Cirrus@Austlit

'Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean, generally known as CEW Bean, trained as a lawyer and practised as a journalist prior to the First World War. Appointed Official Correspondent in 1914, he subsequently became editor of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, writing the key volumes about Anzac and the Western Front himself. Bean was the founding father of the Australian War Memorial, and if that was not enough, also played a role in establishing the National Archives. Largely unread now—he may never have been read much—Bean is widely regarded as the creator, or the most significant founder, of the Anzac legend.' (Introduction)