‘Nobody wants to read other people’s reflections on life and religion and politics, but the routine of their day, properly recorded, is always interesting.’
Evelyn Waugh
The backdrop and stage dressing for the front-line scenes was drawn primarily from two sources, ‘What We Have . . . We Hold!’ A history of the 2/17 Australian Infantry Battalion 1940–45 and Mark Johnson’s That Magnificent 9th: An illustrated history of the 9th Australian Division 1940–46. The minutiae of daily military life was gleaned from the Australian War Memorial’s Second World War official histories and war diaries. I am indebted to the staff of the reading rooms at the AWM and the National Archives of Australia for their help in gaining access to official records.
For setting the scene on the home front I combed through Daniel Connell’s The War at Home, a collection of local recollections of life during World War II originally recorded for a 1986 ABC radio series.
Four personal memoirs provided the material to flesh out the main supporting cast: G.H. Fearnside’s Half to Remember, Peter J. Jones’ The Reluctant Volunteer, H.D. Wells’ ‘B’ Company Second Seventeenth Infantry and John Holmes’ Smiles of Fortune: A memoir of the war against Japan 1943–45. Their generosity of spirit in sharing their candid revelations brought my father’s footsteps closer to home.
I remain forever grateful to two special guest stars, participants in the original show who took me into their homes and into their memories: Eddie Emmerson, former Rat of Tobruk, and William Pye, former officer and still a gentleman.
Other firsthand insights from assorted friends, comrades and those who served near and far from my father were cast from personal records held in the National Archives of Australia.
A cameo appearance by Toni Lamond was greatly appreciated (it’s handy having a national treasure for a neighbour). Key crew members who performed above and beyond the call of duty are Bernie Carr, Marlene Zwickler, Renate and David Mattiske, John Lethbridge, Michael Bates, Jennifer Warren, Sheila Livingston, James Livingston, Charles Livingston, the Buckley clan, Winifred Childs, John Maynard, Tony Melov, Melissa Lyne, Paul McDermott, Michael Petroni, the friendly staff of the Mitchell Library, Edwina Stuart, HLA Management Pty Ltd, Jane Palfreyman, Kathryn Knight, Sue Harvey, Clara Finlay, Isabella Penna, Jane Symmans and all at Allen & Unwin.
The germ of an idea for the entire production came when my brother, Brian Ernest Livingston, a habitual hoarder of family memorabilia, produced a faded copy of Stanley Livingston’s court-martial record. Not only would Brian supply me with endless details of the family history, I was also delighted to receive a cache of secret tapes he had recorded of my mother and various uncles gasbagging in the family kitchen in the mid 1990s. Without this eldest son of a deserter’s unflagging support, no pages would here appear.
I am beholden to uncles Roy and Gordon, the odd Jack, and Ernies too numerous to mention, and to the extended families of the Lonsdales, Livingstons and Oxmans, backstage and in the wings, and, I hope, cheering me on.
By far the highlight of the show for me has been the sharing of bounteous gossip with my aunty Dot around her kitchen table. Thanks for the laughs, Dottie, and the tea, the Scotch Finger biscuits and the perennial cream and jam sponge cake. Your memories animate these pages.
The final credits belong to the leading players, Evelyn and Stanley Livingston, for the breeding and the feeding, and a lifetime of memories.