Fragments of the First AIF

Penistan Patterson, a young man from Swan Hill, Vic, and Port Pirie, SA, was one of Australia's first staff cadets at the Royal Military College Duntroon. And then he became the first graduated student to be killed in action during the First World War. Send us Fan Mail

Tasmanian Leslie Harry Geeves of Geeveston, veteran of the Boer War, was the bearer of experience from one war to the next; a true Briton, a patriot and loyal to the last. Send us Fan Mail

A venerated oarsman from South Australia, who used his skill at one of the most famous events in Australian history - the Gallipoli landings of 25 April 1915. Send us Fan Mail

Verdi Schwinghammer, from South Grafton, NSW, made the most of his war service and became a prolific tourist in between the "war" and "service" parts of his time abroad. He even made the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 for it! Send us Fan Mail

The story of a man from Kerang, Victoria, who shows us how strong community ties can be maintained even with half the boys of the town on the other side of the world. Send us Fan Mail

A band geek and a boy - yes, he was underage - from Darwin, NT, who left the Cable Guard and the Darwin Town Brass Band behind to enlist in 1915. Wounded three times at war, would he come home? Send us Fan Mail

A man from Bendigo who was described as a coward by some at home, but who had a vigorous defender to point out how much courage it took to do ordinary things like work in the cookhouse. Send us Fan Mail

A man whose story runs from the fashion industry of the 1910s to farming in the Second World War. But, with almost no mental health assistance to be had, a story that ends in the worst way. Send us Fan Mail

A man from Melbourne who survived the torpedoing of the troopship  Southland , when his brother did not. Send us Fan Mail

An AFL player who grew up in Broken Hill, Dave Low was one of a handful of SANFL players to serve in the First World War, and the only Magarey Medallist to be killed. Send us Fan Mail

A true celebrity of the AIF, Major Oliver Hogue, camelier and lighthorseman of Sydney, NSW, was a talented wordsmith read by households across Australia. Send us Fan Mail

A methodist minister from Molong who was always described as a MAN™, but who was in reality one willing to make a proper self-sacrifice. Send us Fan Mail

An enterprising man from Traralgon who served through the entire war with the Australian Engineers, and then came home and settled down. Send us Fan Mail

The story of a pretty good footballer from Bombala, NSW, and the odds he had to overcome to be considered a great bloke and everyone's mate. Send us Fan Mail

The story of a pearler from Broome, Western Australia, and some of the stories he left in the hills above Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. Send us Fan Mail

A man once said to have lived "one of the most criminal lives of a soldier in the AIF," but perhaps really just a bit of a naughty boy. Send us Fan Mail

The story of a community minded Queenslander who turned in one of the most selfless acts of any Australian in the war. Send us Fan Mail

The story of a very ordinary South Australian, his extraordinary brothers, and why I might choose to study the First AIF one guy at a time. Send us Fan Mail

Before launching into a series of stories of individuals, let's talk about the stereotypes - what did Australians think they were like before the war began? Send us Fan Mail