
About Anzac Treasures
Experience the Anzac story and what Australian soldiers endured on Gallipoli as never before with ANZAC Treasures: The Gallipoli Collection of the Australian War Memorial.
For the first time, leading Australian military historian Dr Peter Pedersen has drawn on priceless objects such as personal memorabilia, photographs, diaries, documents and works of art in the Australian War Memorial’s Collection. Many of these items belonged to the soldiers themselves, or they were assembled by Charles Bean, the official historian of the war and founder of the Memorial, who was with the men throughout the campaign.
Dr Pedersen describes the campaign at Gallipoli not only from a military perspective, but also in terms of its impact on Australian society and its role in commemoration. Anzac Treasures provides unparalleled insight into how the Anzacs came to be there, the Landing, what daily life was like, letters sent to and from home, the failed August offensive and the successful evacuation.
Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of pictures of items from the Memorial’s collection, many rarely seen before, this book enables generations of Australians to see the story of Gallipoli in an entirely new light. Above all, it is a lasting tribute to the Anzacs on the centenary of the campaign in which their legend was born.
Guest Speaker
Dr Peter Pedersen, formerly Head of the Research Centre at the Australian War Memorial, is one of Australia’s leading military historians. A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, the Australian Command and Staff College, and the University of New South Wales, Dr Pedersen commanded the 5th/7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. During the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Gallipoli campaign in 1990, he guided then Prime Ministers Thatcher and Hawke over the Gallipoli battlefields. He has also led many tours to the Western Front and other battlefields in Europe and Asia.
Among Dr Pedersen’s eight books on the First World War are Monash as Military Commander; Images of Gallipoli; The Anzacs: Gallipoli to the Western Front; and Anzacs on the Western Front: the Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide. Dr Pedersen is currently consultant historian for the Australian government’s commemorative projects on the Australian battlefields of the Western Front.
Image: courtesy of the Australian War Memorial