top of page

Soldier Poets

  • Poet Name

    • Birth/Death - Origin
      • Poetry​ (Book, Poem)

​

​Australian born and serving in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF)

​

~~~New South Wales

  1. Sergeant Charles Townsend O’Neill

    1. 1876 – 1961: ​Queanbeyan, Australia: Service Record

      1. Soldiers' Poems (Book)​

        1. Soldier's Day (Poem)​

  2. + Sydney Bolitho ~Died from tuberculosis while recovering from serious injuries in both legs 1st May 1919 - England +

    1. 1889 - 1st May 1919: ​Orange, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Gallipoli (Poem)​

  3. + Oliver ‘Trooper Bluegum’ Hogue ~Died of Spanish Flu 3rd March 1919 - 3rd London General Hospital, England +

    1. 29 April 1880 - 3rd March 1919: Sydney, N.S.W.​: Service Record

      1. The Home-Sick Anzac: And Other War Verses (Book)​

        1. Farewell to my Steed (Poem)

        2. The Horse Stay Behind (Poem)

        3. To my Camel (Poem)

        4. Anzac (Poem)

  4. A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson

    1. 17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941: ​"Narrambla", near Orange, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. The collected verse of A.B. Paterson (Book)

      2. Rio Grande’s Last Race and Other Verses [Boer War] (Book)

      3. We’re all Australians now (Poem)

      4. Swinging the Lead (Poem)

      5. The Army Mules (Poem)

      6. Moving On (Poem)

      7. The VC (Poem)

  5. Ion Idriess

    1. 20 September 1889 – 6 June 1979: Waverley, Sydney: Service Record

      1. You’ve heard we won Jerusalem (Poem)​

  6. Captain James Griffyth Fairfax

    1. 15 July 1886–27 January 1976: Sydney, N.S.W.

      1. The Temple of Janus (Book)

      2. Mesopotamia (Book)

        1. The Forest of the Dead (Poem)

  7. Harley Matthews

    1. 27 April 1889 – 9 August 1968: St Leonards, Sydney, N.S.W.: Service Record

      1. Vintage of War - Poems of Anzac (Book)​

      2. Under the Open Sky (Book)​

        1. ​Wet Canteen (Poem)

  8. Frederick Manning

    1. 22 July 1882 – 22 February 1935: Sydney, N.S.W.: Service Record

      1. Eidola ​(Book)​

        1. The Face (Poem)​

        2. The Trenches (Poem)

  9. Charles E.W. Bean

    1. 18 November 1879 – 30 August 1968: Bathurst, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Non nobis (Poem)

      2. Abdul (Poem)

      3. What Profetith? (Poem)

  10. Reynold ‘Cleve’ Potter

    1. 8 March, 1888 - 3 November, 1970: New England, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Not Theirs the Shame who Fight (Book)

      2. Past Hell’s Portraits (Book)

        1. Not Theirs' the Shame (Poem)​

        2. New Year 1918 (Poem)

  11. Rowland Edward Lording

    1. 20 June 1899 - 1 October 1944: Balmain, Sydney: Service Record

      1. When this bleedin' war is over (Poem)​

  12. Sydney Elliot Napier

    1. 25 December 1870 – 3 May 1940: Sydney, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Sydney Elliot Napier - Poems (Book)​

      2. Mater Delorosa (Poem)

  13. James Charles Hackney

    1. c1894-19??: Sydney, New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Evacuation of Gallipoli (Poem)

  14. Henry (Harry) McCann

    1. c1884-19??: Murrumburrah New South Wales: Service Record

      1. Killed in Action (Poem)

      2. When I’m Keeping Guard (Poem)

  15. Norman Cunningham (c1873) or Nathaniel Cunningham (c1897)

    1. 18??-19??: Newcastle or Newtown, New South Wales: Service Record 1 or Service Record 2

      1. The Westland of the South (Poem)

~~~Victoria

  1. Tom Skeyhill

    1. 10 January 1895 - 22 May 1932: ​Terang, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Soldier-Songs from Anzac (Book)​

      2. Poems from the Peninsular (Book)​

        1. My Little Wet Home in the Trench (Poem)​

        2. The Naked Army (Poem)

        3. Me Brother What Stayed at ’ome (Poem)

  2. + James Drummond Burns ~KIA 18 September 1915 (Bullet in head) - Shrapnel Valley, Gallipoli, Turkey +

    1. 1895 – 18 September 1915: ​Geelong, Braeside, Austin Street, Newtown, Victoria: Service Record

      1. The Story of the Anzacs (Book)​

        1. Ballad of the Emden (Poem)​

  3. + Private W.M. McDonald ~KIA 8 May 1917 - No. 14 Australian General Hospital, Cairo, Egypt +

    1. 5 April 1894 – 8 May 1917: Hawthorn, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Soldier Songs from Palestine (Book)​

        1. A Spray of Wattle (Poem)​

        2. Camps in the Sands (Poem)

        3. The Gum Leaf (Poem)

  4. Edward Philip Harrington

    1. 28 September 1895 – 28 May 1966: Shepparton, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Anzac (Poem)

      2. Lone Pine (Poem)

      3. The Outpost (Poem)

  5. John Archibold Douglas (Jack) Sommers

    1. 9 November 1877 - 7 December 1934: Melbourne, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Flanders (May 1916) (Poem)​

  6. Frank Edmond Westbrook

    1. 1889 – 1976: South Yarra - Glen Iris area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Anzac and After (Book)

      2. Echoes of the Anzacs (Book)

        1. Dawn (Poem)

  7. Walter Oscar Walters

    1. 1889 - 27 Oct 1948: Greensborough in Victoria: Service Record

      1. Shrapnel Green and Other Verses (Book)​

        1. “When You’ve Been Here as Long as Me” (Poem)​

        2. Shrapnel Green (Poem)

        3. The Menin Road (Poem)

  8. Alfred Leslie Guppy

    1. 1888 – 1968: Benalla, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Farewell to Gallipoli (Poem)​

  9. John Monash

    1. 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931: West Melbourne, Victoria: Service Record

      1. ​

  10. Samuel Charles Lewis

    1. April, 1872-19??: Collingwood, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Memories (Poem)

  11. Edmund Sambell

    1. c1877 – 5 December, 1961: Melbourne, Victoria: Service Record

      1. The Charge of the Fourth Brigade (Poem)

  12. Walter James Redfern Turner

    1. 13 October 1889 – 18 November 1946: South Melbourne, Victoria: Service Record

      1. The Dark Fire (Book)​

      2. The Hunter and Other Poems (Book)

      3. Aeroplanes (Poem)

  13. Stuart Deacon Leslie

    1. 1891-1926: Hawthorn, Victoria: Service Record

      1. Waiting (Poem)

~~~South Australia

  1. Leon Gellert

    1. ​17 May 1892 – 22 August 1977: Adelaide, South Australia: Service Record

      1. Song​s of a Campaign (Book)​

      2. Desperate Measures (Book)​

        1. The Jester In The Trench (Poem)​

        2. These Men (Poem)

        3. The Diggers (Poem)

  2. Edwin Gerard (aka: Trooper Gerardy or Gerardy)

    1. 22 May 1891 – 19 January 1965: Yunta, South Australia: Service Record

      1. Australian Light Horse Ballads and Rhymes (Book)​

      2. The Road to Palestine and Other Verses (Book)

      3. Riding Song (Poem)

      4. Lofty Lane (Poem)

      5. Battle Song (Poem)

      6. Peace in Bethlehem (Poem)

      7. Retrospect of Palestine (Poem)

~~~Queensland

  1. William Baylebridge

    1. 12 December 1883 - 7 May 1942: East Brisbane, Queensland: Service Record

      1. A Wreath (Poem)​

  2. Vance Palmer

    1. 28 August 1885 – 15 July 1959: Bundaberg, Queensland: Service Record

      1. The Farmer Remembers the Somme (Poem)

      2. The Camp (Poem)

      3. Easter (Poem)

      4. The Signal (Poem)

  3. + Leslie George Rub ~KIA 23 September 1917 - Ypres, France +

    1. 1892 – 23 September 1917: Drayton, Queensland: Service Record

      1. Christmas Day On The Somme (Poem)​

      2. A farewell glass (Poem)

~~~Western Australia

  1. Archibald Irving

    1. The Dead (Poem)​

    2. The Unborn (Poet)

    3. Poppy Day (Poem)

~~~Tasmania

  1. + Frank Vivian Searle ~KIA 30 August 1915 - 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey +

    1. c1893 – 30 August 1915: ​Westbury, Tasmania: Service Record

      1. The Private’s Lament (Poem)

      2. The Fight Between the Sydney and the Emden (Poem)

      3. To the Memory of a Dead Comrade (Poem)

      4. A Bit About the Third Brigade (Poem)

      5. Viv’s Versification (Poem)

  2. + Ray Searle ~KIA 23 August 1917 - Messines, France +

    1. 1895 - 23 August 1917: Westbury, Tasmania: Service Record

      1. A Little Grey-Haired Mother (Poem)​

  3. James Sprent

    1. c1883-19??: Wynyard, Tasmania: Service Record

      1. Our Fathers (Poem)

~~~Unknown Australia

  1. J. Ryan

    1. c1894-19??: Australia​: Service Record

      1. The Landing at Gaba Tepe and Other Poems (Book)​

        1. Mother, we meet again (Poem)​

        2. A Soldier’s Dream of Home (Poem)

  2. Private A. Fedge

    1. 18??-19??: Australia: Service Record

      1. We Are Coming (Poem)​

  3. Lance Corporal McLeod

    1. 18??-19??: Australia: Service Record

      1. That Gold Stripe (Poem)​

  4. George Arthur Watt (1892 - Williamstown, Victoria: DOW - "Not Dead")

    1. 1892-1963: unknown: Service Record 2

      1. Picardy (Poem)​

​

Australian born and serving in the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) (ExPats)

​

​

New Zealand

​

​

Foreign born and serving in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF)

​

~~~England

  1. George Sanders

    1. 18??-19??: England: ​[migrated 1902 – ???]: Service Record

      1. Of Poets (Poem)

      2. Near Jordan (Poem)

  2. + Geoffrey Wall [served in the RAF] ~KIA 6 August 1917 (Killed in Training Accident) Nethervavo Aerodrome, Wiltshire, England +

    1. 3 March 1897 – 6 August 1917: Cheshire, England: [migrated 1907 – 10]​: Service Record

      1. Songs of an Airman ​(Book)​

        1. Requiem (Poem)​

  3. Arthur Wilberforce Jose

    1. 4 September 1863 – 26 November 1956: Clifton, Bristol, England: [migrated 1882 - 19]: Service Record

      1. Song (Poem)​

  4. Ernest M. Warwick

    1. c1897-19??: Southend England: Service Record

      1. Poppies of War (Poem)

~~~Ireland

  1. + Tom Vincent Brennan (aka: Brentomnan) ~Died of Exhaustion 7 September, 1920 - Brisbane General Hospital, Australia +

    1. 6 October, 1889 – 7 September, 1920: Kilkenny, Ireland: [migrated 1913 - 24]: Service Record

      1. On Sunday Morn (Poem)​

  2. Rev. John Laurence Rentoul

    1. 6 July 1846 - 15 April 1926: Garvagh, Londonderry, Ireland: [migrated 1879 – 33]: Service Record

      1. Gaba Tepe (Poem)​

      2. God's Backsheesh (Poem)

~~~Scotland

  1. Robert Dunsmuir

    1. c1885-19??: Grangemouth Scotland: Service Record (probably R.D's son)

      1. My Bivvy (Poem)​​

~~~Switzerland​​

  1. Martin A’Beckett Boyd

    1. 10 June 1893 – 3 June 1972: Lucerne, Switzerland: [Australian, didn’t migrate]: Service Record

      1. Regulars (Poem)​

​

Unknown origin and serving in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF)

​

​​

  1. Kookawarra

    1. 18??-19??: unknown: Service Record

      1. The Taube (Poem)

      2. A Toast (Poem)

  2. Larrie

    1. 18??-19??: unknown: Service Record

      1. L’Envoi (Poem)​​​​​​

​​​​​​​

Frank Westbrook.jpg
Oliver Hogue.JPG
Leon Gellert 2.jpg
Frederic Manning - Copy.jpg
Tom Skeyhill 3.jpg
Private W. M. McDonald.jpg
bottom of page