Out for Lunch with Peter FitzSimons.
Join us for lunch at the Guildford Family Hotel with one of Australia's most renowned and masterful storytellers, Peter FitzSimons.
Peter will be talking about his new book, The Courageous Life of Weary Dunlop, but before that he will sit with us for lunch and take the time to chat with guests.
About the book
The extraordinary story of the heroic doctor whose courage and leadership were a lifeline for thousands of Australian prisoners-of-war on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway of World War II.
In September 1939, young Australian surgeon Edward 'Weary' Dunlop was working in London when the dogs of war were unleashed. Signing up, he was commissioned a captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) and sent to the Middle East, serving in Palestine, Greece, Crete, Egypt and Tobruk. As the European war dragged on, an emboldened Japanese force captured Singapore and marched closer to Australian shores. Weary and over 3000 others sailed back to Java to fight this new enemy. At the No. 1 Allied General Hospital in Bandoeng, the Japanese were ready to murder the bedridden when Weary put his body in front of the bayonets.
From that moment his leadership, ingenuity became legend as Allied prisoners-of-war were sent to
Singapore, Thailand and finally faced the hell of working as slave labour on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway. In the POW camps, tropical diseases, malnutrition, and the brutal work regime meant the death toll was horrific. And yet, with little to no medical supplies, under extreme physical pressure,
Weary Dunlop took risks and beatings to defy the Japanese and keep his men alive in circumstances that tested the limits of human endurance.
Weary was a gentle giant of a man but World War II was the fire that fuelled this remarkable hero.
His courageous leadership and calm endurance became beacons of hope to the POWs under his command and his name has become synonymous with courage, compassion and resilience.
About the Author
Peter FitzSimons AM is Australia's bestselling non-fiction writer, and for the past 39 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald.
He is the author of a number of highly successful books, including Breaker Morant, Burke and Wills, Monash's Masterpiece, Kokoda, Ned Kelly and Gallipoli, as well as biographies of such notable Australians as Sir Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake and John Eales. His passion is to tell Australian stories, our own stories: of great men and women, of stirring events in our history.
Peter grew up on a farm north of Sydney, went to boarding school in Sydney and attended Sydney University. An ex-Wallaby, he also lived for several years in rural France and Italy, playing rugby for regional clubs. He and his wife, Lisa Wilkinson AM, have three children and live in Sydney
The Details
Date:
Saturday November 15 2025
Time:
12 00pm for a 12 30pm Lunch – 3 00pm
Venue:
Guildford Family Hotel 35 Fryers St, Guildford, VIC 3451
Cost:
$99
This ticket includes a two course lunch prepared by the Guildford Hotel, author talk and a $30 book voucher to spend on a Peter FitzSimons book of your choice.
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