Centennial WW1 Armistice Tribute, Gallipoli, Western Front and Palestine – Eye Witness Accounts by Dr Jonathan King

This lecture is the contribution of the Military History Society of New South Wales to History Week. Its aim is to give the audience a clearer view of the range of Australian battlefields so that they made better understand military history of the country and become acquainted with the opportunities for travel to these historic sites.

The lecturer, Dr. Jonathan King, will have available a number of his books, so there is an opportunity of obtain a signed copy. Dr. Jonathan King will talk about his work since 1996 gathering interviews from remaining veterans about the three main theatres of WW1 – Gallipoli, Western Front and Palestine.

Answering the passionate pleas of these Veterans he has been using his films and books for the last four years trying broaden the public focus of WW1 centennial commemorations from the popular preoccupation with the failed Gallipoli campaign by raising their awareness of other more significant and successful (but less known) battlefields- like the Western Front and Palestine, Campaigning to switch the national spotlight from Gallipoli he has used these interviews to produce a TV documentary (Foxtel History Channel) and book (Scribe Publications, Melbourne) on each of the theatres to mark the centenaries – Gallipoli in 2015, Western Front in 2016 and Palestine 2017.

A direct descendant of the 1788 First Fleet Naval Office then NSW Governor, Philip Gidley King, Dr. Jonathan King has history in his blood. He has been trying to bring history to life for decades through live re-enactments like the 1988 award-winning Australian Bicentennial London to Sydney First Fleet Reenactment Expedition; also through documentary TV films and books.

Using the records of his own ancestors who fought in all three theatres of WW1 along with interviews with Veterans from those theatres he most recently produced a trilogy of TV films and books to commemorate the centenary of WW1 between 2014-2018. A hands-on Historian he also visited each the battlefields for the centennial commemorations to help tell the story to the media covering those events – even riding as one of 100 horsemen from Australian Light Horse Association retracing the Charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba 31 October 2017. He will bring copies of his books and films.