Laughton was educated, well-travelled and possessed of a roving spirit. He was a keen observer, an excellent horseman and a hardened bushman. His story and that of his family, has become encompassed within the brief span of Euro-Tasmanian history.' (Publication summary)
