Walking through Pamela Cupper's house, one can see a sweeping collection of books, notes and magazines, which have been carefully archived among her collection of twentieth-century war memorabilia.
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The impressive collection was brought together during a lifetime of work and research that took her and her husband Phil Taylor to many places where our diggers once stood.
As part of this year's Queen's Birthday honours, Ms Cupper has been awarded an Order of Australia award for her work in the preservation of Australia's First World War history.
Originally born in Mildura, Ms Cupper studied history and started her career as a teacher in Hopetoun.
In 1979, she and her husband travelled to Europe, where they developed an interest in tracing the battlefields of the western front.
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"We cycled around a lot of the battlefields over the three years we were here," Ms Cupper said.
"We first went to Gallipoli in 1980. The cemeteries were there, and the Commonwealth war graves commission looked after them, but not a lot of people went to them, certainly not young people.
"We were there for two weeks just wandering around and cycling around. In that whole time I did not meet a westerner. Phil met two Australians fleetingly, but no one visited the place basically."
The pair followed along the western front battlefields using a guidebook called When Endeavours Fade and wished a similar book existed for battlefields in Gallipoli.
"We thought that what we needed was a guide book to Gallipoli like that. So with a lot of help from the war memorial in Canberra we got Gallipoli: A Battlefield Guide published in 1989," Ms Cupper said.
Following the book's publication, Ms Cupper said she saw a massive increase in the number of people travelling to the site.
"Gallipoli took off after that. In 1990, Bob Hawke had the 75th anniversary and he took back a lot of the veterans and held a ceremony there. It became very popular after that and a lot of people started to go there," Ms Cupper said.
"From about 1990 onwards the numbers started to increase. Young people especially started to go back as a pilgrimage of sorts.
"The numbers got too big in my opinion because at around 2000 they had to move the ANZAC ceremony from ANZAC cove because that was just being destroyed by numbers and they built another commemoration centre away from that.
"It's interesting. I am a bit selfish. I don't want everyone to have the ability to go there in a funny sort of way, even though I think it has been one of the defining moments of my life."
Ms Cupper has since developed a passion for Gallipoli and has been involved in tours around the battlefields of Gallipoli and the western front.
"Peter Weir, who made the film Gallipoli in 1981 commented that as he walked up shrapnel valley he could feel the ghosts of the men, and we felt that very much. It was only in that peace and quiet that you could appreciate what you were seeing," Ms Cupper said.
"The First World War is essential to appreciate. Our communities gave up so much during the First World War.
"I have been on a number of tours, and you get someone from Hopetoun standing at the grave of someone from Hopetoun and they are moved by that connection because they appreciate that he grew up in the same environment, same place that they did. The sacrifice was enormous."
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Having finished her career as assistant principal of Hopetoun College, Ms Cupper spends her time editing and updating history textbooks for high school students.
Beyond the First World War, she has academic interests in the Russian and French revolutions.
Ms Cupper said she was unsure who nominated her for the Queen's Birthday honours but was privileged to receive the nomination.
"It feels great. I am very honoured, a little bit wondering why," Ms Cupper said.
"I have always worked very hard in education, for which you are paid, and I have worked very hard in military history, for which you are not paid.
"I have always argued for the preservation of history in schools too, I think that has been very important because without it I think we would be a poorer country."
