My Anzac Quest

My ANZAC Quest is the second edition of Honkie  & Ginny.

My ANZAC Quest is a biographical account of Brenda’s longing to understand a sad lament of her great-grandmother’s upon the death of her third son on the Western Front in August 1917.

Her twelve year long quest takes her from Bendigo to Port Melbourne, to Turkey and France.

Brenda’s book is a quest for peace.  It is a story of every family, at home and at the war front, during the years 1914-1918. It was a challenge to write, very sad at times and hugely frustrating on occasions, but  “like Joan of Arc”, she rode on, this was her quest, she could not give up.

There were also many special moments along the way, including in April 2011 a visit by Australia’s Ambassador to the EU and NATO, Dr Brendan Nelson, to Honkie’s grave where he placed a wreath.

From page 178

We sat for a while on the stone fence and drank in the peace. I wished we could pitch a tent and stay right there in the middle of the field, with the beautiful cattle and the chiming clocks. We could all be together. Ginny and Jonathon, Honkie, his brothers and sisters. We could resurrect the 995 other men there too. The Indians and Africans, the English and the few Australians, the Germans too. I lived the scene in my mind. We share our meals, tell stories of our families and our homelands, sing favourite songs together as sky-larks soar high in the sky and church bells ring all around us.

“Henry Foster Midgley was an every-man soldier

Ginny was every mother who suffered the

loss of a son in unspeakable circumstances

I am every Australian who carries their quest for a peaceful world.”

A wonderful day p39-43