The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. Iegypt, Gallipoli, Lemnos Island, Sinai Peninsula

The 28th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force was raised in Western Australia in 1915, comprised largely of young men from the state's wheatbelt and goldfields. This official record traces their journey from enlistment and training at Blackboy Hill through deployment to Egypt, the harrowing months at Gallipoli, and beyond. Written with the precision of a regimental history but suffused with quiet pride, Collett documents the battalion's formation, the logistical chaos of overseas deployment, and the forging of unit identity among soldiers who left farms and towns for a war few fully understood. The narrative captures the particular character of Australian service in the Great War: the mixture of British loyalty and emerging national consciousness, the harsh education of young men into soldiers, and the camaraderie that sustained them through desert camps and frontline combat. This volume covers the battalion's most brutal engagements, ending before the final campaigns in the Middle East. For historians of Australian military history and anyone seeking to understand the Anzac experience from within the ranks, this remains an indispensable primary source.