Oliver Hogue, under the pseudonym “Trooper Bluegum”, contributed 40 news stories to the retelling of the lead-up to and the actions of Australian soldiers during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. However, he seems to have been forgotten by history. At a time when the majority of stories printed in Australian newspapers were not accredited, he was among the very few Australian journalists to gain a byline. Hogue wrote mainly in the first person, bolstered by vivid descriptive passages that gained currency with the Australian people. This was evident in the many regional and metropolitan newspapers that reprinted his articles and in the popularity of his subsequent books recounting his experiences. While Hogue played an integral role in informing the nation, his involvement has been overlooked, with very little of his existence recognised. For example, there is no mention of him in Phillip Knightley’s 1975 seminal chronology of war correspondents or Anderson and Trembath’s 2011 history of Australian war reporters. As his valuable and popular role has been lost to Australia’s media history, this study addresses this lack of historical fidelity and re-establishes recognition of Oliver Hogue’s
Russell Phipps (Tue,) studied this question.