But then came World War 1.


For some reason that no one seems to know the answer to, Vennard joined up, using the name Frank Reid, which he kept for all of his time in the War. He even used it on occasion later in life, especially when he wrote about his life in the Imperial Camel Corps, in his book 'The Fighting Cameliers'. As Reid, Vennard had a very eventful war. He fought at Gallipoli, in the Libyan Desert, in Sinai and in Palestine and was both an infantryman and a NCO in the Camel Corps. Throughout the War, using the name Reid, Vennard wrote reports and articles for several London papers and was involved in establishing the official magazine of the AIF called 'Kia Ora Coo-ee' for which he became its editor.

Just as intriguingly, as soon as the war was over, Vennard resumed his proper name and once back in Sydney, he returned to journalism. However and probably not all that surprisingly, after about two years of life in Sydney, Vennard was drawn back to northern Queensland. Within a short time he had joined the staff of the 'North Queensland Register'. It was to become his 'home' for the rest of his life and through which he became famous as 'Bill Bowyang' and his column 'On The Track'.

line drawing © Ron Edwards

In the late 1800s, quite a few writers used pseudonyms. 'Banjo' Paterson, 'The Breaker' Morant, 'Tom Collins'(Joseph Furphy), 'Dryblower' E.G Murphy and 'John O'Brien' (P.J. Hartigan) are just some of the many. But Alexander Vennard didn't just use one pseudonym. He used several. Besides 'Frank Reid', Vennard wrote as 'Island Exile', 'Island Trader', 'Wirraroo', 'Fossicker', 'Maurice Dean' and of course as 'Bill Bowyang'. In some instances, it seems quite obvious why he wrote under an assumed name, particularly if he was writing different articles for the one paper or when writing for other papers and journals such as 'Cummins and Campbell's Monthly Magazine', which he wrote for, for many years.