More than 1000 people have requested an Avondale College lecturer’s monograph written to coincide with the broadcast of an Anzac Day-themed special on television.

Presenter Gary Kent and Daniel Reynaud shoot Faith of the Anzacs on location at Gallipoli.

The response to the offer of Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud’s Faith of the Anzacs is 10 times greater than the response the producer of the special, It Is Written Oceania, receives for the Bible studies and DVDs it promotes during the regular broadcast of its program across all networks and times.

The Seven Network in Australia broadcast the special, also called Faith of the Anzacs, at midday on Anzac Day in New South Wales and Queensland, half an hour before the traditional Australian Rules Football match between Collingwood and Essendon. The special aired in other states and territories before the Sunrise program at 6.30 AM the same day.

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

The Seven Network in Australia will broadcast an Anzac Day-themed special produced in part by an Avondale College lecturer for a Christian television program.

Faith of the Anzacs is a half-hour episode written for It Is Written Oceania by Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud, dean of the Faculty of Arts. It will air on Seven and its affiliates in New South Wales and Queensland at 12.00 PM on April 25. It airs in other states and territories at 6.30 AM the same day.

The special highlights the seldom recognised role of faith and religion in the story of Gallipoli. “Many of the men found comfort in scripture, prayer and song, and the mateship of faith of those who trusted in God,” says Daniel. “This story unearths the forgotten stories of the faith of Anzac chaplains and soldiers, stories of genuine heroism, faith and courage.”

It Is Written will promote an offer of a free monograph written by Daniel and called Faith of the Anzacs during the broadcast of the special.

Daniel travelled to Gallipoli in western Turkey with the It Is Written crew to serve as the historical consultant and to appear on camera for each of six episodes. He wrote the episodes. They will air on the Australian Christian Channel, Channel Seven in Australia, EMTV in Papua New Guinea, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Hope Channel and TV2 in New Zealand around Anzac Day this year and over the next two years.

Daniel’s interest lies in the Anzac legend and its representation in early Australian films. He is the author of Celluloid Anzacs: The Great War Through Australian Cinema and The Hero of the Dardanelles and Other World War One Silent Dramas. He has also worked with the National Film and Sound Archive in the recovery and partial reconstruction of several silent films, including The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915), Australia’s first Gallipoli movie.

Links
Map: Gallipoli