Over the past two weeks, Longueville Media had the pleasure of launching our most recent book for the Government of Timor-Leste: Enduring Memories – Timor-Leste’s resistance veterans & the 2015 Centenary of Anzac Tour.

The book commemorates Anzac Day 2015 when, for the first time, fifty veterans from the island nation of Timor-Leste (East Timor) marched with Australian veterans and friends in every capital city to commemorate the first ANZAC landing in Gallipoli. Enduring Memories records that historic visit and in the words of HE Xanana Gusmao: 

"This book represents the special relationship between not only the veterans from Australia and Timor-Leste, but also the special relationship between our peoples."

The book was launched first in Perth, where His Excellency Xanana Gusmao attended the 2016 Anzac Day Dawn Service, followed by the official book launch breakfast at RSL House. Enduring Memories was launched in Sydney last week, in conjunction with the Commando Association of Australia.

Longueville Media has had the pleasure of producing three collections of HE Xanana Gusmao's speeches over the past 11 years, which have recorded in detail the birth of The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste – mainly on a political level.

This new book is very much a celebration of the bond between the Australian and Timorese people. A bond that was forged during World War II and that is not to be underestimated.

That our shared history goes back this far is not as widely known in the Australian community as it could be. More recent events, such as the Balibo killings, are much more familiar to most of us.

I hope that this book will help readers to understand more about the roots and length of the friendship between the Australian and Timorese people and that Enduring Memories becomes a central piece of history that helps to keep the friendship strong between our two nations and their people.