ABC - The War that Changed Us (2014)

Especially commissioned by the ABC to mark the centenary of the First World War, "The War That Changed Us" is history on a grand scale. Wrought from the fine grain detail of the vivid and evocative personal testimonies of six Australians - revealed in letters, diaries, speeches and newspaper articles the events of the war unfold at home and on the frontline.
Driven by human stories, rather than the detail of military history, the series offers an opportunity to get close to the actual experience of war, and to learn how it changed the lives of those involved. As a result the political becomes personal and the epic everyday. We watch the series protagonists struggle with the opposing influences of imperialism and independence, militarism and pacifism, Old World enmities and New World utopian ideals.
The War That Changed Us uses dramatic reconstruction, location filming, expert analysis and colourised black and white archive to tell a gripping tale spanning three continents over four brutal years. The events of 1914-18 not only change the course of human history, but would also test the mettle of one of the worlds newest nations: Australia.
The six key characters: Foot soldier Archie Barwick (Myles Pollard) from Tasmania; army nurse Kit McNaughton (Jane Watt) from southwest Victoria; Boer war veteran Harold 'Pompey' Elliott (Luke Hewitt) from Melbourne; English born, farm labourer's son Tom Barker (Tom Milton); peace campaigner, Vida Goldstein (Virginia Gay) and pro-war crusader Eva Hughes (Alexandra Jones).

Series Director Don Featherstone ; Produced by Electric Pictures in Association with the ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Part 1: Answering the Call (1914-15)
Australia's involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914. Australia, as a dominion of the British Empire, was automatically also at war. Thousands rushed to volunteer, and as in many other places the outbreak of war was greeted in with great enthusiasm. Australian soldiers Pompey Elliott, Archie Barwick and Nurse Kit McNaughton embark on the great adventure of WW1 while at home anti-war activists Tom Barker and Vida Goldstein face off against pro-war conservative crusader Eva Hughes.


Part 2: Coming Together (1915-16)
Australian soldiers Pompey Elliott and Archie Barwick, and nurse Kit McNaughton, retreat from Gallipoli and prepare to go to war on European soil for the first time. By the middle of 1916, the Great War has been raging for nearly two years. After the failed Gallipoli campaign, Nurse Kit McNaughton is evacuated from the Dardanelles with the defeated troops and is sent to work in a hospital in Northern France. At home, anti-war activist Tom Barker is jailed and pacifist Vida Goldstein is banned from speaking in public halls, as conservative crusader Eva Hughes persuades more men to go to the front.


Part 3: Coming Apart (1916-17)
On the battlefields of Europe, Pompey Elliott, Archie Barwick and Kit McNaughton are caught up in a war where men fight and die in their thousands. Pompey Elliott leads his men in the battle of Fromelles where Australia suffers the worst 24 hours in its history. Archie Barwick suffers a terrible loss and endures a grim life in the trenches under the constant risk of death, while Nurse Kit McNaughton tends the wounded in what has become the bloodiest war in history. On the home front, there's political turmoil and bitter argument. Eva Hughes supports Conscription in a referendum that drives a wedge though Australian society. Militant unionist Tom Barker is jailed for good and his organisation, the International Workers of the World, outlawed. Vida Goldstein loses her brother in a war she opposes.


Part 4: Coming Home (1918-19)
The war to end all wars enters its fourth year taking a terrible toll on Australian soldiers and nurses. As the war builds to a climax Australian troops are right in the thick of it while at home millions argue about whether men should be compelled to fight in it. Enlistments have fallen away to a trickle, so for a second time Prime Minister Billy Hughes tries to introduce conscription. With all of its central leaders including Tom Barker in jail, the voice of the IWW is no longer being heard. This time conscription is soundly defeated and it is clear that instead of being a unifying force war divides Australia.