To Hell and Back

Sydney Loch is an undeservedly forgotten Australian author. As a young soldier in the battlefields of Gallipoli‚ Sydney Loch witnessed the horror of war first-hand. On his return to Australia he detailed what he saw in his book‚ The Straits Impregnable. Hoping to avoid military censorship‚ his publishers dubbed Sydney's book a novel. But as the war ground on and the numbers of casualties grew‚ the publisher inserted a note saying the story was factual. The book‚ which had enjoyed huge literary acclaim‚ was immediately withdrawn from sale by the censors.

Susanna de Vries is an international author and former lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology. She writes full-time but also lectures to branches of the Australian Fine and Decorative Art Society. She speaks fluent Spanish and French and has lived and worked in London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Florence, Barcelona and Sydney but now lives in Brisbane and has nine grandchildren. Susanna's fourteen books have won her literary awards in Ireland and Britain, an Order of Australia for services to literature and a Winston Churchill Fellowship.

Jake de Vries was a talented architect who helped shape the city’s built environment through his designs and vision for a modern Brisbane. As city architect, Jake was responsible for projects including the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, a retirement village and libraries. Jake met London-born Susanna Evans at an event at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1984. They discovered they both had been on television on the same day when Jake had been supervising repairs to the top of Brisbane’s convict-driven windmill and Susanna was launching her book Historic Brisbane and that they shared many interests. Jake and Susanna spent a wonderful summer in a Greek village to gain material for Blue Ribbons Bitter Bread, a book which, when published, went global with its emotive story of Joice Loch, who was born in Ingham in North Queensland and became Australia’s most decorated woman. The couple also wrote a sequel, To Hell and Back: The Banned Story of Gallipoli.

Shane Nagle studied acting with George Whaley and impro and clown with Al Wunder and Tom Greder. His recent work includes roles in the feature films Punishment and Eraser Children, a handful of short films, and a diverse range of stage productions – such as with puppetry troupe Krinkl, children's theatre company Stiff Elbow Clapping, and as the dramatic lead in Hilary Bell's dark thriller, The Bloody Bride.