AustLit

Oscar Walters was born in Victoria, but spent most of his life in West Australia. He was working as a miner at Sandstone, W.A. when the First World War began. He enlisted in June 1915, and served in the Third Field Company at Gallipoli, France and Belgium. Discharged in February 1919, Walters returned to Western Australia where he became a regular contributor to the Westralian Worker, then edited by John Curtin. On Curtin's invitation, Walters joined the staff, rising to editor several years later. A regular contributor of verse to the Bulletin, he was well-known for his war poetry. In 1931, some of these poems were published as Shrapnel Green and Other Verses to raise money for the Amelioration Fund of the Perth Branch of the RSL. Walters remained editor of the Westralian Worker until his death in 1948.