Beyond that, Don knew nothing, nor dared ask, about his grandfather’s soldiering days.

“He never spoke of the war and it was something that was out of bounds,” recalled Don from his Warrnambool home.

It wasn’t until nearly 20 years after Harry Stevenson’s death in 1979, when Don discovered the existence of his grandfather’s war diary, that he learnt the sobering details of Harry’s life in the front line in World War 1. 

“I knew then that he’d been to Gallipoli and the Somme, but I had no idea where he was and what he was doing there. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I realised what he was doing,” Don revealed.

In his diary entries penned in neat, cursive handwriting 99 years ago, the 23-year-old private tells of the “living hell” of life on Gallipoli, where he landed in September 3, 1915.

After surviving three testing months under enemy fire and gruelling conditions, the young machinegunner with the 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade, escaped unscathed as one of the last remaining soldiers of the Allied Gallipoli evacuation. 

Harry’s entry for December 19, 1915 describes the clandestine evacuation preparations designed to avoid enemy detection.

“We leave tonight at 11.15pm. As soon as we get down to the beach the Turkish trenches are to be blown up. It is a very anxious time for us. There are only 60 of us left in the firing line. We have to keep going from one post to another and fire a few shots on each post to let them know we are still here. I think we will get away without them knowing we have left.”

The ruse worked, as the following day’s entry shows.

December 20: “We left Anzac last night without one man being hurt. We were taken to Lemnos.”

Harry’s respite from fighting was shortlived. As subsequent diary entries reveal, three months later he found himself in France in the thick of a far more prolonged and deadly campaign. Now as part of the newly formed 6th Machine Gun Company, Harry fought at some of the most notorious of the Western Front battles including Poziers, Bullecourt, Ypres, Mont St Quentin and Broodseinde Ridge, where he earned, for conspicuous gallantry in the field, the Military Medal.

Harry Stevenson returned to the little Victorian town of Campbell’s Creek to his young wife Caroline and daughter Ethel, the worse for wear. He had sustained several wounds, was suffering thrombosis in both legs and weakened lungs from toxic gas attacks, a condition which would plague him throughout his life and influence his preference for warmer climates.

Harry later found work with the Victorian Railways, moving around the state and settling in the Mallee town of Ouyen with Carrie, as he called her, and their eventual brood of eight children, among them Don’s father Bill.

The chargeman of the locomotive at Ouyen, Harry was known affectionately by the locals as ‘Paddy’. 

Although raised in Sheffield, England, Harry was born in County Cork while his parents were visiting Ireland, the story goes.

According to Don, Harry’s mother later died in childbirth and, unimpressed with his new stepmother, Harry twice ran away to sea to escape his unhappy home life. By 15, he had joined the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, serving in India and China, before leaving to join the British Merchant Marine. It was on a stopover in Australia that Harry met his future wife and jumped ship to begin a new life in Australia. 

The pair were married and parents to baby Ethel before the outbreak of war.

“He was the kingpin of Ouyen,” said Don of his grandfather’s post-war life. 

Although talk of the war might have been taboo as far as his grandchildren were concerned, Harry’s one concession to acknowledging his involvement in the conflict was Anzac Day.

“It was my grandmother’s special day really,” Don explained. “She would deck him out and parade him off in the march. On Anzac Day he was the hero, having been at Gallipoli and decorated.”

Harry and Carrie later retired to Mildura where, despite the lingering effects of his war injuries, Harry lived to be 86.

Although Don never had the chance to talk to his grandfather about his war service, he is determined to ensure that Harry’s efforts are not lost to future generations.

The retired CFA maintenance worker has compiled an extensive family history which includes copies of Harry’s war diary, photographs and transcripts of conversations with Harry’s children.

He still finds it difficult to reconcile the harrowing experiences described by the young soldier in his diary with the kindly, but no-nonsense, grandfather he knew.