About the Author Tim Knight

I am an engineer, not a formally trained historian. In a way, I am not really qualified to write a book about the sacred subject of Gallipoli, but in another way, I am uniquely qualified to do so.

I grew up in Sydney. Like most other Australian children, I was taught in school about the brave Australian soldiers who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and gave their lives so that we can enjoy the freedom we have today. I learned how they charged at machine guns, against impossible odds. I felt angry at the Turkish soldiers for killing the brave young Australian men.

I wondered how it could be that running at a machine gun might help to preserve others’ freedom, but believed it must be true as I was being taught this at school.

A young lady in my year stood up against the popular outrage against the Turks. She pointed out that the Australians shouldn’t have even been there, that they were invading another country and were killed by men who were defending their homeland.

That young lady is now my wife of 30 years and the mother of our five children. She has Turkish origins, now an Australian citizen, but was born and raised in Istanbul until she migrated to Australia with her family at eight years of age. Her grandfather fought with the Turkish forces against the Anzacs.

My great grandfather fought with the Australian Imperial Force of WWI. Our children carry the bloodline of both sides of this conflict and I want them to know a balanced perspective. Yet, when I took them to visit Anzac Cove and the Gallipoli battlefields, I struggled to answer their questions that started with “Why…?”

This led me on a quest to better understand the mysteries of the Gallipoli conflict.

In my research, I sought a balanced, dramatised account of the Gallipoli battles, but I could not find one. At the time, I was also reading A Game of Thrones and I wondered why reading fantasy history can be like eating a delicious meal, and reading actual history can be like trying to eat a whole loaf of stale bread. In a moment of pure insanity, I thought maybe I should write the book that I was seeking myself.

Author with family at Gallipoli, Anzac Commemorative Site, North Beach, 2011

Author at Gallipoli, The Sphinx, 2024