Book Launch | The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli | Ryan Butta

Join us to celebrate the launch of the new publication The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli.

About The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli:

Harry Freame was the first Australian to win the Distinguished Conduct Medal at Gallipoli. Raised as a samurai, he risked his life again and again to scout the beaches and hills of the battlefield, reporting invaluable intelligence back to his officers and relieving stranded soldiers who otherwise would surely have died. Some say he should have got the VC but didn't because he was half-Japanese, a fact he tried hard to conceal.

After the war, Harry (real name Henry Wykeham Koba Freame) became a soldier settler and champion apple grower. But when Japan emerged as a perceived threat to Australia, Harry was recruited into Australian intelligence to spy on the Japanese community in Sydney. Before Japan's entry into World War II, Australia opened a diplomatic legation in Tokyo, and Harry was sent as a translator - but his real role was a spy. Extraordinarily, his cover was leaked by the Australian press, and the Japanese secret police tried to assassinate him not long after his arrival in Tokyo in 1941. Harry died back in Australia a few weeks later, but his sacrifice has never been acknowledged by Australia.

Until now. Featuring never-before-seen material, The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli is a fascinating and immersive investigation into a grievous historical wrong.

About Ryan Butta:
Ryan Butta grew up in regional New South Wales.

Before he started writing he worked in international trade and has lived and worked extensively overseas. He is a writer, author and editor. When he is not writing Ryan enjoys fly fishing, cooking over flame and telling people that he once played cricket for Argentina. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese but mostly enjoys long silences.

Ryan currently lives in the NSW Kiama with his wife, Carolina, and a Cavoodle called Canela and is working on his second work of Australian history. Photo credit: © Ryan Butta

Instagram: @ryan.butta | X: @RyanButta | Facebook | RyanButtaAuthor | Substack | ryanbutta.substack.com | www.ryanbutta.com

Host or Publisher Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA)