Bill Gammage

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = William Leonard Gammage
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birth_date = 1942
birth_place = Orange, New South Wales
death_date =
death_place =
education =
occupation = Historian
spouse = Jan
parents =
children =

William Leonard "Bill" Gammage (born 1942) is an Australian academic historian, Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Humanities Research Center of Australian National University.He was born in Orange, New South Wales, went to Wagga Wagga High School and then to the Australian National University.cite news |title= ANU Humanitites Research Centre: Professor Bill Gammage |url= http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/people/staff_bios/gammagebio.php Professor Bill Gammage |date= 2005-06-08] He was on the faculty of the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of Adelaide. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and deputy chair of the National Museum of Australia.

History studies

The Great War

He is perhaps best known for his book "The Broken Years: Australian Soldiers in the Great War", which is based on his PhD-thesis, written at the Australian National University. It was first published in 1974, and re-printed in 1975, 1980, 1981 (the year in which Peter Weir's film, "Gallipoli" came out), 1985 and 1990. This study revives the tradition of C.E.W. Bean, Australia's official historian of the First World War, who focused his narrative on the men in the line, rather than the strategies of generals. Gammage corresponded with 272 Great War veterans, and consulted the personal records of another 728, mostly at the Australian War Memorial.

He has written several other books about the experiences of soldiers in the First World War. He co-edited the "Australians 1938" volume of the "Bicentennial History of Australia" (1988), and three definitive books about Australian soldiers in World War One.

In 1998 Gammage joined the Humanities Research Center at the ANU as an ARC Senior Research Fellow to work the history of Aboriginal land management. This work was cross-discipinary, working "across fields as disparate as history, anthropology and botany".cite paper |author= Glen St John Barclay, Caroline Turner |title= A history of the first 30 years of the HRC at The Australian National University |version= |publisher= Humanities Research Centre, ANU |date= 2004 |url= http://epress.anu.edu.au/hrc/mobile_devices/ch06.html |format= HTML |accessdate= 2007-07-02]

Gallipoli

As an historical adviser Gammage has worked on many documentaries and his writing is cited as an authoritative source on Australia's participation in World War One.cite news |title= Australia in World War One By Dr Peter Stanley |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/australia_04.shtml |date=2002-03-01] For the film "Gallipoli" directed by Peter Weir, Gammage was employed as the military advisor cite news |title= Murdock University film database |url= http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/dbase/2002/gallipoli2.htm |date= 2007-06-30] and he worked on the text that David Williamson turned into the screen play of the film.

Local history of Narrandera

Gammage produced an historic study of the Shire of Narrandera. A copy of this history can be purchased from the Narrandera Tourist Information Centre.cite news |title= History of the Narrandera Shire |url=http://www.narrandera.nsw.gov.au/about/1012/1033.html |date= 2005-05-16] Gammage was made a freeman of Narrandera Shire Council in 1987.cite news |title= ANU Humanitites Research Centre: Professor Bill Gammage |url=http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/people/staff_bios/gammagebio.php |date= 2005-06-08]

Awards and nominations

* 1988- "Narrandera Shire" (1986) which won the ABC/ABA Manning Clark Bicentennial History Award in 1988
* 1999 - Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, History Book Award for "The Sky Travellers: Journeys in New Guinea 1938-39"cite news |title= Queensland Premier's Literary Awards |url= http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/awardsevents/awards/Queensland_Premiers_Literary_awards/Past_Winners/ |date= 2006]
* 1999 - shortlisted in the New South Wales Premier's History Awards for "The Sky Travellers: Journeys in New Guinea 1938-39"
* 2005 - Member of the Order of Australia (AM)cite news |title= Member of the Order of Australia nomination |url= http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=1058610&search_type=quick&showInd=true |date= 2005-06-13]

Bibliography

Books

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Periodical articles

* ANZAC's influence on Turkey and Australia. Journal of the Australian War Memorial.: 1991,18; Presented as a keynote address at the 1990 Australian War Memorial history conference
* "Oral and Written Sources." In Oral Tradition in Melanesia. Ed. by Donald Denoon. Port Moresby, New Guinea: University of Papua, New Guinea and Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. pp. 115-24.
* "My Gun, My Brother. the World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police 1920-1960" Oceania, Vol. 70, 1999.

Other work

* "Sir John Monash : a military review" (Melbourne University, 1974)
* "The story of Gallipoli" / text by Bill Gammage ; screenplay by David Williamson ; preface by Peter Weir. Ringwood, Vic. : Penguin Australia 1981) Released August 1981 as "Gallipoli.", dir. by Peter Weir

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ worldwars/wwone/australia_04.shtml Australia in World War One by Dr Peter Stanley] "Bill Gammage, whose 1974 book The Broken Years did so much to renew interest in the Great War in Australia,..."
* [http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1998/sportsf/sf980424.htm Interview with Gammage on ABC International] about sport in the Australian Army in W.W. I & II.
* [http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1991/roc1991009.htm Conference paper by John Carnahan] "Bill Gammage's classical study of the history of Narrandera Shire"
* [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8373.00092?journalCode=apv Asia-Pacific Viewpoint] Review of "The Sky-Travellers"
* [http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/dbase/2002/gallipoli2.htm Murdoch Univ. film database] entry on Gallipoli – 1981

Persondata
NAME=Gammage, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian Professor of History
DATE OF BIRTH=1942
PLACE OF BIRTH=Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=