author
R. Hugh (Reginald Hugh) Knyvett
d. 1918
A soldier-writer whose firsthand World War I memoir carries the energy of someone who had seen the front for himself. His best-known book, "Over There" with the Australians, blends battlefield experience with a strong sense of Australian identity.
1 Audiobook
"Over There" with the Australians
by R. Hugh (Reginald Hugh) Knyvett
About the author
Reginald Hugh Knyvett was an Australian writer and soldier best known for "Over There" with the Australians, published in 1918. Records from Project Gutenberg and library listings identify him as the author of that wartime memoir, while Australian literary and military sources describe him as an ANZAC scout and intelligence officer during the First World War.
Available biographical sources suggest that before the war he trained for the Presbyterian ministry, then enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force after the outbreak of fighting. He served in France, was seriously wounded, returned to Australia in early 1917, and later took part in recruiting work and traveled to the United States to encourage support for the war effort.
Knyvett died in 1918, not long after his book appeared. Although the surviving public record seems fairly sparse, he is remembered through a vivid firsthand account of Australian service in World War I and through memorial and archival records that preserve the outline of a short, eventful life.