Oliver Hogue

Born in Sydney on April 29, 1880, Oliver George Hogue was an Australian journalist, poet, and soldier. He worked in journalism before serving in the Boer War and later in the First World War, drawing on those experiences in both his reporting and his verse.

He is especially remembered for writing under the pen name "Trooper Bluegum" and for the poem "The Horses Stay Behind," one of the best-known literary responses to the Gallipoli campaign. His work combined plainspoken feeling with a reporter’s eye for detail, which helped it connect with readers during and after the war.

Hogue died in London on March 3, 1919, not long after the end of World War I. Though his life was brief, his writing remains part of the story of how Australians recorded war in journalism and poetry.