Book sale proceeds to benefit Legacy

All proceeds from sales of the new book William Gow’s Anzac Diary will go to Launceston Legacy to help support the families of deceased and incapacitated veterans.

The book tells the story of Tasmanians who served with the 3rd Field Ambulance in World War One based on the previously unpublished diary of William Gow who was the founding chairman of Launceston Legacy.

William Gow’s Anzac Diary: Serving with the 3rd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli is published by Launceston Legacy and will sell for $20. It was produced with the assistance of a Federal Government Centenary of ANZAC grant.

William Gow was born in Sheffield and lived in Launceston and Devonport before volunteering for military service in 1914.

After two months training at Pontville Army Camp he boarded His Majesty’s Army Transport Geelong in Hobart on 20 October 1914 with the first contingent of Tasmanian soldiers for the war in Europe.

Private Gow was posted to the 3rd Field Ambulance and worked as a medical attendant on hospital ships and in field hospitals and dressing stations at Gallipoli. He was invalided back to Australia in 1916.

After the war William Gow became a successful Launceston businessman and helped numerous community organisations. In August 1927 he was the founding chairman of the Remembrance Club, which later became Launceston Legacy.

The book was written by Julian Burgess who is also the author of The Outcome of Enterprise: Launceston’s Waverley Woollen Mills and co-author of Cruel Wind: Business Post Naiad and the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Disaster.

The book was designed and printed in Launceston by Foot and Playsted and is available from Launceston Legacy (59 York St, Launceston, phone 03 6331 9369) and bookshops in major centres.

Launceston Legacy contact: Russell Hogarth 0419 893 335

Author: Julian Burgess 0419 750 286