
Fernleaf Cairo
Alex Hedley(Author)
Megan Hutching(Editor)
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand)
Published on 1. June 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
290 pages
978-1-86950-755-8 (ISBN)
Description
Its call sign was Fernleaf Cairo, and between 1939 and 1946, around 76,000 Kiwis of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force passed through Maadi Camp. Its call sign was Fernleaf Cairo, and between 1939 and 1946, around 76,000 Kiwis of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force passed through Maadi Camp. Around 17 kilometres south of Cairo, the camp appeared almost overnight, as this country's permanent overseas base during the Second World War. By 1945 the camp had tar-sealed roads, two cinemas, an open-air amphitheatre, canteens, bars, chapels, sports fields, a meat-pie and ice-cream factory, and - thanks to General Bernard Freyberg - swimming baths. Egypt was a source of boundless amazement, sly humour and some disgust to the New Zealanders, an experience which left its mark, both on our language - taking a shufti - and more tangibly, the Maadi Rowing Cup. With unpublished images and first-hand accounts, Fernleaf Cairo offers a fascinating insight into the unlikely bond young New Zealanders forged with the people and city of Cairo, including their many highly colourful experiences on leave.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Auckland
New Zealand
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
449 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86950-755-8 (9781869507558)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Eminent military oral historian Megan Hutching (editor of hour long running and highly successful oral history series) and Alex Hedley, representative of the younger generation of Kiwis who flock to Gallipoli in their thousands each year as an emotional pilgrimage have written this book together.