Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 (12 Volumes)

Bean, a journalist and war correspondent was appointed official war historian in 1919. It was at least six years later that the was able to access the resources of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) which had previously been denied to British historians. His approach was not seen favourably by the official British historian and it is likely the was denied a decoration by King George V. His account was based on the guiding principle that the history was to be a memorial to those who served, suffered and died. The conclusion was "Australia became fully conscious of itself as a nation." Bean wrote the first six volumes, edited the next five and annotated the photographic volume with H S Gullet.