Graham Atkins

Graham Atkins was just 9 years old when, in 1965, the British colony of Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from Britain. UDI, as it was known, triggered an increasingly vicious guerrilla war between Ian Smith's recalcitrant white settler community and the brutal insurgent forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. In 1979, just as the civil war reached its zenith, Graham found himself conscripted into the Rhodesian army as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1RR Batallion. He saw first-hand...See more

Graham Atkins was just 9 years old when, in 1965, the British colony of Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence from Britain. UDI, as it was known, triggered an increasingly vicious guerrilla war between Ian Smith's recalcitrant white settler community and the brutal insurgent forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. In 1979, just as the civil war reached its zenith, Graham found himself conscripted into the Rhodesian army as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1RR Batallion. He saw first-hand the tragedy of a nation at war with itself and the horrors it wrought on combatants and civilians alike. Talks brokered by Britain and the Front-Line African states finally brought peace to Zimbabwe and a socialist government under Robert Mugabe. Graham then worked as a town planner in the new black government, then as a safari camp manager, and finally as a business manager. While proud of his young nation's can-do attitude and the country's beauty and potential, his hopes for lasting peace and progress in Zimbabwe were shattered when Mugabe launched a pogrom against white farmers and the emerging black opposition. With the consequent collapse of the economy and law and order, over 4 million Zimbabweans fled the country, Graham and his family amongst them. He now lives in Perth, Australia See less