Entertainment
8 August, 2025
Ode to local heroes
A LOCAL man has just released his first ever book which highlights those from the Dimbulah and surrounding areas who served the country in the Boer War through to World War II.
Charles Khan, a recently retired paramedic and current auxiliary firefighter in Dimbulah, recently wrapped up a five-year journey of putting together Born to the North and the Rising Sun; a book dedicated to remembering those born west of Mareeba who fought for Australia in the Boer War (1899-1902), World War I, and World War II.
“It’s been a labour of love for about the last five years. I’ve always had a passion for military history,” the almost 62-year-old said.
“One of the things I first identified were the volunteer members of the military during the wars, like in the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) or the Citizens Military Force (CMF).
“Those men and women are never remembered anywhere, so I thought I might just do up a little brochure or pamphlet for the Dimbulah area volunteers and have it available at ANZAC Day.
“But once I started exploring, I came across so many names who I didn’t even realise had enlisted from towns fanning out from Dimbulah, heading in all directions. So, I thought I’d expand the book and make it about these people.
“I came up with a concept and thought about how I was going to do it. I knew it had to have an opening and a closing, so I had to set some guidelines, and that was ‘Born to the North and the Rising Sun’.
“So, all the people featured had to have been born in one of the towns, now ghost towns, fanning out from Dimbulah.
“I thought it would probably go unpublished, but luckily Bendigo Community Bank Mareeba and Dimbulah came on board as a major sponsor, and they paid for the publishing.
“Then I linked with Legacy FNQ (a charity supporting the families of veterans) to donate every cent from the sale of the books to their organisation. So, I had a couple of lovely partnerships.”
Mr Khan has called Dimbulah home for the past 40 years and served as the local paramedic for 30 of those years. Only just recently retiring, he still enjoys his role as an auxiliary firefighter which he has been doing for 20 years.
He revealed he had “never actually wanted and never thought” he would write a book, but his passion for military history gave him a sense of purpose to tell the stories of locals who served in the wars.
“I think we’re starting to lose a grip on what the men and women did for our country in the many wars, for a number of reasons,” he said.
“I just wanted to put the information out there so people are aware of the local military history.
“Hopefully I can inspire them to learn a little bit more about the history and get behind ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day or even inspire some of the kids to look at maybe writing a book of their own one day.”
Mr Khan held his book launch in Dimbulah recently and quickly sold all 150 copies. Now, he is getting more printed and will hold a second launch in Mareeba in the coming weeks.
Overall, he is “quite pleased” with his efforts and feels “very satisfied” to have finished the long project.
“When I hear people who’ve purchased the book say, ‘I just spent all weekend with my nose in the book, I couldn’t leave it’, I mean that sort of thing just makes me feel even prouder.
“And the fact that Legacy can get money from it and put it towards their Legacy House project in Cairns, which is similar to a Ronald McDonald House project, that makes me really happy as well.”
For those interested in purchasing a copy of the book, Mr Khan will soon announce details of the second book launch via his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/charles.e.khan) and with posters at Nextra Mareeba News.
