Amid 2014's events commemorating the start of World War One, few mark the involvement of Australia's many migrants who found themselves fighting for their new country.
Records suggest, for example, more than a thousand soldiers born in what was then the Russian Empire fought for Australia at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
On the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, film-maker Alex Spektor has brought to life a story largely missing from Australia's history books.
His documentary, "Anzacs from Russia," is inspired by a little-known book from Canberra historian Elena Govor about Russian Anzacs in Australian history.
"On a visit to the Australian War Memorial in the national capital, Govor was intrigued at the many Russian names listed as fallen soldiers amongst the memorials. And so began her 10-year quest to uncover the amazing story of the Anzacs from Russia."
The story actually begins years before the war, when the upheaval in the Russian Empire that would, in time, trigger the Revolution of 1917 led many to leave for other lands.
They were fleeing an empire that spread across today's lands of Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, of today's Belarus, Poland, Georgia and Ukraine, of Russia and more.
They were headed, primarily, for the United States, Canada and Australia.
When The Great War broke out then, more than a thousand would join the First Australian Imperial Force and fight at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
Almost one in five would die, a ratio similar to that of Australian soldiers across the board in World War One.
Alex Spektor has told SBS Radio's Russian program the war holds a very different place in Australia's history from Russia's and the Russians are a clear part of it.
"Young people who arrived from the Russian Empire, without knowing anything about Australian life, arrived here to live in this country. And then World War One began. This war in Russia itself is rarely remembered. It is even called The Forgotten War. In Australia, World War One is remembered on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, but it is never mentioned that the former Russian citizens took part in this war, from all the corners of the Russian Empire. They were fighting for Australian survival."
Constantin Drozdovsky of the Council of the Russian Compatriots in Australia, says the story of the war's immigrant soldiers needs to be known.
"The biggest contingent of non-English-speaking men was the contingent of citizens of the Russian Empire. There were Finns, Russians, Jews and Poles, (and) many other nationalities of the Russian Empire. And, also, we should remember that, on June the 10th, 1915, in Brisbane, at the very first commemoration service for the fallen at Gallipoli, the consul of the Russian Empire was present, together with the governor, the premier and the city mayor. And part of this service was Russian Orthodox."
Alex Spektor traced the names and life stories of many of the Russian Anzacs.
One was Norman Myer, brought to Australia from what is now Belarus by his uncle, Sidney Myer, founder of the Myer retail empire.
Emily Myer says fighting in the war for Australia brought out some of the best in her father.
"He was extremely strong, very determined, very ambitious, very simple, very humane. And I think his time with serving in France and in the army had brought out these characteristics and turned a young, deprived Russian boy into a great Australian man."
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