Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

PHILIP FREDERICK EDWARD SCHULER who died on 23rd June 1917 from wounds sustained in France was the only son of Mr. G. F. N. Schuler. He was born in 1889 and entered the School in 1901. He was in the athletic team in 1905 and matriculated the same year. He left School in 1906 and attended at Trinity College in 1907.

He took an interest in military matters as a lad, and held a commission in the infantry and later in the Intelligence Corps. He was on the staff of the "Age," and when the first Expeditionary Force left Australia in 1914 he represented the " Age " as war correspondent in Egypt and on Gallipoli. Subsequently he wrote " Australia in Arms," the first history of the Gallipoli campaign,
which was received with great favour.

On his return to Australia he delivered a few lectures on his experiences, one given to the boys in Big School being particularly interesting. He then enlisted and left Australia as a Driver in
the 3rd Divisional Train, being given his commission on 8th February 1917. His promotion to Lieutenant was granted on 24th May 1917, shortly before he received wounds which resulted in his death. Mr. C. E. W. Bean, the Australian war correspondent, has supplied the following note of his work and personality : " I should like to say a word or two of what I know, and I daresay no one else knows,
of `Peter' Schuler, who has died of wounds after Messines. All his friends knew him for the brilliantly handsome, bright, attractive, generous youngster that he was. But I had the opportunity of knowing him as a war correspondent. Both on General Bridges' flagship, in the first convoy, the `Orvieto,' and at Mena Camp
he tackled his difficult task with splendid energy and pertinacity. He had to compete with his mail letters against other people's cables, a tremendous disadvantage. But he worked harder than almost any war correspondent I ever knew. He wrote only what he saw. His letters were true, and only those who know what
oceans of false stuff have'been poured out on to the world in this war can appreciate what that means. Philip Schuler came to Gallipoli during the summer as correspondent of the 'Age,' and his stay there covered all the heaviest fighting of August. He followed that fighting quite fearlessly, and more closely than, I think any war correspondent in this war. From early morning of 7th August, when he went out with the 4th Brigade on the left, he climbed the hills daily as active as a young panther. His power of taking in the whole situation by a survey of the movements on the hills would have made him a brilliant intelligence officer. The reports which he brought back from his rambles were fuller than the official
news and truer, and his history of Anzac will always remain the classic for that period on that account. He was a boy of delicate, almost fastidious tastes, fond of flowers, scrupulously neat, even under conditions of discomfort. But his bravery and energy crowded his short stay at Anzac with such experience as has rarely been
gained by journalists, and he held the honour of Australian journalism very high"

His book on the Gallipoli campaign has been very highly praised not only in literary but in military circles.