THE GALLIPOLI LETTER
Keith Murdoch
Allen & Unwin, $29.99, hbk
One of the key moments in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, indeed one of the key moments in Australian history, was the publication of a letter by Australian journalist Keith Murdoch.
Murdoch was on his way to London but Australian prime minister Andrew Fisher asked him to call into Gallipoli on his way.
Murdoch was a personal friend of Fisher and was asked to describe in a confidential letter what he was seeing and what was happening.
Murdoch was on Gallipoli for only four days.
The result, as they say, is history.
He had no experience of war.
What he saw and what the Australian soldiers and officers told him appalled him.
The British officers running the campaign tried to say that a lot of what Murdoch reported was not true, and some of it may not have been.
But what was absolutely and inarguably true was his account of what the Australian officers and soldiers thought of the campaign.
They thought it was a shambles; incompetence and snobbery run wild.
When it was seen by the British Government in London it led directly to the sacking of the commanding general (Ian Hamilton), the termination of the Dardanelles campaign, and total evacuation.
It caused a major setback in the career of the British politician whose idea it had been, Winston Churchill.
This book publishes Murdoch's 8000-word letter in full, and includes a facsimile of it as well.
There is also an excellent introductory background on Murdoch himself, and on the campaign.
History has maybe been less kind to Murdoch than his contemporaries were.
His dismissal of the British troops - who were present in far greater numbers than the Australians and who suffered equally from deprivation and incompetence - as "toy soldiers" does him no credit.
His inexperience of war led him to believe what he was seeing was untypical, when in fact it was typical of all wars, and especially the start of a war.
That does not make it any more acceptable, of course, but over-dramatisation did scant justice to the actual professionalism on the ground.
When badly treated during the war, the soldiers of the French, Italian, German and Russian forces mutinied in large numbers.
The British Commonwealth armies never did.
It is a soldier's ancient privilege to grouse, and the Australian soldiers to whom Murdoch spoke certainly did.
They had much to grouse about, but Murdoch makes out their case to be special, which it wasn't.
His letter had a long-term impact on how Australia saw Britain and how its soldiers saw British officers.
It reinforced resentment of Australia's historical cultural cringe.
Its publication did Murdoch's career no harm either.
He went on to become a major figure in Australia's news media, and his son Rupert has risen even higher on the world stage.
• Oliver Riddell is a Wellington writer.
