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 Ph.D. 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 Centre 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".

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. For the film Gallipoli directed by Peter Weir, Gammage was employed as the military advisor 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. Gammage was made a freeman of Narrandera Shire Council in 1987.

Books

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