Tom Whyte, the South Australian oarsman who should be toasted by all as a good sport.

Soldier, tourist and author, Verdi Schwinghammer even had part of his diary published in the Official History.

A superstar from Kerang, and the community that stretched all the way from rural Victoria to the battlefields of northern France.

A young man serving with the Cable Guard in Darwin has a swift removal to the battlefields of northern France.

There were whispers at home that Albert Crowle - always known as "Bunny" - might be a coward. But an angry letter from the trenches...

A troubled man from Queensland who ultimately and disastrously failed.

A Melbourne-born survivor of the torpedoing of the troopship Southland in 1915.

A Magarey Medallist mortally wounded at the Battle of Fromelles

The Australian soldier-poet Major Oliver Hogue of Sydney, NSW

A Methodist minister from Molong, NSW, who practised what he preached.

A young man from Delegate, NSW, who grew up in difficult circumstances.

A Melbourne-born pearler from Broome, WA.

Allegedly "one of the most criminal lives of a soldier in the AIF." Allegedly.

A sugar cane farmer from Marian, Qld, turned selfless hero.

A very ordinary South Australian from Adelaide and Peterborough.

Introducing Fragments of the First AIF, a look at individuals who served in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War.