In Your Hands, Australians is a small book about post-war reconstruction in which Australia’s Official World War 1 Correspondent, C.E.W.

Bean exhorted Australians to pursue the aims of peace with the dedication, organisation and tenacity with which they had fought what was then known as the Great War.

[14] On 11 November 1941, just before the final volume of the official history was published, Bean witnessed the opening of the Australian War Memorial.

[17] Written in October 1918, during the closing days of the war, Charles Bean called In Your Hands, Australians ‘the little Book on reconstruction’.

[22] It bore the character of a personal letter to all Australians, urging the nation to embrace social improvement following the Great War.

[32] In these chapters Bean expressed in an Australian accent the hope which filled the minds of many good men at the end of 1918: that the world might now have a peace in which the lessons of war would be applied to building: in which the comradeship of armies would be preserved and widened in civil communities; in which the living performed deeds which somehow justified the years of death.

Bean decided to use his leave in October 1918 to write the book on reconstruction and to see that it was published, a month later, before the departure of the troops for Australia.

… I got away for a fortnight to a quiet hotel at Cannes, where I had time to put down many of the thoughts about Australia that had been exercising one's mind during the war years.

"[38] Further evidence of its significance to Bean is provided by the fact that he finished the book in late October/November 1918 on his return to Paris from where he continued to visit battalions and drive to Battlefields to obtain photos before they altered.

Realising the significance of this tragic 1916 battle to the young Australian nation, Bean walked over the ground to think, reflect and record.

[40] In Your Hands, Australians further illustrated Bean’s’ dedication to these men, their legacy and their role in shaping Australia’s emerging identity.

[43] Inglis also noted that "The sense of values established in [Bean’s] boyhood remained constant; some of the opinions he derived from it were still changing.

Before 1914 he had employed serenely the notion of an English race, and briskly defended White Australia.…By 1949 he was arguing for admission of limited numbers of immigrants from Asia rather than perpetrating a ‘quite senseless colour line.’”.

There are many instances in the tract where Bean uses inclusive language such as: “…the making of a nation is in the hands of every man and woman, every boy and girl,” and "We must plan for the education of every person in the State in body, mind and character.

Harper Collins Publishers, Sydney, 2014, ISBN 978 0 7322 978 • Gooding, Janda (2009) "Gallipoli Revisited: In the footsteps of Charles Bean and the Australian Historical Mission", Hardie Grant Books, Victoria.

ISBN 9780522841855; OCLC 185989559 • McCarthy, Dudley (1983) "Gallipoli to the Somme: The story of Charles Bean", John Ferguson Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW.

ISBN 0-909-134-588 • Piggott, Michael (1983) "A guide to The Personal Family and Official Papers of C. E. W. Bean", Australian War Memorial.

ISBN 0-64299438-2 • Rees, Peter (2015) "Bearing Witness: The remarkable life of Charles Bean: Australia's greatest war correspondent", Allen & Unwin, Sydney.