Gallipoli: Our Last Man Standing: The Extraordinary Life of Alec Campbell by Jonathan King

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges, particularly tail edge. Dust jacket has creasing at edges and at spine. Small tear to tail right front cover corner - now protected with book tape. Wear to spine has been protected with book tape. Stains on inside of dust jacket. Pages are sunned. Interior and binding are still very good.

This is the story of a remarkable Australian who, during a long and eventful life, served briefly at Anzac Cove in 1915. It is not a journey to Gallipoli, however. Rather, it is a journey from Gallipoli, a journey of the heart and mindset against the backdrop of a century of convulsive change. Gallipoli is the springboard, but at the core of Alec's story lies one man's determined effort to leave the world a better place.

Landing on the beach at Gallipoli, Alec Campbell, aged 16, looked more like a 12-year-old in his big brother's uniform. An Australian country boy caught up in a war he knew little about, on a peninsula he couldn't even spell, he eluded snipers as he carried water up the line to the trenches above Anzac Cove.

Eventually, he succumbed to illness and was evacuated to Cairo. Back home again, he went bush as a drover and jackaroo. Still, Gallipoli had opened his eyes to the iniquities of war and of the Empire, and the Depression reinforced his political radicalisation.

He became an active unionist, a socialist and a committed republican. Living with the injury he sustained at Gallipoli, he devoted much of his working life to helping others with disabilities. Among many personal achievements, he participated in six Sydney-Hobart races and a historic circumnavigation of Tasmania.

Alec Campbell, who went to war for adventure and lived to become a national icon, epitomises the Aussie larrikin and reluctant hero. (book flap)