John Ramsland – författare

In The Legacy of Douglas Grant, John Ramsland vividly re-creates the famous Aborigine''s life - now lost in the mists of history. Douglas was born to Indigenous parents and, as an infant, was the sole survivor of a cruel massacre in northern Queensland. As an adult, he was a charismatic speaker on Aboriginal rights, but spoke with a distinct Scottish burr. Why was this so?He was rescued by a kindly Scottish immigrant and brought up and well educated in the Scottish way in Sydney’s leafy suburb of Annandale.Highly successful at school, he became a leading engineering draftsman at Mort''s Dock Company in Balmain and, later, a woolclasser at "Belltrees" station near Scone in the Hunter Valley of NSW.With friends from "Belltrees", he joined the 1st AIF. His dangerous encounters on the Western Front and as a prisoner-of-war in Germany are pieced together by the author from many fragments.Douglas bravely faced unpleasant racism in post-war Australia, but never lost his keen sense of humour and scholarly interests.

''A flash blinds me... We are lost in a chaos of flying mud... Smoke, filth, confusion, racket! I spit and splutter and swear... Oh Christ! I think I''m flamin'' well dead.'' This is the compelling story of Lieutenant Joseph ''Darkie'' Maxwell DCM, MC and Bar, VC - the second highest decorated Australian soldier of the First World War. Meticulously researched by historian John Ramsland, Maxwell''s colourful life is traced from his childhood on the Hunter coalfields until his death at age 71 in a soldier''s settlement home in Matraville Sydney. Maxwell was a vivid storyteller who wrote Hells Bells and Mademoiselles, telling of his experiences in the war. In telling Maxwell''s story, Ramsland has uncovered many forgotten documents to piece together an extraordinary life of an extraordinary man.

Arthur Wheen was the most daring, resourceful signaller in the 1st AIF. His extraordinary exploits in the epic Battles of Fromelles, Polygon Wood, Villers-Bretonneux and Peronne are told as well as his subsequent career as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1929 he became the first and best translator of Remarque''s classical German war novel All Quiet on the Western Front that became an international bestseller and a Hollywood film in 1930. On the other side of No Man''s Land Wheen''s experience paralleled incidents in the book. In the midst of the horrors of Fromelles, Wheen showed conspicuous bravery in laying and repairing telephone lines under extremely heavy fire across No Man''s Land where there was indescribable loss of life. At night he volunteered to search for the wounded and showed fine courageous spirit in rescuing many under intense machine-gun and rifle fire. He wrote: ''The Morning Star is quenched with blood''.