Gavin Scrimgeour

From Here They Marched Gavin Scrimgeour

From Here They Marched is the only book to have been published about pre-embarkation training of Anzacs.

Mitcham Camp was the training ground for thousands of South Australians who enlisted to fight for the AIF in the First World War. The camp developed from bare paddocks to become, after early difficulties, a 'model camp for the Commonwealth'. Now the suburb of Colonel Light Gardens, it is an important part of the historic landscape of Adelaide.

Illustrated with over 100 contemporary photographs, From Here They Marched describes the development of Mitcham camp and how the military prepared men from all walks of civilian life for the discipline of military life and for war, as well as meeting the physical and social needs of a large body of men newly away from their families and facing an uncertain future.

The camp community is brought to life by the photographs and the use of the surviving memories of those who passed through the camp, newspaper reports and the few remaining documents from the camp.

The role of other training camps used for shorter periods in Adelaide is also described.