Alex Lloyd (OKG09) - Veterans' Stories 

13 years ago, the late Richard Miles OAM (OKG39) relayed to Angus Hordern (OKG80) the names of OKG war veterans of his generation who were starting to slip away or memories fade. He impressed upon Angus the urgency to record the stories of the WWII veterans before it was too late.   

Angus proposed the idea of documentary about the Knox Old Boys who served in WWII. John Diamond, who had taught Alex Lloyd Ancient History, knew of the then first-year university student’s interest in storytelling from his work on the 2009 documentary Knox Cadets: A history. Angus had done his research, engaged historians, and with Alex agreeing to film his interviews, the For School & Country (FSAC) project was well underway. 

[Photo L-R Angus Hordern (OKG80) with Richard Miles OAM (OKG39) 

After the first few interviews with veterans, Angus realised FSAC had great potential, so he formed a partnership with Alex and recruited two other Old Boys who shared their passion for the military – Thomas Kaye (OKG10) and Rohan Viswalingam (OKG11). 

The four-man team then spent a few more years filming the veterans, historians, and capturing footage of overseas locations as well as recording music performed by the School’s orchestra and choir. 

In 2015, Thistle Productions released the FSAC five-part mini-series to coincide with the commemoration of the Centenary of Gallipoli. The DVD set was launched by Dr Brendan Nelson in The Great Hall. 

Photo L-R: Thomas Kaye (OKG10), Rohan Viswalingam (OKG11), Alex Lloyd (OKG09) and Angus  Hordern (OKG80). 

Following the launch, Angus and Alex pitched the story of one of the veterans from FSAC - Barney Greatrex (OKG39) - to the publisher, Hachette Australia. They successfully secured a deal to publish his full story, with author, Michael Veitch. 

A long-time lover of history, Alex says his passion for telling military stories was born hearing both Ted Carter (OKG38) and Barney Greatrex speak [in their FSAC interviews]. 

 “It sounds so simple, but just meeting them blew my mind,” Alex said.  

Life on the Line  

Over dinner in late 2016, the Thistle Productions team talked about starting a new project. Alex (right) recalls expressing reservations about what they could possibly do that would match FSAC, but Thomas, he says, challenged him to consider other formats.  At the time, podcasts were becoming more popular, but no one in Australia had created one featuring conversations with the Nation’s war veterans. In early 2017, the Thistle team created the Life on the Life (LOTL) podcast to fill that void.    “Everyone was keen, so the team started researching and recording the stories of veterans who had written books or appeared on TV,” Alex said.   “We got a lot of knock backs but fortunately, Dr Nelson made some introductions and I tracked people down online, cold-called and wrote letters asking for interviews.”  

Sandy MacGregor, the first Allied Soldier to venture inside the Viet Cong Tunnels, was the very first interviewee. LOTL then aired episodes with stories from the Air Force and Navy and pursued other theatres beyond Vietnam “to show the diversity of stories we were going to tell”.

After struggling to find people for Season 1, Alex found that by Season 2 more people were willing to share their stories, including Mark Donaldson VC (pictured below).     

“I was an assistant on his autobiography; he was happy to come on the show and support it,” Alex said.   

With a number of high-profile people appearing in quick succession, LOTL’s audience skyrocketed from 6,000 to 36,000 listeners a month. In their best month in 2020, the podcast recorded more than 2,000 downloads in a day. As they passed the 200-episode mark this year, Alex now has more volunteers and potential interviewees than slots available in the schedule. 

With the podcast becoming “much bigger than the team anticipated”, Alex considers it now “an act of service, out of love for the men and women who have done so much for our country that keeps us going.”  

The Australian War Memorial has also started adding interviews from LOTL to their oral history archive, and historians use the interviews as sources when writing the official history of the Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor conflicts. 

Alex acknowledges that there are now many opportunities for veterans to tell their stories online, but many had not done so. With the LOTL podcast now a trusted platform, Alex says he has found veterans feel comfortable speaking with the team. Before most interviews, there is a preliminary unrecorded conversation which helps the team to sense if there are topics to avoid.  

“We are not trying to have ‘gotcha’ moments or click-bait sound bites. We want an accurate, nuanced account of how military service grew, challenged and changed them. We try to create a safe space so they share only what they want to share. We are very conscious of making them feel safe,” Alex says.   

Changing the narrative  

From his experience interviewing many veterans, Alex says he has learned how narrowly the media can portray service men and women.  

“Putting the recent [Afghanistan] Inquiry aside, the standard media narrative was that veterans come back from tours with PTSD, regimented; they can’t go into new work,” Alex says.   

On the contrary, Alex has found most veterans to be “some of the most inspiring people in our country.” 

Watch this space  

Next season on LOTL, there will be video recordings of a handful of podcast interviews. The team is also excited to be producing a new documentary series called Life After Service.  

Alex hopes Thistle Productions will continue to “enlighten the general public, especially in a period when there will be ongoing negative coverage of aspects of Australia’s military history.”  

“Whatever the outcome [of the investigations], it should not tarnish the amazing work of 99 percent of our Defence Force.”  

“It is even more important that we are telling these stories so that people understand what it was like and the difference that was made [in Afghanistan].  

“There is so much more to do, but it is very gratifying to have already made a positive contribution.”   

Angus Hordern (OKG80) and Old Boy veterans  

Alex gratefully acknowledges Angus (pictured right) as the lead instigator and funder of Thistle Productions.   

“Angus is the steadfast partner who has made so much of this possible. His extensive history knowledge has added to our credibility,” Alex said.  

Many episodes of Life on the Line feature interviews with Knox Old Boys, including: David Buckwalter (OKG62) – 5 episodes, David Leafe (OKG61) – 2 episodes, Ron Aitken (OKG55), Adrian Clunies-Ross AO MBE (OKG50), Doug Gilling (OKG39), Todd Vail (OKG81), Ross Tulloh (OKG61), Ian Willoughby (OKG57), Antony Greatrex (OKG42). Rev Dr Gareth Clayton, a former School Chaplain has also been interviewed for the podcast.  

Former BBC journalist and Army Reservist Sharon Mascall-Dare also joined the Thistle Productions team in 2018. LOTL does not accept sponsorship or advertising. Proceeds from sales of FSAC and Barney Greatrex help to fund it.