What made you want to write this book?

 

On returning to Melbourne during the Covid lockdown period after 20 years in Singapore I recovered extensive family wartime correspondence, written memoirs, numerous other documents, a photograph collection and hours of taped oral history. My parents had died within a short time of each other just before we moved to Singapore and everything had been put into storage. During self-isolation and lockdown I began to read through the memoirs and letters. I thought: no one else will read this and when I drop off the perch it will all be thrown out. So I decided to create something out of it which would be accessible for my family and descendants, so that this incredibly moving story would not be lost. This led to extensive archival research over a two year period at the Australian War Memorial and elsewhere, and a personal voyage of discovery. I wanted to understand why the story’s characters were where they were, what British and Australian forces were doing fighting French in Lebanon and why the British and Australian governments ultimately sacrificed the troops on board one ship which had detached itself from its convoy, while the rest returned to Australia. The more I read and researched, the more I realised that this was a moving and compelling story. There were so many unremarkable, everyday people in this narrative who were selfless and did many brave things – not to overstate it, sometimes heroic things. I concluded that what I was writing should not be confined to my family but should be published, to give these people the credit that is due.

 

Who is your book written for? 

 

It is a story of love, comradeship, bravery and courage, laced with humour, suffering and beauty, which will have universal appeal, attracting all kinds of readers. Its strong factual base will increase appeal more specifically to those with interest in the Australia of this era and political, social and military history.

 

Is it all fact? It’s written like a novel

​

It is fact told as story. My editor puts it well: “The decision to tell this important story, multifaceted and far-ranging within the confinement of the theatre of war it effects and the Melbourne it leaves behind − and to tell it ‘as story’, with dialogue and more intimate interaction playing the major part they do, some components coming necessarily from the imagination – very much makes it Creative Non-Fiction, a genre that does not yet have a category title displayed in bookshops or libraries, but is increasingly being published and read with avid interest and pleasure. As a newish genre, you could say it had its roots in the likes of Mark Twain, Jack London, James Baldwin, Norman Mailer (The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel/The Novel as History, 1968 – won awards in General Non-Fiction and Arts categories); Truman Capote (In Cold Blood, 1966) … Creative writing it most definitely is, and it brings the story of Australian soldiers at war to life.”

 

Is it a history or a story?

​

As my editor says: “It is first and foremost a history, although most certainly also a story, comprising many contrasts – joy, love, loss, disillusion, fear, courage, hope, savage and sadistic brutality, extreme generosity … due to its hybrid nature, written in narrative form, it straddles non-fiction and fiction, yet decidedly and substantially favours the former …This is a non-fiction war thriller – an unusual, indeed non-existent genre! – with the necessary sobriety accorded it due to the high respect it commands. It is also a love story that shows what love can be like if stripped of egocentricity, selfishness and power games.”

 

Are the letters real? Where does all the personal detail come from?

​

Yes, they are genuine. They are contained in the trove of family papers that were put in storage when we moved to Singapore. I have cut them, in some cases substantially because of length and less relevance, to fit the narrative. I have not changed the wording unless needed for clarity. As my editor says: “Extracts of wartime correspondence between the author’s parents and some letters written by his father’s friends, his uncle and grandparents, have been judiciously and creatively utilised as an important part of the architecture of the work … The letters are a unique, intimate account of war and love that display complexities of self, aspects of perspective, intelligence, and insecurities and strengths. All sorts of information is imparted ... Cal and Jean’s heart-felt, humorous, candid correspondence, plays a major part in the narrative, drawing and developing character, while also showing the manner, conventions and particularities of an era.”

 

What other books would you compare this with?

​

There are a few books of a conventional biographical/historical nature that cover at least one of the same theatres of war, and in one a central character was with the same battalion. However, while the subject matter is in some respects similar, this book has a much wider sweep and is written in narrative form. My editor says: “This is both a meticulously researched, well-constructed piece of history, and a portrait of a marriage interrupted by war, but continued by correspondence. The gallery of persons is large and various, the scenes painted vivid and evocative, and, despite horror and psychological/emotional distress at the highest level, the pathos is controlled, warmth, humour and civility shining through.”

 

Where did you get all the historical background? What were your sources?

​

Central to the work are memoirs written by my father and tape recordings he made. Extracts of wartime correspondence between my parents and some letters written by my father’s friends, my uncle and grandparents, have been utilised as an important part of the architecture of the work. The other principal sources are the archives of the Australian War Memorial and of the National Archives of Australia (I spent about 18 months trawling the archives). In addition, there are unpublished memoirs of my father’s friends in my possession and numerous other documents in my father’s files, as well as the official Battalion history and the AWM official histories.

 

It is multi-dimensional – stories within stories, grand strategy to everyday lives. How did you conceive it this way?

​

Yes it is a multifaceted and sweeping story – the decisions of governments and generals affecting men on a ship, the Melbourne they left behind, love and friendship, war at the strategic and the individual level. I wanted to understand why certain things relevant to the characters had happened – why were they there? And I realised that they were stories in themselves. An odd war of Australians fighting French, a shipload of troops detached from their convoy and essentially betrayed. All this overlaid on the lives of the central characters and their own stories. In conceiving the book in this way I also had in mind the spirit of Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate.

 

Is there a sequel?

​

Yes. It picks up where Under The Same Moon finishes – the men on the ship in the Batavia dock in Java uncertain of their fate, their families in Australia having lost contact, sending letters in hope, a panicked government preparing for invasion. It takes the story through until the end of the war.

 

Is there anything you discovered about your parents or wider family as you delved into these hitherto unseen papers?

​

Yes, I discovered a huge amount about my parents over the entire journey. While my father spoke freely about the war (encouraged by my mother but discouraged by the official line of the time) he only spoke of himself in a self-deprecating way or as a side player in stories about his friends. I learnt a lot more about him through the archives and other accounts of his friends. My mother was also a surprise. I’ll just say that in their postwar relationship she had a role, but a different person was jumping off the pages of the letters. My editor says: “Jean is a consistently strong character, whether she’s seen embroiled in the misfortunes or dysfunction of her sisters’ lives, visiting Cal’s father, James Mitchell, working with Mr Delbridge at the Australian Mercantile and exchanging repartee, attending weekly meetings at the Pioneer Women’s Auxiliary, or writing news from home and supporting Cal with her expression of ongoing and absolute love for him. While all this might see her superficially as the ‘goodie’ of the narrative (and therefore less interesting), in fact, the reader warms to her for her substance, her sense of honesty and forthright speech, her get-up-and-go attitude and her energetic stoicism. And her sharp humour can be quite wicked at times. If there’s a kind of innocence portrayed occasionally, I believe it’s a quality that goes with hope and ethics (typical of its era in many at the time) before any hardening brought by sarcasm or cynicism has its way.”

 

 

What has writing this and seeing it published meant to you?

​

It is one of the important and fulfilling things I have done in my life. Apart from my belief that this is a compelling and moving story in all its facets, I developed such admiration for so many of the everyday, unremarkable people who feature in the story - their selflessness, courage, camaraderie and sense of duty. My editor puts it well: “Anybody reading this book will grasp the significance of camaraderie, instances of which abound throughout, will feel the spirit of that and how, at end, together with hope, it enables survival. Without it, as a lone figure on the planet anywhere, your time is not up to much. The commemoration on ANZAC Day of Australian men and women who have died in war will be far better understood and respected after reading this work, and, importantly, the survivors of war honoured and given the respect due to them. For the author, this is an important contribution.” At a very personal level, I discovered so much about my parents; there is so much I didn’t know and I’m glad I now do, even if late in the day. Frequently I find myself thinking, I wish I could ask them about something or someone.