A novel view of Gallipoli
On Dangerous Ground by Professor Bruce Scates
In the lead up to the centenary of Anzac Day in 2015, a first-time novelist challenges the way we view Gallipoli, interweaving fact and fiction to recreate the most dramatic moments of the campaign.
Leading Monash University historian, Professor Bruce Scates, Chair of History and Australian Studies at the National Centre for Australian Studies has turned novelist with the launch of his first historical novel, On Dangerous Ground.
Professor Scrates said the great challenge in writing On Dangerous Ground was to bring the archives to life.
“I decided to branch out into fiction - or what I prefer to call 'imagined history' - because I am aware the archival records leave so much out and historians must not go beyond the evidence,” Professor Scates said.
“Writing the book has enabled me to imagine those conversations that could never be recorded in the archives and also to cover a wider emotional span than is possible for a conventional history.”
“It also allowed me to explore some very difficult contemporary issues on the memory of war today in a more engaging way than is perhaps possible with a conventional history.”
On Dangerous Ground follows interlinking events over a period of 100 years: the search in 1915 for the missing Lieutenant Roy Irwin by the young woman who loved him and the men who fought beside him; the return to Anzac Cove of historian CEW Bean in 1919 to uncover what went wrong with the Gallipoli campaign; and then the quest by Dr Mark Troy in 2015 to save the Gallipoli peninsula from development, which is sidetracked by political intervention and intrigue.
Professor Scates reconstructed the historical setting as accurately as possible to allow each character to speak with a real voice from history and wherever possible he drew directly from actual diaries, letters, and official documents.
“I really enjoyed writing this book, but I also felt a deep responsibility,” Professor Scates said.
“With the approach of 2015, we have to find new and more inclusive ways of remembering war and encouraging people to think in deeper and more complex ways.
“I am particularly concerned to widen the ambit of remembrance and alert people to the terrible loss not just of Australians and New Zealanders, but of all those caught up in that dreadful and pointless campaign.”
Professor Scates has written extensively on grief, war-related trauma and the politics of commemoration. He is currently lead chief investigator on three separate ARC grants exploring the contested memory of war. He has recently been appointed chair of the Military and Cultural History Working Group, one of six expert committees advising the Anzac Centenary Board.
On Dangerous Ground: A Gallipoli Story is available now through UWA Publishing.