THE DIGGERS BY THE SAME AUTHOR CHILDREN OF THE DEAD END _Seventh Printing_ THE RAT-PIT _Sixth Printing_ THE GREAT PUSH _45th Thousand_ SOLDIER SONGS _Second Printing_ THE RED HORIZON _Third Printing_ GLENMORNAN _Second Printing_ THE BROWN BRETHREN _Second Printing_ THE AMATEUR ARMY _Fourth Printing_ THE DIGGERS THE AUSTRALIANS IN FRANCE BY PATRICK MACGILL With an Introduction by THE RT. HON. W. M. HUGHES HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED 3 YORK STREET, SAINT JAMES'S LONDON S.W.1 MCMXIX _Printed in Great Britain by_ Butler & Tanner _Frome and London_ TO W. P. FOREWORD BY THE RT. HON. W. M. HUGHES MY DEAR MR. MACGILL,-- From the day on which _The Children of the Dead End_ came into my hands, I have been amongst the most devoted of your worshippers. In this and in your later books, your genius has won world-wide recognition, and no words of mine are needed to commend to your very wide circle of readers this story of the achievements of the Australian soldiers in France. The imperishable deeds of Australia's glorious soldiers have carved for themselves a deep niche in the topmost towers of the Temple of the Immortals. The story of their valour will live throughout the ages, and future generations of Australians will speak of them as we do of all the heroic figures of antiquity, and strive to mould their lives upon the sublime spirit of self-sacrifice and love of country and liberty which animated them. Their valour has covered Australia with a lustre that shines throughout the world, so that her name, which but yesterday was almost unknown, is now a household word in the mouths of all the peoples of the earth.