AustLit

Foreword: 'In the twenty-odd fine poems included in this slim book my friend Shawn (christened Shawn Hamilton) O'Leary presents, in metrical form, the thoughts and emotions of an Australian soldier as experienced in the two strenuous campaigns through which he has fought in this war - the first Libyan campaign, in which the Australians reached a point one hundred miles west of Benghasi, and the later triumphal progress through Syria....Queenslander Shawn's parents were Highland Scots whose forbears, in the 14th Century, came from the Green Isle....In private life a journalist, cavalryman Shawn O'Leary is a member of the Bread and Cheese Club, that band of writers, artists and poets who, from their headquarters in Melbourne, are doing so much work to further Australia's creative art in all its aspects.' J. Alex Allan H.Q., A.I.F., Middle East. September 5, 1941