Melbourne man finds historic record of his father’s time in Gallipoli

A MELBOURNE man has discovered extraordinary insights into his father’s life as a World War I Digger.

Ken Wardley, 78, of Mooroolbark has come into possession of photographs and documents of his father serving during WW1. Ken's father fought at Gallipoli, he returned home after the war and spoke very little of his exploits during WW1. Picture: Steve Tanner

A MOOROOLBARK man has blown the dust off a series of century-old photographs to find extraordinary insights into his father’s life as a World War I Digger.

Ken Wardley, 78, said he had spent most of his life unaware that photos existed.

The collection was given to him after his elder sister died.

“She probably had them tucked away in a drawer or box and forgot all about them,” Mr Wardley said.

“It was the first time I’d seen them and I’d never had any of these things before.”

Mr Wardley’s father Frederick was a digger who spent time in a camp in Egypt before landing in Gallipoli and serving in the artillery at Cape Helles.

One of the photographs from the collection of Ken Wardley’s father who was a Digger in World War I. Picture: Steve Tanner

Mr Wardley was born after his father returned from the war, and as a result he knew little about his involvement.

“My father was quite old and he never spoke about the war or anything like that,” Mr Wardley said.

The photos showed Australian soldiers in the trenches with bombs exploding in the distance, horses and guns being loaded onto boats to go ashore and the Diggers having Christmas dinner with the Australian flag flying in the background.

Mr Wardley said it was fascinating to see what the war looked like.

“Many of them have captions on the back and all of them were either taken by my father or his mates,” Mr Wardley said.

“They give an idea of what life was like then.”

Mr Wardley plans to send copies to the Australian War Memorial to add to their collection of Gallipoli photos.