A Walk Through the Battlefields

With special guest:

• Dr Will Davies
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these fields more than 100 years after the shots were fired. Our guest today Dr Will Davies can help visitors get the most out of a visit.

After hearing the stories from Will, names like Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Fromelles and Ypres will never seem the same. There are extraordinary monuments representing the countries that participated in the war to end all wars. These include the English, the American, the Canadian, even one from Newfoundland. And there is the Australian monument at Villers-Bretonneux.

There is a daily ceremony at Menin Gate rain hail or shine that should not be missed. And Will has developed his own ceremony on his tours involving gum leaves from home.

The words of the then French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau are carved into a monument at Hamel “I am going back tomorrow to see my countrymen and tell them I have seen the Australians. I have looked in their eyes. I know that these men who have fought great battles beside us in the cause of freedom will fight alongside us again.”

Will believes that all Australians should have on their to-do list a visit to the battlefields of France. The French make it obvious that they are still grateful for the support of the Australians in their time of need. Streets are named after Australian cities, there are kangaroo replicas in the windows of the Town Hall and people are still inclined to buy you a drink.

After listening to Will today if you are interested in joining him on a tour there will be more tours in 2025 so there is plenty of time to organise your visit. The best thing to do right now is to contact Will directly for more information. You can do that by sending an email to info@willdavies.net.au

Dr Will Davies

Dr Will Davies is an historian, writer and filmmaker who began working with Film Australia (Commonwealth Film Unit) in 1972 following his graduation from the ANU. After a stint abroad where he worked at the BBC, he worked freelance in the emerging Australian film industry including stints on a number of feature films including Phar Lap, Monkey Grip and Hostage. In 1983 he produced his first television documentary and for the next thirty years, produced a broad range of documentaries, corporate films and educational programmes, mainly for the ABC and SBS.

Somme Mud: The war experiences of an Australian infantryman in France 1916-1919, which he edited, has become a bestseller in Australia, the UK and The Netherlands. In the Footsteps of Private Lynch has also been published to acclaim in Australia and the UK.

Will’s latest books are The Last 100 Days, The Forgotten: the Chinese Labour Corps and the Chinese Anzacs in the Great War and Secrets and Special.

Song selection by our guest: No Man’s Land (The Green Fields of France) by Eric Bogle

Podcast (mp3)