'Gordon Bishop … sailed away for the Front with the 20th Reinforcements of the 8th Battalion. He left England for France on Christmas Eve, and took part in much of the strenuous fighting that has marked this year. He fell on the 20th September, a date fraught with sorrow for many a home. Gordon was of very lovable character, sweet-tempered, and gentle, yet thoroughly manly, and many an old student will read of his death with misty eyes. But he "being dead yet speaketh" by the might of his pure, fair young life and his heroic death in liberty's defence. May God comfort his mourning relations, and make them feel a proud honour in the midst of their grief that their late son was a true Australian, brave, true and fearless.'

(Ballarat Agricultural High School Magazine, December 1917, p.28)

To think about:

1. What were some of the characteristics of the "true Australian" as described in this obituary?
2. How easily do these characteristics fit with the image of the Australian digger of the First World War?