Tony Wright (2) (1951–)

I had high hopes for this book, given the book's title. A walk from Istanbul to Gallipoli would be a 'long hike' and allow plenty of opportunity for an author to get to know the country and the people at the level of the street and field where the true character of a place can be discerned and described. However, that wasn't what the author meant. He had taken a walk on the Peninsula, but not 'to the Peninsula'. But that walk - on a very small piece of land, the battlefield burial place of thousands of Turks, Australians and New Zealanders - saves the book

Wright's account of his time in Istanbul prior to arriving at Gallipoli is very little more than the standard travel writer's fare - a catalogue of sights to be seen, and word portraits of local characters who are all very nice people, except for those rascally carpet merchants of course. It's not quite excruciating, but I'd recommend that the reader simply skip the first 130 page, and pick up the story where the author takes a boat to view the beaches and hills of Gallipoli from the sea, as the first troops landing there in 1915 would have seen it.

Now, at last having a real story to tell, the author kicks up a gear. This story - the one worth reading - is not so much about what happened here a hundred years ago, but the story of what is happening now. How people of all nations and very diverse backgrounds each celebrate their own version of Gallipoli, and yet manage to share the same place and events, more and less tolerant of each other's lifestyles and music. And for a very brief while, at dawn on the 25th April, how they share the same profound awe.

Don't read this book for a history of Gallipoli, or for any deep insight into the beauty and character of Turkey and the Turks. But as a story about the Gallipoli 'pilgrimage' it (possibly) has the field to itself. Wright's account of walking the battlefield, of scrambling on crumbling hillsides is the finest possible introduction to the ground itself, and after reading his account you may find that you want to know more about what happened at Quinn's Post, Johnston's Jolly and Baby 700, along with the more familiar Lone Pine and the Nek.

For the actual history, the unfolded story behind those names, I'd recommend going to the source, C.E.W.Bean's incomparable two volume history of the Gallipoli campaign. These books were written by the man who was there, and the man who - in a sense - made the first pilgrimage to Gallipoli when he led a team back there in 1919 to forensically go over the ground taken - and lost - on the very first day. From spent shell cases, and bones and scraps of uniforms he reconstructed the heroic/tragic story of the first men ashore who had scrambled up those ridges and disappeared - for a while - from all knowledge of those who came behind. Those volumes of Bean are now available online, for free, at the Australian War Memorial site - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1069749/… (mer)

Bad Ground is the real story of miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb and their deliverance from entombment in the depths of the Beaconsfield hard-rock mine. But the seismic event that trapped them affected the close-knit community just as profoundly. Family, friends, fellow miners and rescuers: this is also the story of those who worked desperately against the clock and against all odds to reach the men below. Of those who held vigil, of those who grieved, and of those who never stopped believing. Tony Wright was there covering the story as it unfolded, and experienced first-hand the making of an Australian legend.… (mer)

All along, I had intended for this to be my 2005 ANZAC Day release, but here I am having finished it almost a week early and not wanting to dedicate space to it in my already overcrowded backpack. That having been said, it was a wonderful read and I honestly think if I weren't travelling, I'd keep it.

Tony Wright has a wonderful style of writing that allows us to both learn about the ANZACS, ANZAC Day and the differences between the Turkish and the Australian perspectives on the war, but also to make us feel as if were are there travelling with him across the peninsula in time for ANZAC Day.

I admit, I knew nothing of the ANZACs prior to my trip to the War Memorial in Canberra when I was here in 2002. While I learned a lot at the museum, I felt this book also filled in some holes and his description of the topography was amazing--I felt like I was there running across Razor Edge or viewing ANZAC Cove from the ferry with them.

This really was an amazing book, it's got honours as the most meaningful one I've read this year. I'm torn because I really don't want to wild release it, it's too good, but at the same time I think it's a timely release, even in the days before ANZAC Day if I let it go before I leave Brisbane.… (mer)