The Sherrin

The island of New Aachen is a hotbed of turmoil, with more than just the enemy in the firing line.

In May 1945, as Europe celebrates the end of WWII, the Pacific theatre remains a brutal battleground. On the remote Pacific Island of New Aachen, the site of a massacre of Australian troops three years prior, tensions run high.

David Wachter, a veteran turned war historian clerk, joins a group of correspondents to cover the conflict and bring home the story of these battle-worn Australian troops. In a tense week, Wachter and his group will confront how they can and can’t depict the truth of war.

As tensions between conscripted Militia and volunteer AIF soldiers simmer, the cynical Lieutenant Connellan, a survivor of the massacre, struggles to keep the correspondents in line a task growing more complicated by the minute.

Despite his desire to remain an observer, Wachter is drawn into the chaos. The rivalry between the men threatens to bring a crisis to the front line. The Militia, authorised to operate up to the Equator, face a crucial turning point as New Aachen sits on that very line. The Brigadier’s desperate attempt to boost morale with an Australian Rules football match, played with the island's only ball, the legendary 'Sherrin', could either unite the troops or incite further unrest.

As the Japanese approach, the battalion launches an attack on a steep, sugar-loaf knoll nicknamed the Sherrin, just across the Equator. What will happen when disaffected militiamen reach that imaginary line? And what happens when Connellan confronts the island’s harrowing past?

About the Author

Prof. Peter Stanley is one of Australia’s most distinguished military historians. Formerly the Principal Historian of the Australian War Memorial (Australia’s national military museum), where he worked from 1980 to 2007, he was Research Professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra, from 2013 to 2023, where he is now Hon. Prof.. In 2011, his book' Bad Characters' was the joint winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History. Peter is the author of over 45 books, most in Australian military history. Peter is a frequent contributor to the media on military history.