Arthur Blackburn, VC

ARTHUR BLACKBURN, VC: An Australian hero, his men, and their two world wars

Andrew Faulkner

Wakefield Press, 2008, 498pp

A skinny youth, Arthur Blackburn might have seemed to be an unlikely hero.  However, actions speak louder than appearances, and he made the deepest penetration of the Turkish lines on 25 April 1915.  Soon promoted to lance corporal, then 2nd lieutenant, he left Gallipoli with the 10th Battalion on 22 November.

Blackburn’s VC was awarded for an extraordinary series of attacks at Pozières.  Soon after the presentation he returned to Australia ill, and took no further active part in the First World War.

After short parliamentary service, Blackburn combined the duties of SA coroner with private legal practice between the wars.  He was also involved with that state’s Returned Soldiers’ Association.

Blackburn initially commanded the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion during the Second World War, leading it in Syria, and then in early 1942 to Java on the Orcades.  There, Blackburn commanded a composite force including the 2/3rd and the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, which served with the 2/3rd in Syria.  The force had some success against the Japanese, but surrendered after the Dutch capitulation.  Years of imprisonment followed.

After the war, Blackburn campaigned for special care for ex-prisoners, and testified at the war crimes trials.  He became president of the SA Returned and Services League, and a commissioner of the Industrial Relations Court.  Like many veterans, he died relatively young.

This book is a fine tribute to a brave Australian.

JOHN DONOVAN