Friends of Kiama Library and Kiama and District Historical Society will host a combined event on Saturday, April 11 at 2.30pm in the Kiama Family History Centre, featuring Kit Cullen. With the centenary of Anzac in mind, the Wollongong-based history researcher and English teacher at Illawarra Sports High School will discuss his book Jack’s Journey. 

Jack’s Journey was published by Allen & Unwin in 2013, the story of an unheralded and virtually unknown Anzac action that occurred on May 1-2, 1915 during the period of landing at Gallipoli. 

‘‘I have always been interested in military history, particularly Gallipoli and Vietnam, and I am still pinching myself that I have had a Gallipoli book published,’’ Cullen said.

‘‘I spent about ten years researching and writing Jack’s Journey.

‘‘I’m still amazed by it all.’’ Cullen’s book tells the story of Jack Collyer from Mudgee, who was 23 when he joined the 4th Battalion in Sydney in September 1914. 

He served in Gallipoli and died of wounds there a week after the Anzac landings. 

Cullen began tracing Collyer’s story using his three diaries and service record. 

‘‘I started to find out where he was and what he was doing, and was amazed by what I found,’’ Cullen said of his research.

On May 1, Collyer and about 50 other members of No. 15 Platoon 4th Battalion were ordered to go to the aid of about 60 Royal Marines who had been trapped for two-and-a-half days in an isolated trench. 

Collyer and his mates christened it Death Trap Valley. The Anzacs were ordered to resupply the Marines with ammunition and water and to reinforce their line. 

To do so meant running the gauntlet of the death trap - an exposed 50-metre long track, marked by the Turks as a killing ground. 

As the platoon braved the death trap, one by one, most of them were killed or wounded, including Collyer.

Cullen’s analysis included perceived inaccuracies in historian Charles Bean’s account in Volume 1 of his World War I history, which Cullen claims to be a deliberate distortion of the facts.

Cullen ultimately viewed Jack’s Journey as a chance to ensure their sacrifice was appropriately recognised.

‘‘They saved those marines at the expense of their own lives,’’ Cullen said.

‘‘They were basically sent on a suicide mission.

‘‘They just accepted it, that this was what they had to do.

‘‘Some of them were in their teens.

‘‘It wasn’t right what Charles Bean did... Jack and his mates deserved their place in history.’’

Cullen is also currently researching a new story, about an action that occurred on the Kokoda Track. The event costs $5 for members and $8 visitors. 

All welcome. Afternoon tea provided.