Alec Hill Alec Jeffrey Hill AM , MBE , ED ( 2 July 1916 – 27 August 2008 ) was an Australian military historian and academic best known for his biography of General Harry Chauvel and his work on the Australian Dictionary of Biography . Biography . Alec Jeffrey Hill was born in Sydney , New South Wales on 2 July 1916 . His father , who served in the Great War , died while Alec was a boy . Alec was educated at Sydney Grammar , the University of Sydney and Balliol College , Oxford . He became a schoolteacher . He was commissioned in the New South Wales Scottish Regiment of the Militia in 1936 . Hill joined the Second Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 , receiving the service number NX380 . He commanded a company of the 2 / 13th Infantry Battalion during the retreat to Tobruk in 1941 , and in the subsequent Siege of Tobruk . He was a staff officer ( GSO3 ) at 9th Division headquarters during the Second Battle of El Alamein . After the 9th Division returned to Australia , he fought in the New Guinea and Borneo campaigns as brigade major of the 20th Infantry Brigade . For his war service , he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1947 . After the war Hill returned to his old profession , teaching geography and history at his old school , Sydney Grammar , becoming senior history master . He was involved with the Australian Army Cadets and the Citizen Military Forces . He also served a term as Honorary aide de camp to the Governor of New South Wales . In 1966 , he became a lecturer in history at the Royal Military College , Duntroon , which was then in transition to becoming a university faculty as part of the University of New South Wales . While there , he influenced a new generation of soldiers and military historians , including David Horner , Peter Pedersen , Chris Coulthard Clark and Brett Lodge . He also produced " Chauvel of the Light Horse " , a biography of the General Sir Harry Chauvel , the commander of the Desert Mounted Corps in the Great War . First published in 1978 , it is said to be the first modern scholarly biography of a senior Australian military figure . It advanced Australian military historiography " through the then unfashionable notion that generals were at least as important as privates in winning battles . " Alec Hill was associated with the Australian Dictionary of Biography ( ADB ) for more than 30 years , becoming a member of its Armed Forces Working Party on its formation in 1974 , and was its chairman from 1982 to 1994 . He wrote 38 articles on such prominent generals as William Birdwood , Frank Berryman , Harry Chauvel , Harold Edward Elliott , Leslie Morshead , Sydney Rowell , and George Wootten , in some cases drawing on his personal knowledge of the subject . For his work , he was awarded the ADB Medal in 2004 . He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honour ' s list in 2006 " for service to education in the field of Australian military history , to the Australian War Memorial as a writer and as a mentor to historians , and as a contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography . " He died on 27 August 2008 , survived by his wife , Patsy .