Soldier boy: the true story of Jim Martin the youngest Anzac, c1900s-2003
- Component identifier:
- Series 11
- Content Summary:
-
Soldier boy was Hill's first biography and his first book to be composed directly onto the computer. It was published by Penguin Books, Melbourne in 2001. The book evolved from an idea for a Vietnam novel entitled 'Twenty-one', later changed to 'War games', which was never finished. Parts of 'War games' were used for Soldier boy, which recounts the story of James Martin who, although only fourteen, put his age up to eighteen and enlisted for the First World War. He died of enteric fever ten weeks short of his 15th birthday. Contained in this series is correspondence with publishers, reviews and several drafts which plot the evolution of the novel. There is a large amount of research material, which comprises official war records, notebooks, interviews with descendants of Martin, correspondence and photographs.
Hills research for the book resulted in the handing over to the Australian War Memorial of Martin's medals, which had been presumed lost. They had been in the possession of his great-nephew, Stephen Chapin, who had received them from Martin's sister Alice.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The papers were purchased by the Library from Anthony Hill in 2004 and 2012.
- Subjects:
- Literature
Arts
Youth
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- The collection is available for reference.
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: