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Mat McLachlan
Mat McLachlan is one of Australia's leading war historians and battlefield guides, and has spent almost two decades following in the footsteps of Australian troops on battlefields around the world. His 2007 book, Walking with the Anzacs, is considered the definitive guide to Australian battlefields on the Western Front. It was reprinted in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Mat also produced and appears in the First World War documentary Lost in Flanders, which aired on the ABC in April 2009. His second book, Gallipoli: The Battlefield Guide, was published in 2010 and is the most comprehensive guide to the Australian battlefields of Gallipoli yet published. He also appears regularly as a historian on the ABC, The History Channel, Channel 7's Sunrise and Radio 2GB. Mat is the founder of Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours and personally designs all our tours. -
Will Davies
Will Davies has been a documentary producer for over 30 years. He is a major producer of historical programmes including When the War Came to Australia, Our Century and Tales From a Suitcase . In 2006 he produced a series of short films on the history of Norfolk Island and 30 short films on relics in the Australian War Memorial. He is the author of seven books including the bestseller Somme Mud (editor) and In the Footsteps of Private Lynch and also wrote the driving tour Villers-Bretonneux to le Hamel. His most recent book is Beneath Hill 60, published in March 2010 and released with the feature film of the same name. He is currently doing a PhD at the ANU in Canberra and is working on other books on the Great War. Will is the historian on many of our Western Front tours. -
Michael Molkentin
Michael Molkentin has had a life-long interest in the First World War. He is an experienced History teacher and the author of Fire in the Sky: the Australian Flying Corps in the First World War (Allen & Unwin, 2010). His work on Australian military history has also appeared in the Journal of the Australian War Memorial, Wartime, Flightpath, Teaching History and Cross and Cockade International. Michael was a featured contributor in the ABC documentary Lost in Flanders and historical consultant on Channel Nine's In Their Footsteps. He is the recipient of scholarships and prizes from the Australian War Memorial, the NSW Government and the University of New South Wales. He is currently writing a doctoral thesis at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Michael is a regular historian on our Western Front tours. -
Gary McKay
Gary McKay spent 30 years as an army officer after being conscripted for national service in 1968. He served in South Vietnam in 1971 as an infantry rifle platoon commander where he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry and severely wounded in the last major Australian battle of the Vietnam War. In 1987 Gary's best-selling autobiography In Good Company was released and he began what is now a full-time career as a freelance historian and non-fiction writer. He is Australia's most prolific author on the subject of the Vietnam War, having released 10 books with Allen & Unwin. He has also written several other books, notably Tracy, the definitive account of the cyclone that wiped out Darwin in 1974. There is no better guide to the Australian battlefields of Vietnam and we are fortunate to have Gary as the historian on our Vietnam tours. -
Dr Peter Stanley
Dr Peter Stanley is one of Australia's most prominent military historians. He was Principal Historian at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, from 1980 to 2007. He now heads the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia. Peter has published 23 books, including A Stout Pair of Boots, the first book to detail the methods of battlefield research. He has published widely on the two world wars (including Tarakan: an Australian Tragedy, Quinn's Post, Anzac, Gallipoli, Invading Australia, and Bad Characters) His most recent books (published in 2011) are Simpson's Donkey, a novel for children, and Digger Smith and Australia's Great War, which tells the story entirely through the experiences and words of people called Smith and Schmidt. Peter joins us as a historian on our Western Front and Gallipoli tours. -
Brad Manera
Brad Manera is the Executive Manager of the Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney, and a keen battlefield archaeologist and public historian. His recent documentary work includes historical input into In Their Footsteps (2011) and Gallipoli: the Front-Line Experience (2005). Brad has worked as a museum curator and historian for 30 years, beginning his career at the Western Australian Museum then building collections and developing exhibitions at the National Museum of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. His work at the War Memorial included curating the travelling exhibition Australia Under Attack 1942-43 and a major portion of the new Post-1945 Conflicts galleries. He moved to Sydney to take up the role of Head Curator at Hyde Park Barracks Museum and, after helping achieve World Heritage Listing for that site, has moved to the Anzac Memorial to prepare it for the commemorative activities that will be part of the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign. Brad is the historian on many of our Greece & Crete, Western Front and Gallipoli tours. -
Roger Lee
Roger Lee has been Head of the Australian Army History Unit since 1996. He is directly responsible to the Chief of Army in all matters relating to the Army's history and heritage. Prior to that at the Joint Services Staff College he was responsible for the strategic studies and military theory course components. Roger has played a leading role in recent efforts to exhume and identify the remains of Australian soldiers at sites including Westhoek Ridge, Messines and most recently, the mass grave at Pheasant Wood near Fromelles. Roger is one of Australia's most respected military historians and is a historian on our Gallipoli and Western Front tours. -
Rhys Crawley
Rhys Crawley has been fascinated by the Gallipoli campaign for as long as he can remember. Equipped with an Honours degree from the University of Wollongong and a PhD from the Australian Defence Force Academy – both of which focused on aspects of Gallipoli – Rhys now works in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. Rhys has been the recipient of research scholarships from the Australian War Memorial, the Australian Army History Unit and the University of New South Wales, and has given talks on aspects of his research at the University of Birmingham, the Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial. His most recent publication appeared in Zombie Myths of Australian Military History (New South, 2010) and he is currently working on a book about the August Offensive, and another about Gallipoli's Chief Cipher Officer, Captain Orlo Williams. Rhys is a regular historian on our Gallipoli tours.
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Peter Hart
Peter Hart has worked as a historian at the Imperial War Museum in London since 1981. He is the author of more than a dozen books about the Great War, including Defeat at Gallipoli; Passchendaele; The Somme; Aces Falling; Jutland 1916; Bloody April; 1918: A Very British Victory; and, most recently, Gallipoli. He has also appeared in a number of TV documentaries about the First World War, including The Great History War, Chris Master's farewell report for Four Corners. Peter has also spoken regularly at some of the world's great centres of military history, including the Australian War Memorial, and he regularly leads battlefield tours for the British Army to Gallipoli, Sicily and the Western Front. Peter has a huge knowledge of not only the Australian involvement in the First World War, but also the broader political and historic significance of the conflict. He joins us as a historian on our Western Front and Gallipoli tours.
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Tom Morgan
Tom Morgan first learned about the Great War as a small child, listening to his relatives' tales. It's perhaps because of this introduction that he became fascinated with the stories of ordinary people in those extraordinary times, and with the battlefields themselves. Tom's Hellfire Corner website was one of the first Great War sites on the web and has received over 2.5 million individual visitors to date. Tom's professional background is in education, with a 35-year teaching career up to 1999, when he became a full-time battlefield guide. Tom has a superb knowledge of the Australian battlefields and is the War Historian on many of our Western Front tours.
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Peter Smith
Peter's life has revolved around the Great War since he inherited his grandfather's medals and diary as a small boy. He grew up in East Yorkshire before joining the Territorial Army at 17. At 21 he decided he needed a little more action and joined the Royal Marines, a unit he served with for eleven years. He is a prolific collector of Great War ephemera and photographs, many of which have been used in related publications. In 2004 he moved to the Somme battlefields of France with his wife and children, where he started a bed and breakfast in the historic village of Flers. He now works full time as a Great War guide and researcher, specialising in Australian tours. Peter is a member of the British Commission for Military History, the Guild of Battlefield Guides and the Western Front Association. He is the historian on many of our Western Front tours. -
Michael Peters
Mike Peters is a British Army officer with more than 30 years of military service in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned from the ranks, he has served on operations in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike is also the Vice Chairman of the Guild of Battlefield Guides and has a lifelong passion for military history. He is a regular writer for Soldier magazine (official magazine of the British Army) and published his first book, Glider Pilots at Arnhem, in 2009. Recently he has spoken at the National Army Museum (UK) and has also appeared on TV in several films about the Great War and Airborne forces in the Second World War. Mike will always strive to tell you the story from the soldier's point of view. He is a regular historian on our Western Front and Second World War tours. -
Richard Briggs
Richard Briggs has been a full-time London guide and tour manager since 2000 when he qualified as a London Blue Badge Guide, the highest professional guiding certification in the UK. Apart from his work in London and at special sites of interest in England, Richard has led tours throughout the UK and Europe for groups of all ages. Having lived and worked in France, he speaks fluent French and has developed a keen interest in the battlefields, from the Western Front of World War One to the D-Day Landing Beaches in Normandy. Richard is a regular Tour Manager on our Western Front and D-Day tours.
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Call us on 1300 880 340
I thoroughly enjoyed the tour - the mix of people made the sights and sites even more enjoyable. The company has many strengths - Richard is a 'gem', Kristof, solid, personable and professional and Mat is a well-informed drawcard. As a 'chalky' I would award a High Achievement."
- Denise Brosnan
Mat McLachlan is one of Australia's leading war historians and battlefield guides, and has spent more than a decade following in the footsteps of Australian troops on battlefields around the world. More
