Description
Title: Love from Eddie
Author: Kimber, Robert
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Date: 2012
ISBN: 9780646575339
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 375 pages
Comments: Love from Eddie is a new work about a young Ardrossan man, Edward J Cairns, who died at Gallipoli in October 1915.
He was only 21.
Edward was a stretcher bearer with the 7th Field Ambulance in “Unley’s Own”, the 27th Battalion which left South Australia under its commander, Lieut.-Colonel Walter Dollman in late May, 1915. These men were reinforcements sent to bolster the ANZAC forces fighting on Gallipoli beside British, French and Indian troops. The aim was to get to Constantinople, 300 miles away.
He and his mates were strong willed country boys keen to “lend a hand”, to see the world and to enjoy its delights.
Yorke Peninsula as a whole and Ardrossan in particular were beginning to flourish during Edward’s life. The fame of the region for its wheat and barley was growing. The pioneer world of horses and shipping by ketch was turning gradually to one of trucks and tractors. Farming techniques were improving with the use of superphosphate in the difficult mallee soils and the invention of the stump jump plough.
These factors and many more, including the establishment of a formal public school system, made a great impact on his life. He was a capable student and he learnt to write… and write well. On his journey to the battlefield Edward kept a precious diary. It was found in his dugout when he died. That writing has been the inspiration for this book.
