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Arthur Lucas Oxer kept this diary from his Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915 until he was killed in action on 21 August 1915.

The first diary entry states: 'Landed at Anzac on the 25 of April under heavy schrapnel [sic] and rifle fire had to charge up the cliffs'. The horrific realities of Gallipoli warfare including bayonet charges, fighting in the trenches, bombardment, and deaths of hundreds of men are described vividly by the 21 year old. However, Oxer's laconic sense of humour is also evident: for example, 31/5/15 'Heading for a holiday down the beach' followed by the realistic 1/6/15 'Still down the beach doing fatigue'. The qualities of courage, fortitude and mateship that are associated with the term 'Anzac' are evident in Oxer's account.

Oxer was a member of the 16^th Battalion. His diary also records a poem 'The charge of the 16^th Battalion' composed by fellow soldier 'Private Chabrell' [Chabrel] that details 'a hellish fight' in which the battalion 'upheld the Australian name'.

• Bean, CEW. Gallipoli mission, Sydney: ABC Enterprises in association with the Australian War Memorial for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1990
• Bean, CEW. The story of Anzac: from 4 May 1915 to the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula, 7th ed. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1938-1942. Official history of Australia in the war of 1914-1918; vol. 2
• Robertson, John. Anzac and Empire: the tragedy & glory of Gallipoli, [Richmond, Vic.]: Hamlyn Australia, 1990
• Winter, Denis. 25 April 1915: the inevitable tragedy, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1994

• Australian War Memorial
• South Australians at war
• Visit Gallipoli: the ANZACs [Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs]