Blown up at Gallipoli

Victor’s upbringing in a church-run home was more fortunate than many stories told by ‘the forgotten children’ of Australia. In this poignant, vivid memoir, he sets out to discover why he and his siblings were separated from their grandparents in the UK, handed over to the Church of England, then sent to the land of ‘oranges and sunshine’ as ‘good settler stock’ – without their parents.

Follow Victor’s story as he retraces childhood memories, weaving together the scattered threads of a family history. ‘Captain’ Fred Bibby emerges as a man who pretended to be ‘better’ and other than he was for many years, shirking family responsibilities. Once in Australia, he showed more interest in his children—albeit too late to offer them a secure family home.

Like his father, Victor joined the army at age sixteen, and in many ways, lived the life Fred may have dreamed of but did not achieve. His unflinching search pieces together fragments of the past, finding for his father a grace of attention, acceptance, and forgiveness that honours this broken story.

About the Author

Aged sixteen, Victor Bibby joined the Australian Army as an apprentice soldier, became an officer, studied, married, had a family, and saw more of the world than he expected. A second career in commercial aviation followed in which he saw even more of the world through aeroplane and hotel windows. As a young boy, Victor immigrated to Australia from the UK and grew up a ward of the State. Once retired, he began to piece together fragments of his family history, to answer the question: ‘Why did it happen the way it did?’ His search revealed a few truths as well as many gaps, pretences and evasions. The gifts of understanding and acceptance are its reward.
Victor Bibby lives in Geelong, Victoria with his beloved wife and has four grandchildren.