Young Digger, c1914-2002

Component identifier:

Series 12

Content Summary:

Hill's second biography recounts the story of Henri Tovell, a young French boy orphaned during the First World War. The boy attached himself to several British Army units before being adopted as a mascot by No. 4 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, whose members nicknamed him 'Young Digger'. Air mechanic Tim Tovell and his brother Ted took a shine to the young boy, eventually smuggling him out of France and into Australia where he grew up with the Tovell family at Jandowae on the Darling Downs in Queensland. In 1928, Henri was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 18. Entitled Young Digger, the book was published by Penguin Books, Melbourne in 2002.

This series contains a large amount of research material which includes records of service for four soldiers: Timothy and Edward Tovell, Norman Johnson and Hector Wilson. There are also war service and other official records, notebooks, copies of articles and book chapters, copies of letters written by Henri (1925-1926) together with letters relating to his death, transcriptions of interviews with Timothy Tovell's daughters Nancy Elliot and Edith Lock and photographs of a visit to Tovell's family home at Jandawae. There are a number of photocopies of photographs, most taken from the Australian War Memorial Photographs Database. There are three different drafts of the book - the first of 86,000 words, the second of 60,000 words and the third where the structure was changed from linear form (beginning in Germany) to a circular form (beginning at Fremantle and shifting from present to past and back again, following a suggestion from the editor). Included is a four-CD audio recording of the book, read by Roger Cardwell and published by ABC Enterprises, Sydney in 2003.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were purchased by the Library from Anthony Hill in 2004 and 2012.

Subjects:

Literature
Arts
Youth

Contents

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