Using long-lost letters sent home from Australian soldiers at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, Hugh Jones has pieced together a tale of remarkable friendship between two men separated by half a world during World War I.

The book tells the story of young Tasmanian teacher Ivor Margetts, a popular and talented footballer good enough to represent Tasmania at the 1914 Australian National Football Carnival in Sydney, and his military mentor and landlord Major Charles Simmons.

As a lieutenant with the 12^th Battalion, Margetts was one of the first Australians ashore at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Too old to enlist, militia stalwart Simmons was hastily appointed to run the dilapidated Hobart gaol, with fateful consequences.

Margetts became one of Tasmania’s best-known and loved soldiers. Simmons was lost to history.

Two Good Soldiers, One Great War was released by FortySouth Publishing in May 2024. Widely available in Tasmania, the book can be bought online through Hugh Jones Media. Contact: hugh@hughjonesmedia.com.au

“This is a thoroughly researched, elegantly written and movingly told story of two Tasmanian men, Ivor Margetts and Charles Simmons … The story of their friendship is vividly recreated thanks to the survival of a cache of correspondence, which the author analyses with great sensitivity and places within historical context through extensive use of primary and secondary sources … Dual biographies are notoriously difficult to write well, but the author achieves a satisfying balance between these two very different but interconnected lives … The resulting narrative sheds a fascinating light on an important historical moment in Tasmanian history ..” – Dr Rayne Allison PhD (Oxon), Assistant Publisher, FortySouth