Everyone’s talking about Australian culture. What is it? Where is it? And how do we know it when we see it? There is an event coming up on August 6 in Sydney that might help those who are confused. If there is one part of Australian culture that everybody understands, it is the legend of the Anzacs.
So, if you would like to enjoy a three-course black-tie extravaganza for $150 per head or corporate tables of 10 for only $1,350, while supporting the sons of daughters of Anzacs, have I got a deal for you!
The Lone Pine Gala Dinner will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney on August 6 from 6pm till 10pm.
You can book your table or tickets before July 24 here.
The purpose of the event is to raise funds for the Gallipoli Scholarship Fund. The Fund ‘provides $8,000 per year in scholarships to support young Australians carrying a legacy of service, helping them succeed in higher education’. The scholarship is open to direct descendants of an Australian or New Zealand Veteran who has served in any conflict or peacekeeping operation from the first world war to the present day.
I have been attending the event of the last two years, with previous speakers including Dr Brendan Nelson and Sir Peter Cosgrove.
This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Aaron Patrick, columnist with Seven West Media, former Deputy Editor of the AFR, and author of The Last Battle, the story of Australia’s SAS and Commandos and our greatest victory in our longest war in Afghanistan.
The event is hosted by the Gallipoli Memorial Club, an organisation established by the original Anzacs. I am honoured to be the editor of the Club’s official journal, The Gallipoli Gazette.
The Gallipoli Memorial Club Museum is located at Loftus Street in Sydney. After years of renovations, the Museum is due to open soon.
Why am I so keen? Check out the Club’s creed:
We believe that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation for perpetual peace and universal freedom.
Do yourself and your fellow country folk a favour. Get along to the Lone Pine Gala Dinner 2026.
As a sampler of Aaron Patrick’s work, below is my recent review of his book.
Aaron Patrick’s The Last Battle: Australian SAS, Commandos and Our Greatest Victory in Our Longest War ($36.99 in paperback or $17.99 as an e-book) is a meticulously researched, minute-by minute account of the Battle of Shah Wali Kot in June 2010. Drawing on extensive interviews and operational detail, Patrick captures the chaos, courage and split-second decisions that defined the fighting in the villages of Chenartu and Tizak. In my view as a former Army officer, the book delivers exactly what it promises – a genuine sense of what it was like to be an SAS or commando soldier on the ground in Afghanistan. Patrick captures the noise, the fear, the relentless pressure, and the extraordinary bonds characteristic of active service.
What upset me the most is not the combat narrative but the bureaucratic nightmare that followed. Patrick’s account makes clear how the realities of close combat and the impossible choices it demands were later reframed and scrutinised in ways that may have placed almost all responsibility on the other ranks and junior commanders. Higher command and institutional processes appear curiously insulated. While the soldiers who did their duty under the most extreme conditions remain open to scrutiny, this was not necessarily the same for the bureaucracy.
This reflection arrives at a particularly sensitive moment.
Patrick’s book stands on its own merits as an extensively researched work that understands military culture from the inside. It portrays the operational environment and the human cost without descending into the polemic.
The greatest tragedy illuminated by the book and its broader context is the potential long-term damage to recruitment. Young Australians who might otherwise have become our next generation of military heroes may now think twice before volunteering for special forces or even the wider Army. When the consequences of operational service, in the national interest can lead, years later, to prolonged legalistic processes rather than recognition or support, the deterrent effect is real. In this sense it echoes the shameful treatment of many Vietnam veterans. But not just through public shaming this time, but through a cold, drawn-out legal and bureaucratic machinery that appears to leave people to navigate complex processes with limited support.
This important book forces the reader to confront how our institutions sometimes repay that service. The Last Battle is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand more about events in modern warfare that may challenge the very foundations of the Anzac tradition.
