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The Desert Column

The Desert Column

by Ion Idriess
Paperback
Publication Date: 01/05/2017

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One hundred years after the charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba in October 1917...

The Desert Column is based on the diaries that he kept through out the war. Published in 1932, it is one of Idriess' earliest works.

Harry Chauvel noted in the foreword that it was the only book of the campaign that to his knowledge was "viewed entirely from the private soldier's point of view"... Idriess served as a sniper with the 5th Australian Light Horse. Enlisting in 1914, he began his diary "as we crowded the decks off Gallipoli" and he continued writing until returning to Australia...

The diaries cover his experience of some of the war's major events from life in the trenches at Gallipoli to the battles at Romani and Beersheba. One of Idriess' strengths as a writer is his ability to place the reader at the scene of the action...

The diaries reveal a keenness of observation and a descriptive and pacey style that Idriess would develop further in The Desert Column.' - The Australian War Memorial

ISBN:
9781925416879
9781925416879
Category:
Australasian & Pacific history
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
01-05-2017
Language:
English
Publisher:
ETT Imprint
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
330
Ion Idriess

Ion Idriess (1889-1979) is one of Australia's best-loved writers, with fifty-six books to his credit and millions of copies sold. When he returned from the First World War he wrote The Desert Column, about his experiences with the 5th Light Horse. Prospecting for Gold was his first major successful work; it immediately sold out and was reprinted constantly in the following years, as were many of his books. Idriess spent much of his life travelling throughout Australia, collecting material for his true-life stories, including Flynn of the Inland, The Red Chief and Nemarluk. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1968 for his contribution to Australian literature.

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