                               SOUTH AUSTRALIA
               AND
                       WORLD WAR I

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https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/AustToWar1914

‘To the last man’—Australia’s entry to war in 1914
31 July 2014

Jonathan Curtis
Research Branch

Executive summary

    On 31 July 1914 in an election speech at Colac in Victoria, the Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher (ALP) famously declared that ‘should the worst happen, after everything has been done that honour will permit, Australians will stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling’.

    Only days later, Britain declared war against Germany on 4 August 1914. The spark that lit the fuse of war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the chain of events leading to world war reflected the extremely complex relations between European countries in the lead up to the First World War.
    It is unlikely that Fisher or his contemporaries had any idea of the human and financial sacrifice of Australia’s commitment. Overall, 324,000 members served overseas with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and of these, over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.

    In 1914, the British Imperial Government remained responsible for the foreign policy of the empire, including declarations of war, so the British Government of Herbert Asquith did not need to consult any of the colonial governments when making its declaration of war. The Australian Government’s role was therefore only to determine the extent of its military contribution to the Imperial forces.

    However, while Australia’s constitutional independence from Britain has long since been clear, then as now, parliament has no formal constitutional role in decisions to go war. The executive power of section 61 of the Australian Constitution is taken to include all the ‘prerogatives of the Crown under the English common law’ including the power to make treaties with the governments of other countries and making war and peace.

Contents

Executive summary

Introduction

Declarations of war

A blank cheque

A separate declaration of war?

Executive and the parliament

Further reading

Introduction

On 31 July 1914 in an election speech at Colac in Victoria, the Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher (ALP) famously declared that ‘should the worst happen, after everything has been done that honour will permit, Australians will stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling’.

Fisher’s speech occurred in the midst of an election campaign scheduled for 5 September 1914, in what was Australia’s first double dissolution election.[1] When Britain declared war against Germany on 4 August 1914, Sir Joseph Cook (LIB) was Prime Minister of Australia. Following the September 1914 election, Fisher took office (for the third time) and his government pursued a policy of fully supporting Britain’s war effort.

This Research Paper considers the context of Fisher’s declaration by briefly outlining the steps leading to the outbreak of the war and the costs to Australia by the end of hostilities. It then examines two particular issues of relevance in the parliamentary environment: the extent of an independent Australian foreign policy and why Britain’s declaration of war was considered to automatically include Australia, and second, the role of the parliament in committing Australia to war.

Declarations of war

The growing dangers arising from nationalist and territorial disputes in the Balkans had been recognised as early as the 1878 Congress of Berlin, when German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck famously noted:

Europe today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal ... A single spark will set off an explosion that will consume us all ... I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where ... Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off.

Relations between European countries in the lead-up to the First World War were extremely complex and in a state of flux. They reflected the interconnected tensions arising from the growing European dominance of a unified Germany, the falling tide of Ottoman power and its loss of European territories in the first Balkan war, Russian ambitions for influence and territory in the Bosphorus, and rising nationalist ambitions among Balkan nations triggering instability in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[2]

The specific events that provided Bismarck’s spark are well-known. On 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie, were assassinated by Serbian nationalists during a visit to the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, triggering a domino effect of alliance commitments and declarations of war.

Believing correctly that Serbian officials were involved in the plot, Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia a ten-point ultimatum. When Serbia agreed to only eight of the ten demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914. In support of its Serbian ally, the Russian Empire ordered a partial mobilisation one day later on 29 July. Germany mobilised on 30 July, and Russia responded by declaring a full mobilisation that same day. Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise within 12 hours, and subsequently declared war against Russia on 1 August 1914.

Germany’s war plan was based on the threat of a two-front war against both France and Russia (due to their mutual alliance commitments), and relied on a quick victory over France before turning east against Russia. When it mobilised against Russia, Germany therefore also demanded that France remain neutral.

Germany subsequently declared war on France on 3 August. On 4 August, after Belgium refused to permit German troops to cross its borders into France, Germany declared war on Belgium. Britain delivered an ultimatum to Germany that Belgium be kept neutral, and following an ‘unsatisfactory reply’ declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914.

On 3 August Sir Edward Grey, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, delivered a statement to the House of Commons on the situation in Europe:

To-day events move so rapidly that it is exceedingly difficult to state with technical accuracy the actual state of affairs, but it is clear that the peace of Europe cannot be preserved. Russia and Germany … have declared war upon each other … [France is] involved in it because of their obligation of honour under a definite alliance with Russia … .

For Grey, the question of the neutrality of Belgium was key, given Britain’s ‘honour and interest’ in upholding the 1839 Treaty of London:

We are going to suffer, I am afraid, terribly in this war whether we are in it or whether we stand aside … .

Mobilisation of the Fleet has taken place; mobilisation of the Army is taking place; but we have as yet taken no engagement, because I do feel that in the case of a European conflagration such as this, unprecedented, with our enormous responsibilities in India and other parts of the Empire, or in countries in British occupation, with all the unknown factors, we must take very carefully into consideration the use which we make of sending an Expeditionary Force out of the country until we know how we stand … .

There is but one way in which the Government could make certain at the present moment of keeping outside this war, and that would be that it should immediately issue a proclamation of unconditional neutrality. We cannot do that. We have made … commitment to France … which prevents us from doing that. We have got the consideration of Belgium which prevents us also from any unconditional neutrality, and, without those conditions absolutely satisfied and satisfactory, we are bound not to shrink from proceeding to the use of all the forces in our power.[3]

On the centenary of Andrew Fisher’s speech, and in the context of what followed, his immediate and unqualified declaration of support for Britain is interesting to us now for three particular reasons: a ‘blank cheque’ policy to support Britain’s war effort, the declaration of war by Britain on behalf of the dominions and the role of Australia’s Parliament.
A blank cheque

First, it is unlikely that Fisher had any idea just how costly the human and financial sacrifice of this blank cheque policy would be for Australia.

Overall, 324,000 members served overseas with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). As the Australian War Memorial states, for Australia, the First World War remains our most costly conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men signed up to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the AIF, while 2,139 women served with the Australian Army Nursing Service and 130 with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service.[4]

By war’s end, over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.[5] This compares with around 700,000 British, 60,000 Canadians and 16,000 New Zealanders killed.[6]

Australia also had the dubious distinction of suffering the highest proportional losses of any of the national forces within the British Empire at 19 per cent losses of the forces committed and 65 per cent of those embarked. [7] [8] The casualties were still being counted during the 1930s. By then, another 60,000 had died from wounds or illnesses caused by the war.[9]

According to Professor Joan Beaumont, the deaths caused by the First World War, (and those caused by the influenza epidemic that immediately followed) changed the demographics of the Australian population:

The 1933 national census revealed 21,500 fewer men aged 35-39 years—who had been 12-20 in 1914-1919—than in the 30-34 year old cohort. The gender balance of Australian society changed too. Whereas in 1911 there were 109 men for every 100 women between 25 and 44 years of age, in 1933 there were 98 men for every 100 women between 35 and 39.[10]

The costs of the war to Australia were also financial, with estimated total costs of between £350 million and £377 million, of which 70 per cent was borrowed and the rest came from taxes.[11] This equates to a figure in the order of £170 billion in modern values, although this unsurprisingly seems small compared to Britain’s estimated war costs of £3,251 billion. [12] [13]

The costs and implications of the war carried on well past the end of hostilities. As well as the debt, Australia faced the substantial task of bringing home, demobilising and resettling the large army it had sent overseas. This task created considerable administrative challenges, which were driven by both the moral imperative to look after all the volunteers who had served, but also the fear the returned soldiers could become a disruptive and subversive force in Australian society.[14]

The size and complexity of this task necessitated the creation of a comprehensive system of social welfare, medical, pension, and soldier settler and pension schemes that significantly changed the role of the federal government and its responsibilities in relation to the states.[15]
A separate declaration of war?

A second notable issue is that Australia had no choice about whether to go to war. Notwithstanding that the Australian Constitution provided that the Commonwealth Parliament could legislate with respect to both defence and external affairs (subsections 51(vi) and (xxix) respectively), and the Executive had the broader executive power of section 61, the Australian Government knew that the British Imperial Government remained responsible for the foreign policy of the empire including declarations of war and the power to enter treaties. This reflected the legal status of all of Britain’s self-governing colonies, which also went to war: Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa and remained the case in Australia until the enactment of the Statute of Westminster (Adoption) Act 1942 (Cth).[16] As former High Court Chief Justice Mason noted, ‘the Constitution did not in 1901 enable Australia to enter into a treaty with a foreign State or make a declaration of war’. Mason quotes English constitutional lawyer Sir Athur Berriedale:

It is perfectly clear that in international law the whole of the Empire is at war if the United Kingdom is at war and that it lies in the hands of the Imperial Government to declare war or make a peace. …

even in 1916, Isaacs J stated that:

“the creation of a state of war and the establishment of peace necessarily reside in the Sovereign himself as head of the Empire”.[17]

The extent of Australia’s capacity for independent foreign policy was discussed in the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth power to make and implement treaties:

At federation, in 1901, the power to enter into treaties was possessed by the Imperial Crown because the United Kingdom Government remained responsible for the conduct of Australia’s foreign relations … . [18]

Rather than foreign affairs more broadly, Australia (and the other dominions) were given a degree of autonomy in relation to commercial treaties. Although the colonies did not have the power to enter into commercial treaties, as this could only be done by the Imperial Government, they did, have the relatively limited power not to be bound by commercial treaties to which Britain became a party.[19]

So it was that the British Government of Herbert Asquith did not need to consult any of the colonial governments when making its declaration of war on Germany on 4 August 1914.[20]

The Australian Government’s role was therefore only to determine the extent of its military contribution to the Imperial forces. In this context, on 3 August the federal Cabinet made two offers to the British Government: to place the Australian fleet under Admiralty control and to despatch an expeditionary force overseas.[21]

Although some Australian Labor Party members and trade unionists (particularly those of Irish descent) expressed concern at the outset of the war about the level of Australia’s involvement and lack of consultation from Britain, it was only later in the war, and particularly after the heavy losses of Australian troops, that there was a more widespread sense in both Australia and the other dominions that their interests were not always the same as Britain’s. This led to increasing expectations that the Australian Government would be involved in decision-making. This saw the dominions being invited to attend meetings of an Imperial War Conference and an Imperial War Cabinet, as well as, after the war, Australia having separate representation at the Versailles Peace Conference.

However, as Professor Beaumont points out, this was viewed as nationhood within the British Empire—not separate from it.[22]

Executive and the parliament

A third issue that continues to be controversial today is the extent to which the Australian Parliament, as distinct from the executive government, does or should play a role in decisions to commit troops to conflict.

Under the Australian Constitution, the power to declare war is the prerogative of the executive arm of government, which as noted above, was the British Imperial Government for the purposes of foreign policy in 1914. This reflects the view that the executive power of section 61 is taken to include all the ‘prerogatives of the Crown under the English common law’ including the power to make treaties with the governments of other countries and making war and peace.[23]

As a matter of constitutional law, Parliament has no formal decision-making role.

This is reflected in the fact that there was no debate in parliament before Australia’s entry into the war (noting though, that parliament was prorogued at the time). Similarly, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced on 3 September 1939 that Britain was at war with Germany, Australia was again automatically at war, with Australia’s Prime Minister Robert Menzies announcing on the radio (one hour and fifteen minutes later): ‘it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially, that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war’.[24]

Nevertheless, while parliamentary approval is not legally required, a democratic government in the Westminster tradition needs, as a matter of political reality, to enjoy the confidence of the lower house.[25] As Lindell points out, parliament can move a motion of no-confidence in the government, but also has the power to ‘legislate to regulate and limit the exercise of prerogative powers’ such as those used to declare war, as well as continued control over the expenditure of money to fight the war, and the power to hold inquiries under section 49 of the Constitution. These could investigate and report into the deployment of forces and the conduct of operations.[26]

Accordingly, there are a number of times in Australia’s history that parliament has debated the issue. As Prime Minister Howard said in the context of the war in Iraq in 2003, while ‘the decision lies with the executive of government: the cabinet’ he ‘nevertheless [thought it] appropriate that the parliament, at the first opportunity, have the chance to debate this motion. It is essential that the reasons for that decision be made plain to the representatives of the people and that they have a full opportunity to debate them and to have their views recorded’.[27]

This statement neatly describes the historical practice. As the Library’s paper on Parliamentary involvement in declaring war and deploying forces overseas shows, in the First World War the Governor General opened parliament on 8 October 1914, and the parliament debated a motion to agree to the Governor General’s address. In that instance, the government’s declaration to support Britain’s war effort with personnel and funds received bipartisan support in the Parliament, which reflected widespread public support.

Similarly in the Second World War, Parliament met on 6 September 1939, three days after Australia’s declaration of war. Prime Minister Menzies tabled a White Paper and delivered a ministerial statement on the war in Europe.[28]

The issue of parliament’s role in going to war remains periodically contentious. Minor parties have four times introduced Bills to remove the exclusive power of the executive to commit Australia to war: the Australian Democrats in 1985, and the Greens in 2003, 2008 and 2014.[29]
Further reading

J Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australian in the Great War, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2013

C Clarke, Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914, Penguin, Sydney, 2013

M Glenny, The Balkans: 1804—2012: Nationalism, war and the great powers, Granta Books, London, 2012

P Ham, 1914: The Year the world ended, Random House, North Sydney, 2014

M MacMillan, The war that ended peace: How Europe abandoned peace for the First World War, Profile Books, London, 2013

D McKeown and R Jordan, Parliamentary involvement in declaring war and deploying forces overseas, Background Note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 22 March 2010

Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2008 [No. 2], The Senate, Canberra, 2008

Senate, Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth power to make and implement treaties, The Senate, Canberra, November 1995

[1].      G Souter, Acts of parliament, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988, p. 137.

[2].      The relative importance of these influences, let alone attribution of ‘fault’ are still hotly debated a century later. Several of the many recent contributions to the debate include: C Clarke, Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914, Penguin, Sydney, 2013; P Ham, 1914: The year the world ended, Random House, North Sydney, 2014; M MacMillan, The war that ended peace: How Europe abandoned peace for the First World War, Profile Books, London, 2014.

[3].      House of Commons, 3 August 1914, p. 1824.

[4].      Australian War Memorial, First World War 1914—18, www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1/, accessed 23 July 2014.

[5].      Australian War Memorial, Researching Australian military service: First World War, nurses, www.awm.gov.au/research/infosheets/ww1_nurses/, accessed 29 July 2014.

[6].      J Beaumont, ‘Unitedly we have fought: imperial loyalty and the Australian war effort’, International Affairs, 90:2 (2014) p. 398, quoting Statistics of the military effort of the British empire during the Great War 1914—1920, p. 756.

[7].      Ibid., p. 398.

[8].      Anzac Day Organisation, www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww1/anecdotes/stats01.html, accessed 23 July 2014. The vast majority of the casualties were suffered by the Army. The RAN’s casualties included 171 fatalities—108 Australians and 63 officers and men on loan from the Royal Navy, with less than a third the result of enemy action. D Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, VIC: Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2001.

[9].      L Carlyon, The Great War, Pan MacMillan, Sydney, 2007, p. 752

[10].    J Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australia in the Great War, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2013 (eBook edition) location 8953.

[11].    L Carlyon, op. cit., p. 759.

[12].    The estimate is necessarily very imprecise, www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php, accessed 23 July 2014.

[13].    Total British war debt 1914—1918, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqhxvcw accessed 24 July 2014.

[14].    Beaumont, Broken Nation, op. cit., location 8544.

[15].    Ibid., location 8546.

[16].    A Mason, ‘The Australian Constitution 1901—1988, Australian Law Journal, Volume 62, October 1988, p. 753.

[17].    Ibid., p. 753.

[18].    Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Trick or treaty? Commonwealth power to make and implement treaties, The Senate, Canberra, November 1995, para. 4.7.

[19].    Ibid., para 4.10.

[20].    Beaumont, ‘Unitedly we have fought’, op. cit., p. 399.

[21].    Souter, op. cit., p. 138; Beaumont, op. cit., p. 399.

[22].    Beaumont, Ibid., at p. 411.

[23].    G Lindell, ‘The constitutional authority to deploy Australian military forces in the Coalition war against Iraq’, Constitutional Law and Policy Review, Vo. 5 No. 3., November 2002, p. 47.

[24].    D McKeown and R Jordan, Parliamentary involvement in declaring war and deploying forces overseas, Background Note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2010, p. 6.

[25].    Lindell, op. cit., p. 47.

[26].    Ibid., p. 47.

[27].    Quoted in G Williams, ‘The power to go to war: Australia in Iraq, Public Law Reporter, (2004) 15 PLR, p.5, at p. 6. The wording of motion moved is interesting. In Howard’s case it was ‘that the House take note of the paper’. The motion most frequently used is ‘that the paper [ministerial statement etc] be printed’. However the key point is that the Government of the day has never asked the Parliament to endorse its actions per se.

[28].    McKeown and Jordan, op. cit., p. 6.

[29].    Ibid., p. 3.

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Image result for South Australia - 1914

Crowds watching the South Australian troops march past, September 1914. Collection: History SA Government Photographic Collection, GN01382.

..................................... Image result for 1914-1918 - A WORLD WAY - SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S WAR

Image result for 1914-1918 - A WORLD WAY - SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S WAR

    WWI - Crowded scene outside SA Parliament WWI

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http://southaustraliaswar.com.au/topics/1914-1915-drought/

1914-1915 Drought

In the last 100 years the severity of the 1914-1915 drought has often been overshadowed by the outbreak of World War One. It was widespread throughout Australia and particularly prevalent in Victoria, central New South Wales, Tasmania south-western Western Australia as well as in South Australia. Rainfall in early 1914 gave farmers hope for their crops after a long, dry summer. However, as the year progressed, the rain came to a halt and did not return for thirteen long months. The ground became dry and crops began to wither. Stock within the southern states was transported to more suitable areas via railway, causing prices to rise substantially. Throughout various areas of South Australia, May through to October of 1914 remains the driest period on record. By the end of 1914, the wheat harvest was a mere quarter of what had been achieved in the previous year.

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                 http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/

Conscription

By Jenny Tilby Stock

Universal military training, including ‘boy conscription’ for those as young as 12, was introduced via the Commonwealth Defence Act (1911). Especially in South Australia, with its free origins, significant numbers of educated and articulate women, and powerful non-conformist presence, there were immediate objections, both on principle and to the harsher aspects of its practical implementation. Adelaide Quakers formed the Australian Freedom League in 1911 to fight for the repeal of compulsory training. Local trade unionists also resisted conscription, bolstered by militant miners in Broken Hill.

First World War

The First World War broke out before the first conscript intake was fully trained and a separate volunteer Australian Imperial Force for service overseas was raised. By 1916, flagging enlistment persuaded Prime Minister Billy Hughes that the five Australian divisions could be maintained only by forcible recruitment. To pressure a reluctant Labor-dominated senate to pass the necessary bills, Hughes put the question to referendum in October 1916.

The referendum was narrowly defeated, with South Australia second only to New South Wales in its negative vote of 57.6%. A close vote on party lines had been expected, but the big No vote in German-settled areas revealed that a high proportion of these people had baulked at forcing their sons to fight the Fatherland and resented being harassed by officials and patriotic Anglophiles. Farmers worried about the loss of rural labour, and some Catholics responding to the Irish troubles had also crossed party lines, but it was on the hapless Germans that retribution fell. A noticeable drop in the negative vote in German areas in the second referendum in December 1917 still left the state’s No vote at 56.1%, but made South Australia the only state not to increase its No vote.

Second World War

Limited conscription imposed in the Second World War was accepted more readily, due to the Japanese threat to Australia and the use of American conscripts to defend our shores. South Australia was one of four states to give Labor Prime Minister John Curtin approval to broaden the definition of ‘home defence’ to cover the south-west Pacific.

Vietnam War

In 1951, Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies, fearing the outbreak of a third world war, brought in universal national service training for 18 year olds. Scaled down in 1957, this was abandoned in 1959 and no conscripts were used in Korea, Malaya or Borneo. However, as Australia’s involvement in Vietnam grew, young men turning 20 were required to register and take their chances of being selected to undertake two years’ national service in regular army units.

The first ‘birthday ballot’ was held on 20 April 1965. Public support for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War waned following the death of the first conscript, South Australian Errol Noack, on 24 May 1966.

The End of Conscription

Conscription ended in the early 1970s and has not been re-introduced, despite sporadic calls from the Returned Servicemen’s League (RSL). In 1999, the South Australian branch unsuccessfully lobbied for an end to the RSL’s national service policy in favour of expanded reliance on better-resourced reservists to supplement regular forces. There is support in some quarters for a scheme of compulsory national service of a non-military nature.

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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/events/first-world-war

First World War

This was the first war in which Australia took part as a federated nation. Between 1914 and 1918 a total of 416 809 Australians enlisted to fight, including 34 959 South Australians. They were joined by 300 South Australian women in the Australian Army Nursing Service. Almost 30 000 South Australians served overseas, and more than 5000 died.

Two failed referendums on the issue of conscription meant that war service in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) depended on volunteers. Prime Minister WM Hughes favoured conscription, but South Australia joined New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland in voting ‘no’ to the proposal in referenda held in 1916 and 1917. These votes produced the necessary majority for enlistment to remain voluntary. Recruitment drives following the failure of the second referendum produced a temporary increase in recruits, but the referenda themselves proved divisive and counterproductive. In 1918 enlistments were well below target.

War spawned another division.

People of German descent were more numerous in South Australia than in any other Australian state. The census of 1911 showed that 26 281 South Australians – almost 7% of the population – were Lutherans. Of foreign-born residents, 4977 had been born in Germany. Following a 1914 British government order, the Australian government required the states to intern people of German or ‘enemy’ origin. In South Australia (the 4th Military District) an internment camp was established on Torrens Island, near the Port River at Port Adelaide.

Despite decades of peaceful interaction between South Australians of German and non-German origin, promoting any aspect of German culture was forbidden during the war. The German-language newspaper Süd Australische Zeitung, published continuously since 1850, was banned. The 52 schools in South Australia using German as the main language of instruction were closed. The Nomenclature Act 1917 changed 69 German place names and forbade the use of a previous German place-name in a residential address or legal document.

From August 1914 South Australia’s volunteers at home swung into action. Sandbag sewing and other voluntary work was carried out by bodies such as the Red Cross, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Salvation Army, the League of Loyal Women and the Fighting Forces Comfort Fund. Fifty thousand fly-nets were made for horses in the Palestine campaign by South Australian school children, whose Patriotic Fund also raised £85 000.

On the economic front, mining activity increased during the war despite a commonwealth ban on the export of metal to prevent it falling into enemy hands. To meet home demand, the smelting works at Port Pirie in the Mid North expanded, with the Port Pirie Smelters being taken over by the Broken Hill Associated Smelters in 1915. When in 1917 the federal government banned car body imports, Adelaide firms, particularly Holden’s, seized the opportunity and went into production.

On balance, however, South Australia did not prosper between 1914 and 1918. The state was devastated by drought in 1914, with huge losses of stock and a disastrous grain harvest. A better season in 1915 meant welcome exports to Britain, albeit hampered by a shortage of ships to carry the grain. With their government fighting to balance the budget, South Australians were taxed more heavily than residents in any other state.

The federal government’s soldier settlement schemes following the armistice in November 1918 promised hope to South Australia’s returning soldiers in re-adjusting to civilian life. Six million pounds was spent on establishing blocks in the state’s Riverland, with over 1100 men settling in the area. Dry-land blocks were also available, but life was often hard and many failed. Another government project aimed at assisting the returned men, in this case to obtain housing amidst a post-war housing shortage, was the ‘Thousand Homes’ scheme in which 400 new homes were built on the site of the Mitcham army camp. Colonel Light Gardens was completed in the 1920s. These schemes would not, of course, be the final chapter in the story of soldier settlement in South Australia.

With the loss of more than 5000 of its young citizens, and with the heavy taxes imposed on its population, the war had been hard for South Australia. In the 1920s, however, the state’s industrial and manufacturing sectors expanded, and until stymied by the Great Depression South Australia made modest progress in the wake of the ‘war to end all wars’. ..........................................................

Cheer-Up Society

By Margaret Allen

Soon after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Mrs Alexandrine (Alexandra) Seager, a real estate and employment agent, and William Sowden, editor of the Register, were shocked by the lack of public support for troops awaiting embarkation at the suburban Morphettville camp. They formed the Cheer-Up Society, whose volunteer women workers aimed to ‘promote and provide for the comfort, welfare and entertainment’ of soldiers and sailors. The society wished to shield soldiers from alcohol and disreputable city entertainments. At the Cheer-Up Hut, opened in 1915 west of the Adelaide City Baths on King William Road and financed by funds raised at fairs and badge days, the men could have free meals, meet friends, play billiards and enjoy concerts. Departing troops were given great farewells. Food and money were donated by the society’s 10 000 members, particularly from country branches. The Burra Cheer-Up Girls’ Band raised funds and the Murray Bridge Cheer-Ups met troop trains with refreshments. For Seager, with a husband and three sons in the army (one died at Gallipoli in 1915), and the other women, this was a labour of love, a maternalist contribution to the war effort.

The Cheer-Up Society revived during the Second World War and offered hostel accommodation from 1941. Volunteers again provided thousands of meals along with concerts, dances, picture shows and ‘home comforts’. With many troops passing through in 1942 and 1943 billeting was organised and a second hut opened at the Palais Royal on North Terrace east.

After the Second World War Hut No. 1 and the SPF Hostel were sold to the state government which converted them to the Elder Park Migrant Hostel, providing initial accommodation for newly arrived migrants from Europe. The Cheer-Up Society disbanded in 1964 and its funds and assets were distributed to welfare and service groups. A Cheer-Up Association succeeded the society but the gatherings of these former members of the society fell away in 1970 when the hostel was demolished for the construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre.

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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/things/war-memorial

The Dardanelles Memorial

By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia

The Dardanelles Memorial, once tucked away in Adelaide’s southwest parklands, is the first memorial in Australia erected to soldiers of the First World War. It commemorates the landing of Anzac forces on Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 and the many casualties they suffered.

(It has now been shifted close to the The National War Memorial, Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, which was the first War Memorial built in Australia, and unveiled on Anzac Day, 1931)

Situation 2 of Memorial - South Parklands

Instigation of the memorial

On 23 August 1915 the Adelaide City Council accepted a proposal by the Wattle Day League to establish a grove of wattle trees to commemorate the landing of Australian troops at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

The ‘war memorial plantation’ was designed by Adelaide builder and prominent League member, Walter Torode. His design included a 3.65m high granite obelisk, to be positioned in the middle of the plantation. The memorial was surrounded by a ‘rustic pavilion’ or wooden pergola with wide openings on four sides. Four trees, symbolising the Allies, were to be planted outside the pergola. The perimeter featured more than 100 golden wattle trees and beds of native trees and shrubs. The site was fenced, with entrances on each of the four sides.

The Wattle Day League, which originated in South Australia, was a nationalistic body in favour of compulsory military training. Torode is credited as the initiator of tree planting in memory of Australian soldiers.

The memorial, to be situated in the south parklands, was supported by City Gardener August Wilhelm Pelzer because it coincided with his program of ‘beautification’ of the southern parks around the city. The memorial site, bordering Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue, became known as ‘Wattle Grove’.

Memorial and site construction

The memorial was erected at no cost to the public purse. Materials and labour were volunteered.

The obelisk was erected largely by employees of Walter Torode working as volunteers in the two weeks prior to the unveiling. Newspaper reports noted that a carter had risen at 3am to bring stones to the site and several workers living at Mount Lofty had taken the afternoon off work to assist. On Saturday 4 September a special afternoon tea was provided for them by the Wattle Day League. President of the federal and South Australian branches of the League, William Sowden, thanked the volunteers and praised them for their ‘self-denying patriotism’.
The site foreman was J Meinchke of Kapunda. The wattle trees were supplied by Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens. The memorial obelisk was cut by stonemasons from Adelaide firm of JT Brown from Murray Bridge red and Monarto grey granite.

The rough stone base represented ‘the rugged hills up which the Australian soldiers had to climb’. The smooth stone at the apex symbolised victory. Initially the obelisk had a flat stone surface on which a vase of flowers could be placed. It was later topped by a stone cross. The inscription carved into the granite block beneath the cross simply acknowledged the Australasian soldiers at the landing.

Unveiling

The memorial was erected and unveiled when troops were still hopelessly pinned down and suffering heavy casualties on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Nevertheless, the Register’s report of the occasion emphasised ‘not grief, but pride – nation pride’ and the call to service.

Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson (patron of the Australian Wattle Day League) unveiled the memorial and dedicated the grove on Wattle Day 7 September 1915. Speakers included Governor Sir Henry Galway, Premier Crawford Vaughan, Archibald Peake (leader of the opposition), Lord Mayor Alfred Simpson, Military Commandant Colonel AH Sandford and William Sowden.
The Advertiser of 8 September reported Sowden’s comments that two flowers typifying Australian flora had been selected for the site: the golden wattle (‘emblem of hope and glory’) and the black ‘Kennedya’ (Kennedia Nigricans; ‘symbol of bereavement and sorrow’).

The first four trees were planted by Sir Ronald and Lady Munro-Ferguson and Sir Henry and Lady Galway. Other ‘leading citizens’ and representatives of wounded soldiers planted trees, as did Helen Mantegani (née Thomas) who had been present at the proclamation ceremony in December 1836 when 11 years old.

The unveiling was followed by a patriotic concert that night at Norwood Town Hall.

Original Situation of Dardanelles Cross

Plantings and ceremonies

Plantings and memorial services continued there until the end of the 1920s. Another 44 trees and rose bushes were added in 1916. Guard rails were erected to keep cattle out of the gardens. In 1919 a wattle tree was dropped from an aeroplane by South Australian aviator and war veteran Henry (Harry) Butler to commemorate the role of Australian aviators during the First World War. The tree was planted by Chief Justice Sir George Murray and the spot was marked by a small plaque. Unfortunately, the tree no longer exists, and the bronze tablet reading ‘Wattle Day 1919’ is now in the care of the Adelaide City Council. The memorial was eventually surrounded by 140 wattle trees.

A neglected memorial

By the 1930s the site had deteriorated, the pergola was overgrown with creepers and the obelisk was obscured. The Adelaide City Council relocated the obelisk to Lundie Gardens, the site of a First World War training camp in the northwest corner of Park 21 West, in October 1940. Mirnu Wirra, Kaurna for ‘golden wattle grove’, is now the dual name for the park where very few wattle trees remain.

Renovations 1969

Extensive renovations in 1969 included replacing the original stone cross and attaching a copper plaque to the base of the granite cairn. The new inscription acknowledged the memorial’s unveiling by the governor-general on Wattle Day 1915.

Revival

Services have resumed at the memorial in recent years. Held on the anniversary date of its unveiling, 7 September, they commemorate the Dardanelles campaign and recognise the significance of the memorial as the first of its kind.

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http://southaustraliaswar.com.au/monthly-posts/191510-october-1915/

October, 1915

. October was the month for changing leadership – both at Gallipoli and in Australia.

THE BIG PICTURE

The northern summer of 1915 was disastrous for the Allies. The Russians had lost significant ground, with the German armies occupying Poland and Lithuania; the Battle of Loos, an Anglo-French offensive, commenced in late September. The British used gas for the first time on the battlefield but in places the winds blew it back over their own lines, resulting in more than 2500 casualties. Coupled with the failures of the August offensives at Gallipoli, this disastrous situation meant that there could be no significant reinforcements deployed in the Dardanelles.

MURDOCH’S LETTER
CEW Bean was Australia’s official war correspondent. He had won this position over Keith Murdoch in a ballot of the Australian Journalists Association in August 1914. However, in early September 1915, Murdoch spent four days on the Gallipoli Peninsula and when he reached London, he wrote a 25-page, 8000-word letter to Prime Minister Fisher detailing the ‘ghastly bungling’ of the British command. He stated that events at Gallipoli were ‘undoubtedly one of the most terrible chapters in our history’. This letter was also sent to British Prime Minster Asquith, who had it printed as a cabinet paper and on 15 October, Sir Ian Hamilton, the British commander of the Gallipoli campaign was recalled.

POLITICS IN AUSTRALIA
On 27 October 1915, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher made the decision to resign, taking up the position of High Commissioner in London. He was replaced by Attorney-General, Billy Hughes. Hughes was fiercely passionate about the British Empire and vowed to continue to promote British interests.

SOLDIER’S EXPERIENCES
Whilst all this was taking place, the soldiers continued their campaign at Gallipoli. We are reminded that news from the battlefront could take some time to reach Australia; C.E.W. Bean’s report of events at Lone Pine in August were reported during October.

Let’s take a moment to imagine what it might have been like to be James Churchill Smith, who turned 21 during the month. When October began he was in Egypt, enjoying the exotic sights, seeing hippos, rhinos and the pyramids. We can see too, he was learning what it was to be in command of a group of men, as they practised trench drills and attack formations. When he wrote: ‘We will soon be leaving for the front – Hurrah!’, he would have been aware of the newspaper reports about trench conditions in Gallipoli and he almost surely would have seen the daily casualty lists.

Churchill Smith landed at Gallipoli on 24 October. The following day his diary recalls he saw a dead Turk and was fired upon by a sniper. And in this strange world, the next day he met up with old school chums, and witnessed the power of ‘Beachy Bill’. Yet still he writes, ‘don’t think I shall ever get hurt here’.

We learn from Leo Terrell’s diary about events at Suvla Bay and his declining health – an eye injury, dysentery and injuries to his hands.

IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

At home, those with far more serious injuries than Leo Terrell (or, indeed, than Lou Avery, who was evacuated to Egypt last month and who doesn’t record anything in his diary in October) continued to arrive home.

The tireless fundraising continued, led by women such as Lady Marie Carola Galway (the wife of the Governor). In October, the push was for Christmas comforts – small packages to be sent to troops overseas containing items such as tobacco, chocolates and writing materials. The particular home front environment created by war was affecting social change in South Australia, where it was noted that women’s roles were changing: Lady Galway gave an address to the Chamber of Commerce in October, the first woman ever to do so, about what girls could do to support the war effort. The Advertiser published articles about the appointment of two women police officers and that a female Justice of the Peace had sat on the bench in the Port Adelaide police court. There was also an article on the changes to women’s fashion brought about by their wartime roles.

Alexandrine Seager (who lost one of her own sons at Gallipoli – he died in early August, and the Advertiser carried an obituary in the Role of Honour on 30 September) continued her work with the Cheer-Up Society and to publish her patriotic poems. This month’s verse commemorated 12 months since the first expeditionary soldiers left Adelaide.

Amidst continuing calls for more recruits and growing community disunity about the need for conscription, South Australians also celebrated ANZAC Day for the very first time on 13 October. A parade from Grote Street preceded a fair at the Adelaide Oval. The Advertiser also reported that munitions were to be fabricated at the Islington Railway Workshops and other locations in SA.

It was also football finals in October 1915. Sturt supporters will be pleased to note their team’s victory (by 12 points) over Port Adelaide. The game was played at Adelaide Oval and watched by a crowd of around 13,000. Parts of the Oval were in use as an Army camp and this was the last game played until after the war had finished.

Perhaps Australians today have a sense of how a new Prime Minister might shake things up. Billy Hughes was certainly a strong personality.

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https://honesthistory.net.au/wp/the-first-anzac-day-adelaide-1915-highlights-reel/

The first Anzac Day? Adelaide 1915: highlights reel

‘The first Anzac Day? Adelaide 1915: highlights reel’, Honest History, 13 October 2015

This year, 2015, as surely everyone knows now, is one hundred years since the Gallipoli landing/invasion, 25 April 1915, popularised as ‘Anzac’. But when was the first Anzac Day? Views differ. The illustration at the top of the Honest History Facebook page is of a parade in Brisbane on 25 April 1916 (complete with banner entreating ‘Enlist Now’ – there has always been a recruitment angle to Anzac Day).

This famous photograph is held by the National Archives of Australia and is captioned ‘Anzac Day, Brisbane, 1916’. John Moses and George F. Davis are among many who have written of a Brisbane-birthed Anzac Day, citing the work of Canon David Garland in promoting the concept nationally. Update 14 December 2015: a note by Mark Cryle on the Queensland State Archives website about Queensland origins.

But, like many birthing myths and markers, Anzac Day has a complex story and one of them comes from Adelaide. Today, 13 October 2015, is the centenary of the ‘Adelaide Anzac Day’. Honest History previously reported the lead-up to this day, notably an argument about where the money raised was going and a clarification about the links between the organisers of ‘Anzac Day’ and those who wrangled the traditional Eight Hour Day celebration which, in 1915, gave way to a commemoration of Anzac, less than five months after the landing/invasion and while troops of many nations were still clinging to the rocky slopes of the Dardanelles Peninsula.
ANU academic, Gareth Knapman, has written a number of pieces on what happened in Adelaide and one is in Legacies of War (2012) edited by Nigel Starck. Knapman notes the contemporary importance of Eight Hour Day or Labour Day. He also points to the irony that the only servicemen to carry weapons in the Adelaide parade were naval reservists (who eventually sat out most of the war) but that there were Gallipoli wounded travelling in cars, plus 2000 recruits. The wounded were recognised but, says Knapman, ‘the great unstated truth is the commemoration of the dead’. The day ended at the Adelaide Oval with races, novelty events and a mock crash of a tram car. Knapman’s article includes illustrations.

The Adelaide Anzac Day was reported in the Advertiser and the Register, which also mentioned parades in other South Australian towns. The lengthy article in the Advertiser article had the headlines ‘A stirring demonstration’, ‘Streets bright with colour’, ‘Citizens give generously’ and ‘Pageantry and fun’. There were many decorated floats, including the Kaiser caricatured, John Bull and Britannia. There were lots of ‘pretty young ladies’, particularly seeking donations from men. Given the origins of the parade in Eight Hour Day, it is not surprising that there were plenty of trade union floats, some of them sticking to traditional Labour themes.
Among other resources, Yvonne Perkins’ summary of the history (both Adelaide and Brisbane) is excellent and includes some links to further material. Perkins notes that the organisers of the event saw it as a one-off, assuming that the war would be over soon. While that particular prediction was way out, Gareth Knapman notes that Eight Hour Day was back to normal in 1916. He adds that there were Victorian ‘Anzac Days’ in December 1915 and January 1916 but the ‘real’ one sprang from Queensland, as Moses and others have recorded.

The object and mood [of the Adelaide venture, Knapman concludes] resembled a mardi gras mixed with Harvey Norman’s Australia Day sale. On the morning of Anzac Day, the Advertiser awkwardly pontificated: “All must pay the price of Empire. If all may not lay their lives upon the altar of their country, at least all may dip deeply into their pockets and contribute a portion of their resources to meet the needs of the living victims of the red gods.” Despite high rhetoric, obviously most people were not about to pay the ultimate price. In reality, Anzac Day was a public holiday, a day of leisure and shopping.

Yet, the Adelaide prototype had an effect. In September 1915, says Knapman, ‘the term “Anzac” was embryonic in the Australian imagination’. Part frolic as the Adelaide day was, calling it ‘Anzac Day’ contributed to that label attaching permanently to 25 April. Also, by combining the traditional Eight Hour and the new commemorative themes it set a trend of seeing Anzac Day as a ‘unifying day’.

violet-day-for-our-wounded-soldiers-Ob-10July15-29

Even earlier in Adelaide: ‘Violet Day’ for wounded soldiers, 10 July 1915 (Anzac Centenary South Australian Government)

See also: David Faber on the Dardanelles Cenotaph in Adelaide, believed to be the first war memorial to the campaign, and unveiled in September 1915.

© Honest History Incorporated

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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/organisations/cheer-up-society

Cheer-Up Society

Soon after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Mrs Alexandrine (Alexandra) Seager, a real estate and employment agent, and William Sowden, editor of the Register, were shocked by the lack of public support for troops awaiting embarkation at the suburban Morphettville camp. They formed the Cheer-Up Society, whose volunteer women workers aimed to ‘promote and provide for the comfort, welfare and entertainment’ of soldiers and sailors. The society wished to shield soldiers from alcohol and disreputable city entertainments. At the Cheer-Up Hut, opened in 1915 west of the Adelaide City Baths on King William Road and financed by funds raised at fairs and badge days, the men could have free meals, meet friends, play billiards and enjoy concerts. Departing troops were given great farewells. Food and money were donated by the society’s 10 000 members, particularly from country branches. The Burra Cheer-Up Girls’ Band raised funds and the Murray Bridge Cheer-Ups met troop trains with refreshments. For Seager, with a husband and three sons in the army (one died at Gallipoli in 1915), and the other women, this was a labour of love, a maternalist contribution to the war effort.

By Margaret Allen

Margaret Allen is Professor Emerita in the Discipline of Gender Studies and Social Analysis, University of Adelaide.
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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/events/violet-day

Violet Day

Before the poppy became the recognised flower for remembrance, the violet in South Australia, was the 'symbol of perpetual remembrance'. Violet Day was first held in Adelaide on 2 July 1915. Alexandrine Seager, Secretary and Organiser of the Cheer-Up Society, is credited with the creation of the event.

Newspaper Clipping

Conception

The original idea appears to have been to remember the war dead, in reaction to events at Gallipoli in April that year, but the commemoration extended to honouring the wounded and all those who had made sacrifices for their country.
The Daily Herald in Adelaide reported in the lead up that:

...it is fitting that there should be some public sign of sorrow and honor. The fragrant violet will put us in mind of what Socrates described as "the perfume of heroic deeds." (The Daily Herald, 2 July 1915, 'Violet Day', p. 4)

The First Violet Day

In 1915 fresh violets were sold to raise money to support returned soldiers, or the Cheer-Up fund. Members of the Cheer-Up Society also sold ribbons with the words 'In Memoriam' to be worn with the violets, or violet posies tied with purple ribbon printed with 'In Memory' and the Christian cross. In all around 100 women dressed in white carried trays of violets to sell through the city of Adelaide, and raised over £700.00

People gathered at the South African War Memorial, known then as the 'Soldiers' Memorial Statue', for speeches and a performance by the Police Band. The Governor, Sir Henry Galway, addressed attendees, stressing remembrance and honouring of Australian troops and their sacrifice to Empire. He also told the crowd:

Today we not only honour the day, but our hearts go out with the deepest respect and sympathy to they who are mourning the loss of their nearest and dearest. The British Empire will never be able to repay the debt owed to the women for their calm self sacrifice in this great struggle. ... (The Advertiser, 3 July1915 p. 17 )

Janice Pavils describes the 'spontaneous demonstration of Violet Day as a form of grief management' with the 'memorial as a substitute communal headstone ...' (Pavils, Janice 'Anzac Culture' p. 54) The statue was draped in purple and white ribbons, and memorial wreaths were laid by attendees.

Violet Day - Adelaide

Development

From 1916 onwards badges, or 'commemorative buttons', were sold along with the fresh violets. The date of Violet Day changed frequently, the first few years ranging from mid June through to early August. From 1916-1917 the Adelaide Violet Day memorial service was held near Anzac Arch (a large archway erected near the Cheer-Up Hut to welcome returning ANZACs).
In 1917 and 1918 volumes of poetry were also sold to raise money. The emphasis at the Violet Day memorials, apart from honouring the dead, was on fundraising for practical support for soldiers, especially the wounded. While the day of commemoration was not always the same, Violet Day events were held across South Australia. In 1918 combined efforts saw South Australians raise over £4000. Funds went towards the work of the Cheer-Up Hut.

In the interwar years Violet Day continued to be observed in South Australia, with fundraising going towards activities such as the upkeep of the 'Soldiers' Cemetery' at West Terrace (The Advertiser, 1 August 1936, p. 16). In the early to mid 1920s a service took place at the Exhibition Building on North Terrace. Around this time the name in reports changes from 'Violet Day' to 'Violet Memory Day.' From 1924 onwards Violet Memory Day was observed on the first Sunday in August. In 1927 the service was shifted to the Adelaide Town Hall, where it remained for as long as the Violet Memory Day services continued. Proceedings generally included an organ recital, hymns, a school choral performance and religious readings. The focus shifted again to remembering the fallen. The Town Hall was decorated with violets and other floral tributes.

The annual service took on further significance with the outbreak of the Second World War, though the format continued in much the same way. After the service at the Town Hall violets were laid at the South African and National War Memorials, and at the Cross of Sacrifice in the Garden of Memory, West Terrace. Funds raised as part of Violet Memory Day commemorations continued to be donated towards the upkeep of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) graves in the West Terrace Cemetery. Following the Second World War the commemorations were extended to incorporate the fallen soldiers of both conflicts. The fiftieth anniversary of Violet Day saw hundreds of people gather in Adelaide.

Uniquely South Australian?

Violet Day has been referred to by some as a South Australian event. While it was certainly marked here in an enthusiastic manner, there are several accounts of similar activities interstate. In Melbourne The Argus reported on successful Violet Day sales in June of 1915, which raised money for the Australian Wounded Soldiers' Fund. Preparations for a Sydney Violet Day on Friday 20 August 1915 were announced in the Sydney Morning Herald. In later years Violet Days were held in New South Wales and Queensland. There was also at least one Violet Day held in New Zealand, in 1918.

Most Violet Day events outside of South Australia seem to have been early fundraisers where fresh violets were sold. The widespread activities in numerous country towns and annual sale of badges, or buttons, however does appear to have been a South Australian phenomenon. Broken Hill did hold an annual Violet Day for a number of years, the last large community event taking place in 1920. Through the 1920s-1940s Methodist churches in Broken Hill continued to hold a Violet Day service. This might be explained by the close ties between Broken Hill and Adelaide, with organisations such as the Red Cross connected to the Adelaide branch when established rather than Sydney administration. Violet Day continued to be marked in South Australia long after the practice appears to have disappeared from other states.

Violet Day - Adelaide

The Last Violet Day

Enthusiasm for continuing to hold Violet Day commemorations gradually waned. The last Violet Day in South Australia took place on 2 August 1970. The same section of the RSL's 1970 annual report which notes the event at the Adelaide Town Hall also records the success of the Field of Remembrance commemorations and fundraising, involving the sale of poppies around Rememberence Day in November, perhaps an indication of where interest had shifted. The Poppy Day Trust Fund received $787.53 that year, while no mention of fundraising is made in the Violet Memory Day summary. This instead focussed on the service address by the Rev. Keith Seaman and the Rev. John Hughes, organ recital by Mr Edward Gare MBE, and performance by the Adelaide Girls' High School Singing Group.

The following year the Violet Memory Day Committee met in May to vote unanimously to discontinue the Town Hall service, though they expressed some sadness at doing so. Remaining funds were paid to the AIF Cemetery Trust. Thus Violet Day appears to have faded quietly from the collective consciousness.

In 2015, with commemorations of the First World War in full swing a variety of community groups once again marked Violet Day, or drew on its history for public events and exhibitions. 100 years since the first Violet Day people in South Australia once again reflected on the symbolism of the humble violet.

By Catherine Manning, History Trust of South Australia

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VIOLET DAY - Adelaide

http://www.alexandrina.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/History%20Room%20News%20127.pdf

ALEXANDRINA LIBRARY SERVICES

HAVE YOU HEARD OF VIOLET DAY ?

Violet Day was first held as a day of remembrance for Australian Soldiers killed in Gallipoli in the First World War. The Secretary and Organiser of the Cheer-up

Society, Mrs Alexandra Seager conceived the idea of a day to commemorate the fallen heroes of the war and the first Violet Day was held on 2 July 1915.

She saw the fragrance of the violet as an emblem of remembrance and organised members of her Cheer Up societies to sell lapel flowers and badges as fundraisers. The day helped bring people together in a bond of closer fellowship. Everything had been going on as usual, except for the families of the men who had fallen on Gallipoli Peninsula

In the homes of the bereaved were vacant chairs and an aching void. Violet days were held all over South Australia, in small country towns and in the city.

In Adelaide small bunches were sold by the Cheer- up Society to raise funds

and many ofthese collections were to augment the headstone fund of the A.I.F. section of West Terrace Cemetery. In 1939 there were 1100 graves in that section and in many cases relatives ofthe deceased had not been in a position to pay the cost.

One association that same year voted to form themselves into a knitting and sewing group as the honorary almoner informed them that they had 1579 people on their books who were in need of clothing. Many of the men were unemployable and the association wanted to supply boots to the men who wished to march on Anzac Day.

Goolwa and surrounding areas also observed Violet Day, some years with a concert in the Institute.

In 1917 the hall was decorated with white flowers and violet ribbons, and flags of the Allies.

In 1923 Finniss held a service in the Anglican Church. Several wreaths and crosses were brought with violets used in the decorations. The same week Strathalbyn held a Violet and Blossom Fair. In Port Elliot (1919) Violet Day was observed in the Institute Hall with a special service presided over by the Rev Geo. Slade, who spoke of the bravery of the lads who had given their lives for the Empire.

There were various memorial badges and buttons made and sold

“Violet Day at Goolwa 1919”.

Violet Day was observed on Friday. At noon the “Last Post” was played by the

Goolwa Brass Band. In the evening a Memorial service was conducted by the Rev. J.H. Jones. The band rendered music, and the Misses A. B. and N.Wallace gave a violin duet. The names of the soldiers from this town who made the supreme sacrifice, were read out, and hymns were sung.

"Southern Argus” 26 June 1919

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https://garlandmemorial.com/1920/07/17/violet-day-in-adelaide/

'Violet Day' in Adelaide

Published by The Secretary on July 17, 1920

IMPRESSIVE VIOLET DAY

OBSERVANCE.

Although Sunday [ 13 July 1920 ] broke with a glory of brilliant sunshine, the city in the afternoon was overcast with dull, grey clouds which fitted in appropriately with annual Violet Day celebration in memory of those gallant men who laid down their lives in the war.
The soldiers and sailors who died on active service must never be forgotten, and the mother of all patriotic organisations – The Cheer-up Society – decided in 1915 to set aside one day in the year on which to pay homage to the memory of the departed heroes.

The idea was first mooted by Mrs. A. Seager [ Alexandrine Seager ], of The Cheer-up Hut, and the suggestion was quickly acted upon, with the result that Violet Day has become the great day of remembrance in South Australia.

Sunday’s observance was the sixth annual one, and it was by far the most important and the gathering in the vicinity of the Anzac Arch, at the rear of the Railway Station, was estimated at about 10,000 people.

It was a fitting tribute to those who keep green the memories of the fallen men.
The service on Sunday was conducted under the Anzac Arch, and a platform was erected by the official party.

The structure was prettily decorated with garlands of leaves, beautiful wreaths, and bunches of violets, which were the predominant feature.

The dais was festooned with violets, ferns and pieces of purple ribbon, and the majority of those present wore some of the sweet purple flowers.

In every direction the beautiful sentiments of Kipling’s “Recessional” were in evidence, and his striking words, “Lest we forget” were the soul of the celebration.

The Chairman of The Cheer-up Society (Sir William Sowden) [ William John Sowden ] occupied the chair, and seated on either side of him were the Governor (Sir Archibald Weigall) [ William Ernest George Archibald Weigall ] and Lady Weigall, the Military Commandant (Brig.-Gen J.M. Antill) [ John Macquarie Antill ], the Commissioner of Police (Brig.-Gen. Leane) [ Allan William Leane ], the Speaker of the House of Assembly (Hon. F.W. Coneybeer) [ Frederick William Coneybeer ], Col. S. Price Weir [ Stanley Price Weir ], and Lieut. Billyard Leake, one of the heroes of the Zeebrugge raid, and who is at present on the “Renown”.

– from page 29 of “The Observer” (Adelaide) of 17 July 1920.

Before The Poppy Came The Violet – 100^th Anniversary of Violet Day

Thursday 2 July 2015 marks the centenary of a uniquely South Australian commemorative event – the first large-scale Violet Day to be held in Australia. On this day in 1915 violets were sold all over the State by the Cheer Up Society, another South Australian innovation, created to raise funds for soldiers wounded at Gallipoli.

To celebrate this historic occasion, Violet Verses, a sound and light spectacular, will animate the Training Depot at the Torrens Parade Ground with storytelling projections. It will run for three nights only from Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 July.

A FREE event for the whole family, this is a chance to see evocative images of life in Adelaide during the First World War, along with moving stories of the home front. Discover what the Cheer Up Society was, and why violets are so significant to South Australian history.

                           Violet Day 100 Year Celebration - 2015

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                          https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/violet-day-adelaide-light-show-torrens-parade-ground/6589018

By Gary Rivett and Sarah Scopelianos

Updated 25 Sep 2015, 8:26pm

Adelaide will light up near the River Torrens from tonight in remembrance of World War I and its impact on South Australia a century ago.

On Violet Day, South Australians mark the day 100 years ago when hundreds of women and children sold violets and remembrance ribbons across Adelaide and country towns of SA.
Their efforts raised funds to help build a clubhouse on the Torrens banks in the city for the soldiers who passed through Adelaide heading to or from the war.

When the first Violet Day was held a century ago, people gathered at what is now known as the Boer War Memorial in Adelaide for speeches, including from the governor, and the police band performed.
History SA online programs curator Catherine Manning said the 1915 event was a community event and was organised after news began to filter home about the losses at Gallipoli.

"Violet Day is important in South Australia ... it was about people on the home front," Ms Manning said.
                         "The first Violet Day was essentially a day of mourning. Mothers, wives and families didn't have a place to mourn, a place to lay flowers."

Money raised on Violet Day a century ago led to the cheer-up hut being constructed on land where the Festival Centre now stands.

Violets were the symbol of remembrance until poppies took over as the commemorative flower.
Tonight, and for the next two nights, the city's Torrens Parade Ground will have colourful images projected on the drill hall building so people can learn of how WWI affected South Australians of that era and how the city's Cheer-Up Society came into existence.

Ms Manning said the drill hall would be turned into "a movie screen" while the sound and light show told the story.

The display will be presented at 6:00pm and 8:00pm each evening.

                                       ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
                                    VIOLET VERSES

   100 YEAR CELEBRATION OF VIOLET DAY - 2015

                        TORRENS PARADE GROUND

There were a large number of images over a fairly long, clever and interesting display
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VIOLET DAY 100 YEAR CELEBRATION - 2005

BOER WAR MEMORIAL

KING WILLIAM STREET - NORTH TERRACE CORNER

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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/things/war-horse-memorial

War Horse Memorial

The War Horse Memorial in Kadlitpinna/Rundle Park/Park 13, on the corner of East Terrace and Botanic Road, commemorates the thousands of horses that served in the First World War (1914–1919). This was the last war in which horses were used extensively. Modern artillery made them too vulnerable and their offensive role was replaced by tanks.

More than 39 000 horses were shipped from Australia to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) overseas. Only one, ‘Sandy’, returned. This was the horse of Major-General Sir William Bridges who commanded the AIF at Gallipoli and was wounded fatally there in May 1915. The rest of those that had not been killed in battle were either transferred to other armies or destroyed, much to the grief of their handlers. Costs and quarantine concerns were given as reasons for them not being brought home. Strong feelings about the fate of the horses may have contributed to the creation of the memorial.

Remembering the role of horses in war

The initial suggestion for a war horse memorial came from the Register newspaper. By mid 1919 returned soldiers, racing clubs and members of the public had contributed £200 towards its construction. But this amount was insufficient, so an organising committee was appointed under the auspices of Lord Mayor Charles Glover to raise funds. Glover was inspired to lend his support to the project both by the role of horses in wars and by a memorial erected South Africa in honour of horses that were killed in the Boer War. The memorial took the form of a drinking trough with bronze plaques and a kneeling bronze trooper, it was most likely the memorial at Port Elizabeth, which matches that description.

However, momentum for the memorial was lost when the secretary of the committee, Captain Norman Malcolm of the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment, moved to Western Australia. It was not until January 1921 that the proposal was revived by Miss ES Abbott, a reporter for the Register, and Alec Morrison. Public meetings reignited interest and further funds were secured from racing clubs. Eventually £248 14s 9d was raised – enough for a simple memorial consisting of a stone water trough that could be used by working horses, and accompanying bronze plaques. A small surplus was donated to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Installation, unveiling and relocation

The War Horse Memorial was erected in Victoria Square at the intersection of King William Street and Grote Street, and unveiled on 30 January 1923. It was connected to the water supply by the Adelaide City Council so that it could be freely used by horses carting produce for the nearby Adelaide Central Market. At the time it was the only memorial of its kind in Australia.

At the opening, Sir Frank Moulden, chair of the organising committee, stated that ‘the memorial had been erected out of respect and admiration of the horses that had left Australia to take part in the Great War’. Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Ray Leane turned on the water. In his address, Leane also paid tribute to the camel and the mule, which together with the horse ‘had … done their work splendidly, and had been loved by their drivers’.

When Victoria Square was redesigned in 1964 it was decided to shift the memorial to another site. The Police Barracks at Fort Largs and the South Parklands were suggested locations, but members of the Light Horse Association successfully argued that it should be placed beside their memorial obelisk in the East Parklands, on the corner of East Terrace and Botanic Road. The memorial was installed by SD Tillet Ltd and reopened on 18 April 1967 in time for the Anzac Day commemoration.

The memorial

The War Horse Memorial was designed by architect Alfred Wells and sculpted by WH Martin Ltd of Unley. It is made of Harcourt Victorian granite and weighs about a tonne. The trough is 4.9m long and raised on a short stone base. The proportions and rough finish of the trough symbolise the strength and toughness of the bush horses, or walers, of the Australian Light Horse, which were highly prized. Light horse regiments comprised mounted infantry as distinct from cavalry. Many South Australian men from country areas served in these regiments. As working horses are no longer used in the city, the trough does not contain water.
The inscription on the back plaque reads:

This trough was erected by public subscription to commemorate the noble service of Australian horses towards the Empire’s victories in the Great War 1914-1918.
‘He paweth in the valley, and rejoice in his strength: He goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword,’ Job 39, 21 and 22.

Recent times

In 1995 a white granite memorial was erected by the 2/9th Australian Armoured Regiment Group Association (the Royal Australian Armoured Corps being a successor to the light horse brigades) near the two memorials. This, the planting of a Cyprus plane tree and the associated bronze plaques were in recognition of the jubilee of VP Day, 15 August 1945. In 2002 Premier Mike Rann unveiled a bronze plaque on the Light Horse Memorial on the 85th anniversary of the charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade at the Battle of Beersheba in Palestine on 31 October 1917 ‘to commemorate the passing of Private Albert Whitmore 1899–2002 the last surviving Australian Light Horseman and the last surviving South Australian World War I veteran’.

By Jude Elton & Bernard O'Neil, History SA

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http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1/display/50022-war-horse-memorial/

War Horse Memorial

The water trough commemorates the horses which took part in World War One. It is made of Harcourt Victorian granite and weighs 8 tons and is 16 feet in length. The amount raised by public donations was £248 14s 9d and the money left after construction was donated to the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

It was originally in Victoria Square West, but later shifted to corner of East Terrace and Botanic Road. Australian soldiers had a great regard and affection for their horses, and were upset that at the end of the war, cost and quarantine concerns meant that horses could not be brought back to Australia.

Some were sold or transferred to other armies, but a number had to be destroyed. 39,347 horses did not return from the World War One, and only one horse came back.

At last arrangements have been completed in connection with the War Horse Memorial, and about £250 has been subscribed by horse-lovers towards perpetuating the memory of their four-footed comrades of the great war. The Lord Mayor (Ald. F. B. Moulden) is calling a meeting to be held in the Reception Room of the Adelaide Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon, when arrangements in connection with the proposed horse-trough will be discussed. It has been suggested that a horse-trough, is the best medium of remembrance, as it will be erected for horses and used by horses.

The Register (Adelaide), 30 July 1921.

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http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/things/light-horse-memorial

Light Horse Memorial

The Light Horse Memorial is dedicated to South Australian Light Horsemen who died in, or as a result of, action in the First World War in three theatres of battles – Egypt, Palestine and Gallipoli.

Light horse regiments were mounted infantry, as distinct from cavalry. They had served and proved themselves in the Second South African (Boer) War of 1899–1902. During the First World War (1914–19) the 3rd and 9th Light Horse Regiments and a squadron of the 11th Light Horse Regiment were formed in South Australia. Many who enlisted in these regiments came from country areas.

Most of the regiments’ training was conducted in Australia, but final training took place in the Middle East, which became their main area of operation. While they served dismounted at Gallipoli, their major contribution was made in Egypt and Palestine as part of the ‘Desert Column’ against Turkey. Men and horses demonstrated great resilience under harsh conditions.

Unveiling 5 April 1925

The light horse regiments

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was raised in Adelaide on 17 August 1914. It left Australia in October 1914, serving at Gallipoli, in defence of the Suez Canal, and in Sinai and Palestine. The 3rd sailed for home on 16 March 1919.

The 9th Light Horse Regiment had formed in Adelaide by October 1914 and sailed from Australia on 11 February 1915. It also served at Gallipoli and in Egypt, Palestine and Damascus. While waiting to embark for home, the 9th was called upon to quell the Egyptian revolt in March 1919. The regiment sailed for Australia on 10 July 1919.

The 11th Light Horse Regiment left Australia on June 1915 for action at Gallipoli, in defence of the Suez Canal and in the Sinai Desert and Palestine. It also participated in the suppression of the Egyptian revolt before leaving for home on 20 July 1919.

Casualties amongst Light Horsemen were significant but not as great as the deaths incurred on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Horses suffered greatly and only one, ‘Sandy’, made it home. This was the horse of Major-General Sir William Bridges who commanded the Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli and was wounded fatally there in May 1915. Costs and quarantine concerns meant that the many remaining horses were not sent back to Australia. They were either destroyed or sold. Indian cavalry units bought horses from the 3rd Regiment.

The First World War was the last war in which horses were used as an integral part of offensive tactics. Modern artillery made them too vulnerable and their offensive role was replaced by tanks.

The memorial

The initial suggestion for a memorial to the light horsemen was made by Mrs Carew Reynell at the end of 1918 at a meeting of the Women’s 9th and 11th Light Horse Regimental Club. She maintained that, ‘it would be a fine act of the next-of-kin to start a fund for the erecting of a memorial to the memory of the fallen men of those regiments’. She was supported by Adelaide medical practitioner Dr Charles Duguid, who had been an army surgeon in a light horse regiment. He agreed to donate the proceeds from his book, The Desert Trail, to the construction of a memorial, if it commemorated all of the light horse regiments.

Fundraising for the memorial began in earnest in January 1919 with the formal acceptance of Duguid’s offer at a meeting of light horse friends. A fundraising committee was elected with Duguid as president. He was committed to the project and aimed for a memorial ‘that would imbue the rising generation with the spirit that had permeated the hearts of their elders’.

It was first proposed that the memorial be of a bronze horse and rider and be located in the National War Memorial Gardens on King William Road. However, donations were slow and funding proved difficult to secure. Government assistance was not forthcoming due to economic constraints. In an attempt to generate more funds the Light Horse Memorial Committee called a public meeting involving prominent public figures in September 1921. Commissioner of Police Brigadier-General Leane chaired the meeting and General Sir Granville Ryrie, who came from Sydney for the occasion, was the main speaker. He had been in charge of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade comprising New South Welsh regiments during the war. Ryrie spoke of the impact of the desert heat on both men and horses; at one point 100 men a day were ‘down with heat apoplexy’. He believed that, in spite of great hardship, they played a central role in defeating three Turkish armies, which marked the beginning of the ‘crumpling of the Central European forces’.

Service organisations such as the Cheer-Up Hut rallied to the call for help. In 1922 the Cheer-Up Hut organised a fete. A further large Cheer-Up Hut fundraiser in August 1923 was launched by Governor Lieutenant-General Sir Tom Bridges; he had been a mounted infantry officer. Dr Duguid then noted that there was only one other memorial to the light horse regiments; at Port Said on the banks of the Suez Canal. Sir Ross Smith bequeathed £40.

In spite of this support, contributions were insufficient for a bronze sculpture. Consequently, a granite pyramid was suggested as an alternative said Duguid, ‘for it was to the pyramids that the men first went, and then on to Palestine’. Finally, in September 1923 the committee accepted the design of a stone obelisk styled on ancient Egyptian columns submitted by South African-born George Gavin Lawson, a public service architect. Lawson placed an electric globe held in position by a bronze bracket at the apex of the monument. The light was intended to be lit from sunset to sunrise. Mrs BS Roach, the honorary secretary of the Light Horse Memorial Committee, commented in the Register of 5 April 1924, ‘a light will burn every night from sunset to sunrise as a sign that our dead are not forgotten, either by night or day. I like this idea. It seems to carry out Laurence Binyon’s expressive lines: – ‘At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them’.

The Light Horse Memorial obelisk and base cost £1200, most of which came from friends and relatives of the fallen. The Adelaide Repertory Theatre donated proceeds of its performance of ‘The Laughing Lady’ on 9 April 1924 to the memorial fund. But the committee could not raise enough money for the proposed electric light. The Adelaide City Council came to the rescue by agreeing to install and maintain a light of 200 candlepower.

In place

The site for the memorial suggested by the committee was by the gates of Adelaide Botanic Garden. However, the council refused this request and instead offered a parklands site on the corner of East Terrace and North Terrace (Botanic Road).

The Light Horse Memorial was unveiled by Governor Bridges at a Sunday service on 5 April 1925. A troop of returned light horsemen formed the guard of honour. The 10th Infantry Band and Highland Pipe Band accompanied the singing of the St Peter’s College Chapel Choir.

The memorial’s 11m high grey Harcourt Victorian granite column is set on a stepped square base. The granite was manufactured at the South Australian Monumental Works. The memorial sits on a rise in the parklands at a very busy intersection which gives it prominence.

Recent times

Several additions have been made to the site since the obelisk’s unveiling. The park itself is now known jointly as Kadlitpinna/Rundle Park/Park 13: Kadlitpinna was a Kaurna warrior called ‘Captain Jack’ by the early colonists (Jones, pp217, 224).

In April 1967 the War Horse Memorial from Victoria Square was installed here. In 1995 a white granite memorial was erected by the 2/9th Australian Armoured Regiment Group Association (the Royal Australian Armoured Corps being a successor to the light horse brigades) near the two memorials. This, the planting of a Cyprus plane tree and the associated bronze plaques were in recognition of the jubilee of VP Day, 15 August 1945. On 31 October 2002 Premier Mike Rann unveiled a bronze plaque on the Light Horse Memorial on the 85th anniversary of the charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade at the Battle of Beersheba in Palestine on 31 October 1917 ‘to commemorate the passing of Private Albert Whitmore 1899–2002 the last surviving Australian Light Horseman and the last surviving South Australian World War I veteran’.

The light still shining at night from the obelisk resonates to this day with Binyon’s famous quote inscribed on the front side.

By Jude Elton & Bernard O'Neil, History SA

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https://veteranssa.sa.gov.au/history-and-stories/south-australian-regiments-and-battalions-1914-18/

South Australian Regiments and Battalions (1914 – 1918)

(Source: SA Parliament Research Library)

The following is an extract from a Research Paper titled “First World War Centenary: A Time Line” prepared by Dr John Weste, Director of the South Australian Parliament Research Library.

This section briefly sets out those regiments and battalions where South Australian volunteers constituted at least a significant minority of servicemen during the 1914-18 conflict. With federation in 1901, defence became a specific Commonwealth concern and the colonial forces and their property became that of Canberra. However, the transfer was not immediate. In part this was due to the fact that at the time of federation, colonial forces were active at two fronts: South Africa and China (including South Australia’s HMCS Protector). Until all had returned to Australia with volunteers discharged, and the permanent, militia and volunteer units re-formed, it was not clear to the Commonwealth what the actual disposition of its newly acquired forces would be.[1]

Secondly, an array of legislative and administrative changes was needed for full control to pass smoothly from the states to the federal government. Colonial naval forces, for example, were administered under the states’ statutes and regulations until March 1904, and then remained under the command of officers imported from Britain until late 1910 when the Australian Navy was formed.[2]

By the outbreak of war in 1914, clearly the Commonwealth had established its preeminent position in military affairs, but recruitment patterns strongly followed state lines with battalions being entirely recruited in one state (or through pooling volunteers in blocks, particularly for those states with smaller populations).

[1] Bob Nicholls The Colonial Volunteers: The defence forces of the Australian colonies 1836-1901, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1988, pp. 171-72 [2] P A Howell South Australia and Federation Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2002, p. 225

Mounted Infantry

3rd Light Horse

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was raised in Adelaide in August 1914. Of the Regiment’s three squadrons (with 144 men per squadron), two were composed of South Australians and one of Tasmanians. The two components sailed from their respective home ports in October 1914 to arrive in Egypt in mid-December 1914 where they combined with the 1st and 2nd Regiments to form the 1st Light Horse Brigade. The 1st Light Horse was deployed to Gallipoli (without its horses) in May 1915 with the 3rd Light Horse playing a defensive role in the campaign. Upon returning to Egypt in mid-December 1915, the 3rd Light Horse joined the ANZAC Mounted Division and was subsequently involved in operations in the Sinai and the west bank of the River Jordan. The 3rd Light Horse Regiment sailed for Australia on 16 March 1919, again without its horses. During the course of military service, the 1st Light Horse saw 158 men killed and 653 wounded. In total it was awarded battle honours on 19 occasions and received 53 decorations.

Reference:
‘3rd Light Horse Regiment’, Australian War Memorial

9th Light Horse

The 9th Light Horse Regiment was raised in Adelaide and trained in Melbourne between October 1914 and February 1915. Three quarters of its men were South Australians and the remainder Victorian. It reached Egypt in mid-March 1915 as part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. The Regiment landed at Gallipoli in May 1915 to suffer fifty per cent casualties in an assault (Hill 60) in late August that year. At that time, a number of the Norfolk Regiment were stationed with the 9th Light Horse whose men were highly amused by the strange dialect of the newcomers; their inability to cook and look after themselves was also a source of wonder. The emu plumes sported by the Australians attracted much attention and were explained to the Englishmen as kangaroo feathers. Upon returning to Egypt, the 9th Light Horse Brigade became part of the ANZAC Mounted Division helping to defend the Suez Canal against Turkish forces. In 1917, it was involved in operations leading to the capture of Gaza and eventually entered Damascus on 1 October 1918. In March 1919, the Regiment was recalled to duty to supress an Egyptian revolt and sailed for Australia only on 10 July 1919. The Regiment steamed into Largs Bay on 10 August to be welcomed by a large crowd headed by Sammy Lunn. The following day the Regiment paraded at the Cheer-Up Hut and the Anzac Arch before marching through the City back to the train station for Keswick for final dismissal. During the course of military service, nearly 4,000 men passed through the 9th Light Horse of whom 190 were killed and 481 wounded. In total it was awarded battle honours on 17 occasions and received 83 decorations.

References:
‘9th Light Horse Regiment’, Australian War Memorial T H Darley (Maj.)
With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War, Adelaide: The Hassell Press, 1924

11th Light Horse

The formation of the 11th Light Horse Regiment (to be part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade) was announced in February 1915. One of the Regiment’s three squadrons was raised in Adelaide and the remaining two in Queensland. The Regiment was split several times, reunited temporarily in Egypt in July 1915, but was again split up the following August to reinforce other Light Horse regiments already ashore at Gallipoli. The Regiment was not finally reunited until February 1916 in Egypt where, over the 1916-1917 in participated in forays into the Sinai, and later in early 1918 took up position and fought in the Jordan Valley.In March 1919, the Regiment was recalled to duty to supress an Egyptian revolt and sailed for Australia on 20 July 1919. During the course of military service, the 3rd Light Horse saw 95 men killed and 521 wounded. In total it was awarded battle honours on 14 occasions and received 61 decorations.

Reference: ‘11th Light Horse Regiment’, Australian War Memorial

Infantry

10th Battalion

The 10th Battalion was amongst the first infantry units raised for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1914. Of the 1,027 original recruits, 615 were born in South Australia, 202 in the British Isles, 172 in other Australian states with remainder from abroad. Recruited in South Australia it formed part of the 3rd Brigade which provided the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, thus making the 10th the first South Australian regiment in action in the Great War (and almost inevitably, the first reported South Australian AIF casualty). In December 1915, the Battalion withdrew from Gallipoli to Egypt and then sailed to for France and the Western Front where it fought until September 1918. The final detachment of the 10th Battalion returned to Adelaide a year later on 5 September 1919.The Battalion was the first to call the Morphetville camp site its own from where it regularly marched to St Leonards, Glenelg, for bathing purposes. It was also the first all-South Australian battalion to march through the City where, along Bay Road, Mr Tolley of the Half-Way House provided free beer brought out in tubs and buckets, and ladled into dixies.The tenth Victoria Cross (VC) awarded to the AIF was to Lieutenant Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, who was the first to be awarded a VC in a South Australian. In total, the 10th Battalion received three Victoria Crosses and was awarded 310 honours and rewards for service in the field. During the course of military service, 1,005 men of the Battalion were killed in action, died of wounds, sickness or injuries.

Reference:
‘10th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial
Cecil B L Lock, The Fighting 10th: A South Australian Centenary Souvenir of the 10th Battalion, AIF, 1914-19, Adelaide: Webb & Son, 1936

12th Battalion

The 12th Battalion was amongst the first infantry units raised for the AIF during World War One and formed part of the 3rd Brigade. One quarter of the Battalion was recruited in South Australia (largely comprised of Port Pirie miners), half in Tasmania and the remaining quarter in Western Australia. As part of the 3rd Brigade, the Battalion was amongst the first ashore at Gallipoli and its commander was killed within hours of landing. After withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915, the Battalion served at the Western Front and participated in the third battle of Ypres. Operations finished in late September 1918.In total, the 12th Battalion was awarded 247 honours and rewards for service in the field. During the course of military service, 1,135 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 2,422 wounded.

References:
‘12th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial
L M Newton, The Story of the Twelfth: A Record of the 12th Battalion, AIF, during the Great War of 1914-1918, Hobart: J Walch & Sons, 1925

16th Battalion

The 16th Battalion was raised from September 1914 with one quarter of the men coming from South Australia and three quarters from Western Australia. With the 13th, 14th and 15th battalions it formed the 4th Brigade under the command of Colonel John Monash. The 4th Brigade landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and went into combat the following week. In 1916, as part of the 4th Australian Division, the 16th Battalion served on the Western Front. The Battalion continued operations until late September 1918. In total, 1,127 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,955 were wounded.

Reference: ‘16th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial

27th Battalion

The 27th Battalion was raised in South Australia in March 1915 with many of the recruits coming from suburban Adelaide and, with the 25th, 26th and 28th Battalions formed the 7th Brigade. The Battalion saw time at Gallipoli and in early 1916 proceeded to the Western Front in Europe where it was involved in several major attacks during 1917. The Battalions last actions were in early October 1918 and it disbanded in June 1919.In total, 762 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 2,155 were wounded.

Reference: ‘27th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial

32nd Battalion

The 32nd Battalion was raised in South Australia in August 1915 though in fact half the recruits came from South Australia and the remaining half from Western Australia. Two South Australian Aborigines are known to have served in the Battalion. The men were encamped at Mitcham, the Morphettvile Racecourse, the Cheltenham Racecourse and what became the University of Adelaide oval. The Battalion sailed from Adelaide on 18 November 1915 for Western Europe. As had become established practice, Port Adelaide’s Vincent St was decorated with bunting to farewell the departing Battalion. The troopship pulled out of Outer Harbor to anchor off-shore for several hours while tugboats filled with friends and family circled the vessel.The Regiment fought its first major battle in July 1916 at Fromelles and suffered 718 casualties which was nearly 90 per cent of the Battalion’s actual fighting strength. In March 1919, after the on-going repatriation of men to Australia, the remnants of the 32nd Battalion were merged with the 30th Battalion. In total, 613 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,466 were wounded.

References:
‘32nd Battalion’, Australian War Memorial
R R Freeman Second to None: A Memorial History of the 32nd Battalion AIF 1915-1919, Norwood: Peacock Publications, 2006

43rd Battalion

The 43rd Battalion was raised in March 1916 and was South Australia’s contribution to the newly formed 3rd Division. The Battalion was housed at the Morphettville Racecourse, firearms practice was held in the sandhills between Glenelg and Henley, and a practice attack against the Hindmarsh Bridge was launched via Montifiore Hill. The Battalion left Australia in June 1916, briefly stopped over in Egypt, and then arrived in England for more training in July 1916 where it suffered a mumps epidemic. In November that year, it embarked for France and spent 1917 in trench warfare in Flanders, taking part in the Third Battle of Ypres. In 1918, the Battalion fought at Villers-Bretonneux and, later, Hamel. In total, 386 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,321 were wounded.

References:
‘43rd Battalion’, Australian War Memorial
E J Colliver & B H Richardson, The Forty-Third: The Story and Official History of the 43rd Battalion, AIF, Adelaide: Rigby Ltd, 1920

48th Battalion

The 48th Battalion was raised in Egypt in March 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. Sixteenth Battalion Gallipoli veterans comprised half its new recruits with the remainder being fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the 16th, the new recruits came mainly from regional South Australia and Western Australia. The new battalion formed part of the 12th Brigade of the 4th Australian Division. In 1916, the Battalion moved to the Western Front in Europe and was mauled at Passchendaele in 1917. Its final battle took place in September 1918 and the Battalion was disbanded in March 1919.In total, 843 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,628 were wounded.

Reference: ‘48th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial

50th Battalion

The 50th Battalion was raised in Egypt in March 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. Veterans of the 10th Battalion comprised half its new recruits with the remainder being fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the make-up of the 10th Battalion, the new recruits came predominantly from South Australia and thus it became the third purely South Australian infantry battalion abroad (despite being commanded by a Queenslander for much of its existence). Three South Australian Aborigines are known to have served in the Battalion. The Battalion arrived in France in June 1916 and, in 1918, took part in the attack on Villers-Bretonneux. The 50th ceased to exist as a separate entity in March 1919 when it combined with the 51st Battalion.In total, 720 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,557 were wounded.

References:
‘50th Battalion’, Australian War Memorial
R R Freeman, Hurcombe’s Hungry Half Hundred: A Memorial History of the 50th Battalion AIF 1916-1919, Norwood: Peacock Publications 1991

52nd Battalion

The 52nd Battalion was raised in Egypt in March 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. Veterans of the 12th Battalion comprised half its new recruits with the remainder being fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the make-up of the 12th Battalion, the new recruits came from South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The Battalion arrived in France in June 1916 and suffered heavy casualties (50 per cent of its fighting strength) in September that year. Due to casualty numbers and the lack of reinforcements from Australia, several brigades disbanded one of their battalions to strengthen the remainder. The 52nd was one such battalion and ceased to exist as of 16 May 1918.In total, 650 men of the Battalion were killed in action and 1,438 were wounded.

References: ‘52nd Battalion’, Australian War Memorial

Australian Field Artillery

18th Battery

The 18th Battery was the only complete field artillery from South Australia to serve in World War One. The nucleus of the Battery was established at Mitcham in August 1915 and it then moved to Glen Osmond and finally Victoria as part of the 6th Brigade in October 1915. The Battery was subsequently transported to Egypt, arriving in December 1915, and finally France in March 1916 where it remained in action until October 1918. The 18th Battery served a total of 1,227 days outside of Australia, of which 36 days were spent at sea, 468 out of action and 602 (49 per cent) in action. It fired 146,264 shells and was awarded 51 decorations. In total 32 men were killed or died of wounds and other causes, and 111 were wounded; further, it lost 105 horses and a further 64 were wounded.

Reference:
David Brook (ed) Roundshot to Rapier: Artillery in South Australia, 1840-1984, Hawthorndene: Investigator Press, 1986

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https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/military-districts

Military Districts

The military district (MD) was the basic administrative unit of the Australian Army for most of the twentieth century.

Establishment of military districts

Prior to the Federation of Australia, each colony maintained its own military and naval forces.
After Federation, the forces came under control of the Commonwealth. To assist with administration of the new Australian army, each state was allocated a military district to be known by its state name. The Northern Territory was not allotted to a district, although it was administered by South Australia. It was re-allocated to Queensland in 1911.

In 1911 the boundaries for the military districts were changed. Although based on states, the new districts did not strictly follow state boundaries:

1 Military District (1MD) – Queensland and the 12th Battalion area, including Casino, Lismore, Grafton, and the Northern Territory.

2 Military District (2MD) – New South Wales (excluding: the 12th Battalion area as above; Broken Hill, Torrowangee and Silverton; and the 44th Battalion area, including Corowa, South Corowa, Mulwala, Moama, Mathoura, and Deniliquin) and the 57th Battalion area of Victoria, including Wodonga, Barnawartha, Chiltern and Tallangatta.

3 Military District (3MD) – Victoria (excluding the 57th Battalion area as above), including the 44th Battalion area as above.

4 Military District (4MD) – South Australia and Broken Hill, Torrowangee, and Silverton in New South Wales.

5 Military District (5MD) – Western Australia.

6 Military District (6MD) – Tasmania.

The territories of Papua and New Guinea were allocated to 1MD after the First World War.

Reorganisation of military districts and regional commands

In 1939 the Northern Territory and the territories of Papua and New Guinea became separate military districts. They were designated 7 Military District (7MD) and 8 Military District (8MD) respectively.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the districts were reorganised into geographic commands:

Northern Command – Queensland (1MD)

Eastern Command – New South Wales (2MD)

Southern Command – Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania (3MD, 4MD, 6MD)

Western Command – Western Australia (5MD)

Early in 1942 the army command structure was again reorganised based on a system of operation headquarters. New South Wales and Victoria (Northern and Eastern Commands) became the First Australian Army; Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania (Southern Command) became the Second Australian Army. Western Australia (Western Command) was replaced with 3 Australian Corps; 7MD was renamed Northern Territory Force; and 8MD became New Guinea Force. Each area was administered by a Line of Communications.

After the end of the Second World War the regional command structure was reinstated. In 1950 South Australia and Tasmania were removed from the Southern Command and respectively formed the Central and Tasmania Commands.

In the early 1970s the army moved from geographical commands to a system of functional commands, which absorbed many responsibilities of the military districts, such as training and logistics. However, smaller military district headquarters remained to provide general support within their areas and to act as points of contact between the army and state governments.
Military districts were finally disbanded in 1997 under reforms to reduce administrative costs.

Sources:

Australian Military Forces, General Orders, GO 3, 30 April 1942.
Peter Dennis, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, Robin Prior, and Jean Bou (eds), The Oxford companion to Australian military history, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2008, p. 362.
Military Board, Military order 517, 29 November 1911.
Military Board Instruction 58, 9 October 1939.
Albert Palazzo, The Australian army: a history of its organisation 1901–2001, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001.
The Defence Acts 1903–1904: regulations and standing orders (provisional) for the military forces of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1905, Robt S. Brain, Melbourne, 1905, regulation 41.

More about:

Military organisation and structure

Last updated: 11/14/2017

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South Australian Regiments WW1

10th Battalion

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51450/

Description

The 10th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. The battalion was recruited in South Australia, and together with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions, formed the 3rd Brigade.
The battalion was raised within weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked for overseas just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early December.

The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am. Two soldiers of the 10th Battalion, Lance Corporal Philip Robin and Private Arthur Blackburn, are believed to have penetrated further inland than any other Australians at ANZAC. Robin was killed later on 25 April and Blackburn soldiered on to be commissioned as an officer and awarded the Victoria Cross at Pozieres, the battalion's first major battle in France. The 10th Battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC position, and served there until the evacuation in December.
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 10th Battalion returned to Egypt and, in March 1916, sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bitter trench warfare. The battalion's first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley in July. After Pozieres the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders before returning to the Somme for winter. In 1917, the battalion returned to Belgium to take part in the major British offensive of that year - the Third Battle of Ypres. For his valorous actions at Polygon Wood east of Ypres in September 1917, Private Roy Inwood was awarded the Victoria Cross. His brother Robert had been killed at Pozieres and another brother, Harold, had been badly wounded and invalided to Australia in November 1917.

In March and April 1918 the 10th Battalion helped stop the German spring offensive and was then involved in the operations leading up to the Allied counter-stroke. In June, during an attack near Merris in France, Corporal Phillip Davey became the third member of the battalion to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Davey had been awarded the Military Medal for bravery near Messines in January. His brothers Claude and Richard were also members of the battalion and both had been awarded Military Medals in 1917.

The battalion participated in the great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. This advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as "the black day of the German Army in this war".

The battalion continued operations until late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. In November 1918, members of the AIF began returning to Australia. At 8 am on 5 September 1919, the final detachment of the 10th Battalion arrived at Adelaide, aboard the transport Takada.

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Units	3 Brigade Australian Imperial Force
Places	Albany Somme Valley Western Front
Events	Battle of Amiens Battle of Pozieres German Spring Offensive The landing at ANZAC Cove Versailles Peace Treaty
Battle Honours	Albert, 1918 Amiens Anzac Broodseinde Bullecourt Defence of Anzac Egypt, 1915-16 Epéhy France and Flanders, 1916-18 Gallipoli, 1915 Hazebrouck Hindenburg Line Kemmel Landing at Anzac Lys Menin Road Passchendaele Poelcappelle Polygon Wood Pozières Sari Bair Somme, 1916, '18 Suvla Ypres, 1917
Commanding Officers	Weir, Stanley Price Hurcombe, Frederick William Shaw, George Dorricutt Beevor, Miles Fitzroy Denton, James Samuel Giles, Felix Gordon Rafferty, Rupert Anstice Jacob, Ross Blyth Steele, Alexander Campbell, Gordon Cathcart Rumball, Clarence Newman, John McCann, William Francis James Wilder-Neligan, Maurice
Decorations	3 VC; 1 CMG; 9 DSO, 1 bar; 34 MC, 4 bars; 16 DCM; 149 MM, 11 bars, 1 2nd bar; 9 MSM; 47 MID; 11 foreign awards
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
References	A. Limb, A history of the 10th Battalion, A.I.F. (London: Cassell & Company, 1919).; C.B.L. Lock, The fighting 10th: a South Australian centenary souvenir of the 10th Battalion, AIF, 1914-1919 (Adelaide, Webb & Son, 1936). *AWM4/23/27/1-23/27/41*
Category	Unit
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Unit hierarchy	Commonwealth Military Forces Australian Imperial Force Infantry 10th Australian Infantry Battalion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Battalion_(Australia)

10th Battalion (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 10th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that served as part of the Australian Imperial Force during World War I. Among the first units raised in Australia during the war, the battalion was recruited from South Australia in August 1914 and along with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions, it formed part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. After its personnel completed basic training, the battalion embarked for the Middle East, where further training was undertaken in Egypt before the battalion was committed to the Gallipoli Campaign. On 25 April 1915, the 10th Battalion took part in the Landing at Anzac Cove, coming ashore during the initial stages of the operation as part of the covering force. Members from the 10th Battalion penetrated the furthest inland of any Australian troops during the initial fighting, before the Allied advance inland was checked. After this, the battalion helped defend the beachhead against a Turkish counter-attack in May, before joining the August Offensive, a failed Allied effort to break the deadlock. Casualties were heavy throughout the campaign and in November 1915, the surviving members were withdrawn from the peninsula and in early 1916 the battalion was reformed in Egypt. After a period of reorganisation, during which the 10th provided a cadre staff to the newly formed 50th Battalion, it was transferred to the Western Front in March 1916, and for the next two-and-a-half years took part in trench warfare in France and Belgium until the Armistice in 1918. The last detachment of men from the 10th Battalion returned to Australia in September 1919.

Following the war, the battalion was re-raised as a part-time unit based in South Australia, drawing personnel and lineage from a number of previously existing militia units. The unit served briefly during the inter-war years, before being merged with the 50th Battalion in 1930 as the size of Australia's part-time military forces was decreased following the conclusion of the compulsory service scheme. It was later re-raised in its own right in the mid-1930s as the Australian military was reorganised as part of the country's war preparations and later, during World War II, the 10th was mobilised for full-time service. Following Japan's entry into the war, the battalion was assigned to defend the New South Wales southern coast before being reassigned to the defence of Darwin and being amalgamated with the 48th Battalion in August 1942. In the post-war period, the 10th Battalion was re-raised in 1948 as part of the Citizens Military Force and throughout the 1950s provided training to national servicemen. In 1960, it became part of the Royal South Australia Regiment (RSAR) and was reduced to a several company-sized elements within that regiment's 1st Battalion, before being reformed as a full battalion within the RSAR in 1965. It remained on the Australian Army's order of battle until 1987, when it was amalgamated with the 27th Battalion to form the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment.

World War I

The 10th Battalion was raised shortly after the outbreak of World War I as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), an all-volunteer force raised for overseas service. Recruited in South Australia, the battalion came into being on 17 August 1914 at the Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, drawing volunteers mainly from the local population as well as some from Broken Hill in outback New South Wales.^[a] Volunteers included men who had previously served in the part-time forces before the war,^[b] coming from a variety of units including the 10th Australian Infantry Regiment, which had formerly been known as the "Adelaide Rifles".^[2] Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Price Weir, after formation the battalion was attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, along with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions,^[3] and was one of the first units of the AIF raised for the war. With an establishment of 31 officers and 974 other ranks spread across eight companies,^[4] the battalion's personnel received a short period of individual basic training, culminating in the presentation of the regimental colours on 17 September and a march past the state Parliament House on 21 September.^[5] The following month, collective training at company and battalion level took place at Belair National Park and at Glenelg, South Australia. On 20 October, the battalion embarked on the ex-passenger liner, HMAT Ascanius, bound for the Middle East; it was the first South Australian infantry unit to leave Australia during the war.^[6]

After briefly stopping in Albany, where its convoy was delayed due to concerns over the presence of German warships en route,^[7] the 10th Battalion departed Australian waters in November and proceeded towards Egypt.^[3] Initially, the plan had been for the battalion to continue on the United Kingdom from where it would subsequently move to the Western Front. Poor conditions and overcrowding in training camps in the United Kingdom resulted in the decision to disembark the Australians in Alexandria instead.^[8] Arriving there on 4 December 1914, the battalion was sent into camp at Mena, near Cairo.^[9]

The 10th Battalion underwent desert training in January and February 1915, during which time it was reorganised around the four-company structure that had been adopted by the British. Designated 'A' to 'D', each company consisted of 228 men that were spread across four platoons.^[10] In late February, the 3rd Brigade received orders that it was being committed to an operation in the Dardanelles and, after moving by rail to Alexandria, boarded Ionian, a Greek steamer, on 1 March.^[11] After reaching Lemnos, a shortage of fresh water on the island meant that the battalion was housed on the ship for the next seven weeks, although this was spent ashore conducting exercises and mounting guard duty. Planning for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula began in early April; while this proceeded, on 15 April the battalion was issued its distinctive blue and purple unit colour patch.^[12]

AWM Caption: Lines of the 9th and 10th Battalions at Mena Camp, looking towards the Pyramids. The soldier in the foreground is playing with a kangaroo, the regimental mascot. Many Australian units brought kangaroos and other Australian animals with them to Egypt, and some were given to the Cairo Zoological

On 24 April 1915, the 10th Battalion embarked for Gallipoli. Two companies and the battalion headquarters were allocated to the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, while the other two companies embarked on two destroyers, Scourge and Foxhound.^[13] At approximately 4:30 am on 25 April 1915, the 10th Battalion was one of the first units to come ashore at Anzac Cove as part of the covering force – drawn from Colonel Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan's 3rd Brigade – for the main Anzac landing.^[3] Troops from the battalion landed near the centre of the cove and, ascending the Ariburnu Ridge, attempted to push inland towards the Sari Bair Range.^[14] According to the Australian War Memorial they are "believed to have penetrated further inland" than any other Australian unit.^[3]^[15] Casualties in the first weeks of the campaign were heavy, with the battalion losing 397 men killed or wounded between 25 April and 9 May.^[16] The advance stalled as Turkish resistance grew, and the Turks launched a heavy counter-attack on 19 May. By this time, the 3rd Brigade was located around Bolton's Ridge, with the brigade's four battalions occupying the line abreast; the 10th Battalion occupying a position south of Lone Pine, overlooking a wheat field through which the Turkish attack came. Caught in heavy crossfire, the attack was turned back with heavy losses.^[17] Following this, as both sides dug in, the campaign ground to a stalemate, and the battalion undertook mainly defensive duties along the perimeter around Anzac Cove.^[3] On 8 July, the remnants of the battalion, which now consisted of just over 500 personnel, was withdrawn to Imbros Island for a brief rest period out of the line, before returning to Anzac on 11 July;^[18] after this, the 10th Battalion relieved the 11th, occupying a position around Silt Spur, opposite Lone Pine.^[19]

In early August, the Allies attempted to break out from the beach, launching an offensive around Suvla, Cape Helles and Anzac; the 10th Battalion played a support role during the offensive, providing reinforcement parties and machine gun crews to support the 1st Brigade during the Battle of Lone Pine.^[20] The offensive was a costly failure and afterwards stalemate returned to the battlefield.^[21] As winter approached, conditions on the peninsula grew harsher and a large number of personnel had to be evacuated sick as a wave of dysentery swept through the battalion. In September, the 2nd Division arrived as reinforcements.^[22] In mid-November, as the Allied commanders debated the future of the campaign, the 3rd Brigade received orders to pull back from the frontline, so that it could be withdrawn to Lemnos Island for rest. On 16 November, the 10th Battalion took up reserve positions on the beach, before embarking upon the transport Princess Ena. It landed at Mudros, and spent the rest of November and December there. Meanwhile, the main Allied force was evacuated from the peninsula, with the last Australian troops withdrawing on 20 December. On Boxing Day 1915, the 10th Battalion sailed for Egypt, arriving in Alexandria just before New Years.^[23] Losses on Gallipoli had been heavy – 711 casualties were reported in the battalion between April and September 1915^[24] – and the AIF underwent a period of reorganisation as it was expanded in preparation for its deployment to the European battlefield.^[25] As a part of this process, the 10th Battalion provided a cadre of experienced personnel to the newly raised 50th Battalion, which was assigned to the 13th Brigade, 4th Division, and was brought up to strength with fresh recruits from Australia.^[26]^[27]

Troops from the 10th Battalion at Gallipoli, August 1915

In March 1916, the 10th Battalion sailed to France along with the rest of the 1st Division and deployed to the Somme.^[3] The battalion's first significant action on the Western Front came in July 1916 when it was involved in the Battle of Pozières, an effort to secure the village of Pozières and the high ground beyond it as part of the wider Battle of the Somme.^[28] For his actions during this battle, Second Lieutenant Arthur Blackburn, an original member of the battalion who had served with it during the Gallipoli campaign, was awarded the Victoria Cross.^[29]^[30] Later, the 10th Battalion fought around Ypres, in Belgium, before being transferred back to the Somme in the winter and deploying to defend the trenches.^[3] In 1917, after the German withdrawal towards the Hindenburg Line, the battalion was again moved to Belgium to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres, where it was committed to fighting around the Menin Road in September. During an attack around Polygon Wood, Private Roy Inwood's actions resulted in him being awarded the battalion's second Victoria Cross.^[3]^[31] The battalion suffered heavily during its early involvement in the Ypres fighting and was briefly withdrawn before being recommitted to support operations around Broodseinde at the beginning of October. In the early hours of 9 October 1917, a force of 88 men from the 10th Battalion carried out a raid on German positions in what became known as the "Mystery of Celtic Wood"; 32 men were killed during the raid, and a further 37 were wounded.^[32]

In early 1918, following the collapse of Russia, the Germans were able to transfer many troops to the Western Front. In March, they launched the Spring Offensive, attacking the southern part of the British sector in the Somme. As the Allies were pushed back towards Amiens, the Australian divisions were brought south to help blunt the attack.^[33] Throughout late March and into April 1918, the 10th Battalion took part in a series of defensive actions, including fighting around Hazebrouck,^[34] as the German offensive was turned back, before joining in the preliminary operations before the Allied Hundred Days Offensive that ultimately brought about an end to the war. It was at this stage in the fighting, in June, during fighting around Merris in France, that Corporal Phillip Davey earned the battalion's third Victoria Cross.^[3]^[35] The attack so impressed the British Inspector General that he described it as "the best show ever done by a battalion in France".^[36]

On 8 August 1918, when the Allies launched the Hundred Days Offensive, the battalion participated in an attack on Amiens that has since been described as one of the most successful for the Allies on the Western Front and, in the words of Erich Ludendorff, the "... blackest day for the German Army".^[3] The battalion remained at the front until late September 1918; its last battle took place at Jeancourt, during which it suffered a further 140 casualties.^[3]^[37] Later in the month, the Australian Corps, having been severely depleted due to heavy casualties and the dwindling supply of reinforcements from Australia, was withdrawn from the line for rest and re-organisation.^[38]^[39] As a result, the battalion took no further part in the fighting and when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918 it was still out of the line.^[3] Over 9,000 men served in the battalion's ranks during the war,^[40] including over 25 full drafts of reinforcements, and miscellaneous transfers from other units and general service reinforcements.^[41] Casualties totalled 1,015 men killed and 2,136 wounded.^[3] In addition to the three Victoria Crosses, members of the battalion were awarded one Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, nine Distinguished Service Orders and one Bar, 34 Military Crosses and four Bars, sixteen Distinguished Conduct Medals, 149 Military Medals plus 11 Bars and one second Bar, and nine Meritorious Service Medals.^[42] In 1927, the battalion was awarded a total of 24 battle honours for its war service.^[43]

Following the cessation of hostilities, the Australian government decided that it would not contribute to the proposed Allied occupation force in Germany and would begin the process of demobilisation of the AIF as soon as possible.^[44] Owing to the large number of soldiers deployed overseas, this process took some time,^[45] and it was decided to progressively return men from each battalion, rather than send them home as a formed unit. As numbers dwindled, units were amalgamated for administrative purposes, and as a consequence the 9th and 10th Battalions were merged on 5 February 1919; the final contingent of troops from the 10th Battalion did not return home until September 1919 when they disembarked in Adelaide from the transport Takada.^[3]^[46]

Roy Inwood, who received the Victoria Cross for his actions during the fighting around Polygon Wood

Commanding Officers
The 10th Battalion's commanding officers during World War I, listed in chronological order of the date they first commanded the battalion, were as follows:^[3]

Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Price Weir;^[c]
Major Frederick William Hurcombe;^[d]
Major George Dorricutt Shaw;^[e]
Lieutenant Colonel Miles Fitzroy Beevor;^[f]
Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Wilder-Neligan;^[g]
Lieutenant Colonel George Ernest Redburg;^[h]
Lieutenant Colonel James Samuel Denton;^[i]
Major Felix Gordon Giles;^[j] (son of explorer Alfred Giles)
Major Rupert Anstice Rafferty;^[k]
Lieutenant Colonel Ross Blyth Jacob;^[l]
Major Alexander Steele;^[m]
Captain Gordon Cathcart Campbell^[n] (nephew of Chief Justice of South Australia Sir Samuel Way);^[54]
Major Clarence Rumball;^[o]
Captain Roy Kintore Hurcombe;^[p]
Lieutenant Colonel John Newman;^[q]
Major William Francis James McCann.^[r]

Battalion song

The words to the battalion song were written by C.R. Beresford and the music by H. Brewster-Jones:^[57]

'Twas not within a barrack yard they put us through our drill,
They licked us into soldier shape in camp at Morphettville;
So khaki-clad and Enfield-armed, we'll fight at Tommy's side,
To hold secure the fields of France against the German tide.

Chorus
Left, right, left, right; keep the column swinging;
Every step our destination nears;
Long, long miles we'll shorten by our singing,
Kits are heavy but a chorus cheers—
All our help old Mother England's needing—
Soon we'll have to prove that we are men,
And the 10th Battalion will be leading;
We're Australians in Old Ten.
We hail from busy Rundle Street and north of Goyder's line;
But far from there, beneath strange skies, our glinting bayonets shine.
For half the world is now between us and the crowded quay
Where to the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" our troopship puts to sea.
We long to hear the maxim's purr and smell the cordite strong,
Across the busy firing line the crowded trench along;
The chatter that our rifles make, as down the line it runs
To swell that wartime music grand, the chorus of the guns.
The magic of the new lands we see won't banish from our mind
Those bright-eyed, dear Australian maids, the best of all girlkind;
The grand old Jack, wind-blown, above, with all its colours bright,
Means them and home, and all we love; so we march out to fight.

Inter-war years and World War II

The 10th Battalion was disbanded shortly after its return to Australia, although some of its personnel were used to raise the Adelaide-based 1st Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, a part-time unit of the Citizens Force (later known as the Militia).^[58] This unit drew its lineage from the 78th Infantry Regiment, which could trace its history back to 1854, when two battalions of the Adelaide Rifles had been formed.^[58] The act of merging these units was part of a larger Army-wide reorganisation that created a convoluted lineage in many units, which according to historian Peter Stanley has resulted in confusion among military historians.^[59] In 1921, when the AIF was officially disbanded and the part-time military forces were reorganised to perpetuate the AIF's numerical designations,^[60] the 10th Battalion was re-raised in its own right in Adelaide, drawing personnel from the 2nd Battalions of the 10th, 32nd and 50th Infantry Regiments.^[58] Through these links, the 10th Battalion inherited a battle honour from the Boer War.^[43] At this time it was allocated to the 3rd Brigade, which was part of the 4th Military District.^[61]

The battalion received a King's Colour in 1925 in recognition of its service during World War I. Two years later, in 1927, territorial titles were introduced and the battalion assumed the designation of "The Adelaide Rifles". The motto Pro Patria was adopted at this time.^[43] In 1930, amid the austerity of the Great Depression and following the election of the Scullin Labor government and the subsequent suspension of the compulsory training scheme, the decision was made to amalgamate the battalion due to a decline in the numbers of volunteers. It was merged with the 50th Battalion, with whom it shared history, to become the 10th/50th Battalion.^[58] Again the unit was assigned to the 3rd Brigade.^[62]

Band members from the 10th/48th Battalion on parade in Darwin, September 1944.

The 10th and 50th remained linked until 1936;^[58] at that time, in response to fears of a possible war in Europe following the reoccupation of the Rhineland, it was decided to expand the size of the Militia.^[63] As a result, on 1 October 1936, the 10th/50th Battalion was split and the 10th Battalion was re-raised as a separate unit,^[43] and was once again assigned to the 3rd Brigade. After Japan's entry into World War II in December 1941, the 10th Battalion mobilised at Warradale to undertake garrison duties in Australia. While the 3rd Brigade's two other battalions – the 27th and 43rd – were sent to Darwin, the 10th was detached to the 28th Brigade,^[64] and initially deployed to Warrawong on the New South Wales south coast, defending the strategically important industrial area around Wollongong, but in August it was ordered to join Northern Territory Force and moved to Darwin to defend the port against a possible Japanese invasion. Before it arrived, though, an Army-wide reorganisation resulted in the 10th being amalgamated with the 48th Battalion, to form the 10th/48th Battalion on 27 August 1942.^[65] The reorganisation was the result of personnel shortages that had come about due to an over-mobilisation of the Australian military, and resulted in the amalgamation of several Militia units. In 1943, the 10th/48th Australian Infantry Battalion was gazetted as an "AIF" unit,^[66] which meant that its members could be deployed outside Australian territory,^[67] but was disbanded in August 1945, never having served outside Australia.^[43]^[58]

During the war, another battalion with a similar designation, the 2/10th Battalion, was raised as part of the all volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF).^[68] Although many members of the Militia volunteered to join the 2nd AIF, the units of the 2nd AIF were considered separate from those of the Militia and many existed at the same time.^[69] Recruited from South Australians, the 2/10th was raised in mid-October 1939 and formed part of the 18th Brigade that was initially assigned to the 6th Division before being transferred to the 7th. Over the course of the war it served in the United Kingdom, North Africa, New Guinea and Borneo before being disbanded in December 1945.^[68]

After World War II

In 1948, when Australia's part-time military force was re-raised as the Citizens Military Force (CMF),^[70] the 10th Battalion returned to the order of battle, readopting the designation of The Adelaide Rifles. Throughout the 1950s, as part of Central Command,^[71] the battalion provided training for national servicemen until 1960, when a widespread re-organisation of the CMF saw the creation of six state-based multi-battalion regiments as the smaller, regional regiments of the past were consolidated.^[72] As a result, the 10th Battalion was subsumed into the pentropic 1st Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment, providing two companies: 'D' (The Adelaide Company) and 'E' (The Port Adelaide Company).^[58] In 1961, the battalion, although technically off the Army's order of battle, was entrusted with the 12 battle honours that had been earned by the 2/10th Battalion during World War II.^[43]

In 1965, the Australian Army ended its brief experiment with the pentropic divisional establishment, and on 1 July 1965 the 10th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment, was re-raised as a unit in its own right. This battalion remained on the order of battle as a Reserve unit until 29 November 1987, when it was amalgamated with the 27th Battalion, to form the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment (10/27 RSAR).^[58]^[73] This battalion has adopted the 10th Battalion's Unit Colour Patch, carries the colours of both the 10th and 27th Battalions, and perpetuates the battle honours of both of these units and several South Australian battalions of the 2nd AIF that were raised for service during World War II; it also recruits from the same areas, being headquartered in Adelaide with depots across South Australia and in Broken Hill.^[74]

Battle honours

The 10th Battalion received the following battle honours:^[43]

South Africa 1899–1902 (inherited);
World War I: Somme 1916–18, Pozières, Bullecourt, Ypres, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Lys, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Amiens, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, Epehy, France and Flanders 1916–18, ANZAC, Landing at ANZAC, Defence at ANZAC, Suvla, Sari Bair, Gallipoli 1915, Egypt 1915–16.^[3]
World War II: North Africa 1941, Defence of Tobruk, The Salient 1941, South West Pacific 1942–45, Buna–Gona, Cape Endaiadere–Sinemi Creek, Sanananda–Cape Killerton, Milne Bay, Liberation of Australian New Guinea, Shaggy Ridge, Borneo, Balikpapan (inherited).

Notes

Check Wikipedia Article

The 10th Battalion and other units raised in South Australia in WW1 and WW2 form the South Australian Regiment at the current time

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10th Battalion Departs Adelaide 1914

S.S. Ascanius, departing of the South Australian infantry of the first Australian Expeditionary Force. State Library of South Australia B 10303

When the men of the 10th Battalion Australian Expeditionary Force waved goodbye, they believed they were sailing for Europe, “To hold secure the fields of France against the German tide”, in the words of their battalion song.

Sources
SA Memory. 2016. Song of the 10th Battalion. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=515. [Accessed 12 June 2016].
State Library of South Australia. 2016. S.S. Ascanius B 10303. [ONLINE] Available at: http://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+10303. [Accessed 12 June 2016].

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Image result for 10th Battalion - AIF - WWI

10th Battalion A.I.F. Officers and Soldiers Heading For ANZAC COVE for 25th April 1915 Landing
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https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5467094

The Advertiser - Adelaide - Tue 4 May 1915 - Page 7   'THE FIGHT IN THE DARDANELLES"

THE ROLL OF HONOR.

"Faithful unto Death.'1 Help

"Faithful unto Death."
FIGHT IN THE DARDANELLES
LONG RECORD OF DEAD
OUR AUSTRALIAN HEROES
THIRD CASUALTY LIST.

Melbourne, May 3.

The defence authorities to-day made available another list of casualties sustained by the Australians in the Dardanelles action:

DIED FROM WOUNDS.
South Australia.
Private T. A. Whyte, 10th Battalion, from wounds received in action between April 25 and 29.
Private W. H. Vick. 10th Battalion, from wounds received between April 25 and 29.

New South Wales.
Private G. Straker, 1st Battalion, formerly 2nd reinforcements.
Private F. A. Doodson, 1st Battalion.

Victoria.
Private A. R. Olley, 7th Battalion.
Private S. G. Charlesworth, 7th Battalion.
Private G. C. Cavanagh, 7th Battalion.

Western Australia.
Private T. Batt, 11th Battalion.
Private C. Thurgar, 11th Battalion.

Tasmania.
Private A. L. Anderson, 12th Battalion.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DEATHS.
Melbourne, May 3.

It is notified that the following deaths of members of 'the Australian Imperial Force have occurred an the result of wounds received in action in the Dardanelles:—

Lieutenant E. W. Talbot Smith. 10th Infantry Battalion. Next of kin, father,
resides at Kensington Park, Adelaide.

The following deaths occurred on board H.M.H.S. Cascon:—

No. 47, Private T. A. Whyte, A Company, 10th, Infantry Battalion. Next of kin, brother, Mr. W. H. Whyte, care of Mr. G. C. Campbell. 48, Steamship Buildings, Currie street, Adelaide.

No. 1042, Private W. H. Vick. C (late B) Company, 10th Infantry Battalion. Relatives reside in England. Next of kin, Mr. W. H. Vick, 94, Brasenose-road, Kirkdale, Liverpool, England.

FOURTH CASUALTY LIST.

Melbourne, May 3.
The fourth list of casualties in action in the Dardanelles is as follows -

DIED FROM WOUNDS.

South Australia.
Lieutenant E W. Talbot Smith, 10th Battalion, Adelaide.
Private E. May, 7th Battalion, Adelaide

Victoria.
Private V. A. Stach, 2nd Battalion, Melbourne.
Private H. H. Smith, 5th Battalion, Richmond.
Private H. Hogan, 5th Battalion, SouthYarra.
Lance-Corporal C. W. Janssen, 5th Battalion, Mentone.
Quartermaster-Sergeant A. L. Everett,8th Battalion, Oakleigh.
Private J. G. Hunter, 1st Reinforcements, Scotland.
Private L. G. Sproston, 7th Battalion Ascot Vale.
Private A. E. Rogers, 7th Battalion, Moonee Ponds.
Private L. Hawkins, 7th Battalion, England.
Private Murdock, 7th Battalion, Bacchus Marsh.
Lance-Corporal F. Abbey, 7th Battalion, North Fitzroy.
Corporal S. J. Goulding, 7th Battalion, Moonee Ponds.
Private E. D Martin, 8th Battalion, Dandenong.
Private E. H. Wood, 8th Battalion, England.

New South Wales.
Lieutenant P. S. Anderson, 4th Battalion, Elsmore.
Private H. C. H. Caldwell, 1st Battalion, Camperdown.
Private E. C. Bird, 2nd Battalion, Singson.
Private R. E. Bailey, 4th Battalion, England.
Private A. Langford, 4th Battalion (2nd Reinforcements), England.
Private F. W. Mann, 9th Battalion, Chinderah.
Private H. L. J. Finch, 11th Battalion, Bungendore.
Private J. H. Sharp, 4th Battalion, Dudley.

Western. Australia.
Lieutenant J. L. C. Booth, 12th Battalion, New Killerby.
Lance-Corporal S. D. H. Burgess, 11th Battalion, Perth.
Private W, Morley, 11th Battalion, Perth.
Private H. O. Amos, 11th Battalion, England.
Regimental Sergeant-Major V. A. Emmett, Boyanup.

Tasmania.
Private S. R. Cross, 12th Battalion, Lymington.
Corporal A. Tansley, 16th Battalion, England.

HIS EXCELLENCY'S TRIBUTE. PLEA FOR MORE RECRUITS.

His Excellency the Governor, speaking at a demonstration in connection with the Salvation Army, which was held in the Exhibition Building on Monday night, referred to the publication of the first casualties.

He said:- The war has been brought nearer than ever to us in Australia during the last three or four days. We have read the list of casualties with great regret, and our hearts go out to those who are to-day mourning the loss of those who are nearest and dearest to them, but we must remember that these men have died in a splendid cause. I can imagine nothing grander, or no greater privilege, than that men should be allowed to die for their country in a cause like that for which we are now fighting.
(Applause.)

It is worth battalions and battalions of men if your cause is a just one, and we in the British Empire feel so thoroughly convinced that our cause is a just one — the cause of right against might — that we can so much more easily give the lives of our best in that cause. (Applause.)

When one talks about the war it is very difficult to say anything that has not already been said over and over again, but I would suggest that these casualty lists which have brought the war so much
nearer to us to-day should act as an incentive to others to join the colors, because there is no doubt that ,the struggle in which Great Britain and her overseas Dominions are engaged is the greatest crisis
that the nation has ever faced, and that we shall want every single man we can put into the firing line, not only during the war, but now, and the more quickly we can send these men forward tho sooner will the militarism of Germany be crushed. (Applause.)

There is no doubt that at this distance from the scene of action, where, owing to the gallantry of our navy, we are free from the attacks of German war vessels, we have been apt not fully to recognise
the gravity of the struggle in which the Empire is engaged. I hope these lists will prove the best, recruiting sergeant. Our hearts go out to those who have had the sad news, relatives of those who have gone; but those fathers, mothers, sisters, or brothers must be proud of those who have given their lives for their country. May their deeds, call more forward to emulate the deeds of those who are fighting, and the end will be for the glory of the Empire, and the British flag will fly higher and
prouder than ever. (Applause.)

TELEGRAM FROM THE PREMIER.

The Chief Secretary (Hon. A. W. Styles) yesterday received the following telegram from tlie Premier (Hon. C. Vaughan), who is absent from the State attending the Premiers Conference:— "Kindly convey to relatives of fallen officers and privates my deepest sympathy. Their heroic deeds will
never be forgotten. Also convey to the relatives of South Australian wounded appreciation of sacrifice for Empire. May they speedily recover is the fervent wish of all."

DEATH OF LIEUTENANT TALBOT SMITH.

Private advices received by his parents in Adelaide on Monday contained news of the death of Lieutenant Talbot Smith, who, as reported in "The Advertiser" yesterday, was dangerously wounded in the head in the recent engagement in the Dardanelles.

City Council's Sympathy.

At the meeting of the Adelaide City Council on Monday afternoon the Mayor (Mr. A. A. Simpson) made sympathetic reference to the death of Lieutenant Eric W. Talbot Smith. 'Alderman Prosser said the council regretted to learn that such a promising young officer had lost his life in the stern battle in the Dardanelles. He moved that a letter of sympathy be sent to the parents of Lieutenant Smith. While regretting his death and sorrowing with the family they could rejoice that they had trained such fine
young officers who were ready to go forward and fight the battle for the Empire.

Alderman Isaacs seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.

SYMPATHY FROM NORWOOD.

Alderman Essery, who presided at the meeting of the Kensington and Norwood Council on Monday evening, said it was with deep regret that he referred to the death of Lieutenant E. W. Talbot Smith
from wounds received in action in Turkey. The gallant young officer's father, Mr. S. Talbot Smith, and his grandfather (Sir Edwin Smith) were esteemed fellow-citizens. Lieutenant Smith, like many others who had gone to fight for the Empire, had earned their highest gratitude and praise.

Four South Australian private soldiers had also been killed, and he was sure all members of the council desired to express their deepest sympathy with the bereaved relatives. Alderman Hooper moved that a letter of condolence be sent to the relatives of the late Lieutenant Talbot Smith.

This was carried unanimously.

LIEUTENANT PRISK WOUNDED.
Lieutenant R. C. G. Prisk, who was slightly wounded in the face in the recent fighting, is a South Australian, not a Victorian, as reported in the official list. He received his education at Mount Bar-
ker, the Unley public school, and the Adelaide High School. He was in training Lieutenant R- C. G.' Prisk (S.A.). (wounded.) . Was at Duntroon Military College for nearly four years. On the outbreak of the war he was given his commission, and attached to the Victorian forces. He is 20 years of age. His parents reside at Hyde Park, and his brother Corporal Prisk, is a member of the reinforcements of the Light Horse.

THE LATE PRIVATE WHYTE.
Private T. A. Whyte (S.A.). (Killed.)
The late Private T. A. Whyte was one if the first South Australians to volunteer for service abroad. Coming from the Port Lincoln district, he resided at Woodville and North Adelaide before going to the southern suburbs. When in camp he made himself popular with his comrades. He was prominent in Adelaide sporting circles. For some time he was a member of the firm of Robin & Co., wholesale
grocers. He then entered the office of Messrs. M. G. Anderson & Co. He was to have been married on his return from the war. Mr. Whyte was one of our ablest rowers, said a responsible official of

the South Australian Rowing Association.He joined the Mercantile Rowing Club in October, 1903, and he represented South Australia in several inter-State rowing contests. This first appearance in big rowing was on the Port River, when he rowed as number 6 in the South Australian eight.He was selected as stroke of the S.A. crew in Melbourne in 1908, and in the following year he went to Brisbane.

In 1910, Mr. Whyte was stroke of the crew that was to contest the Australian inter-State Eight oar Race in Tasmania, but he resigned the position. He stroked the South Australian eight in Sydney in 1911. In the races in which he represented the Mercantile club, Mr. Whyte was singularly successful.
On five occasions he stroked their champion four, winning three races and rowing second in the remaining two events. He won the Webb Memorial Cup and Ladies Challenge Shield several times. He had many trophies for club races. The Mercantile Rowing Club elected him trustee, and the erection of the club's present fine clubhouse was largely due to his energies.

During last season Mr. Whyte joined the Adelaide Rowing Club, and was a member at the time of his departure. He represented, the Mannum Rowing and Athletic Club on the South Australian Rowing Association committee. Twelve years ago Mr. Whyte identified himself with lacrosse, and he became one of the leading players, figuring conspicuously in interstate contests. Commencing in Port Ade-
laide, he afterwards joined the North Adelaide Club. When he left for the war he was a resident of the Sturt district, and a keen lacrosse enthusiast. In 1908, when playing for North Adelaide, Mr. Whyte was picked in the team that visited the eastern States. During the following year he played against Victorian and Tasmanian combinations. He played a great game centre for South Australia in the inter-State match against Victoria in Melbourne in 1911.

The Melbourne correspondent of "The Advertiser" said:-"Whyte's game in the centre was a big surprise to tho Victorians, who knew him better as an inter-State oarsman." Mr. Whyte was an ener-
getic committeeman for several years, and his death will be deeply regretted in lacrosse circles. The lacrosse players gave a farewell to the departing members.

Mr. Whyte responded for the soldiers. Out of approximately 300 lacrosse players in the association about 70 have gone to the war, and the North Adelaide club, of which Mr. Whyte was formerly a member, has been practically wiped out of existence owing to the departure of its players.

THE LATE PRIVATE VICK.
The parents of Private W. H. Vick reside at 94, Brasenose-road, Kirkdale, Liverpool. It is not known whether any of his relations reside in this State.

THE LATE PRIVATE TUTT.
Private H. D. Tutt. of Mitcham, who was killed in action in the Dardanelles fight, was a member and sidesman of St. Michael's Church. He also belonged to the parochial branch of the Church of England Missionary Society, and was a regular attendant at the monthly meetings. He played football for St. Michael's team, and was exceedingly popular with his comrades.

TWO SOLDIERS WOUNDED.
Private information has reached Adelaide that in the recent fighting near the Dardanelles, Private Lance Rhodes (son of Mr. E N. Rhodes, of Adelaide) was wounded in the arm, and Private Crow-
hurst was also wounded.

A MILITARY FUNERAL.
Private Frank Robert George Creer, Australian Imperial Force, who died of appendicitis in the Adelaide Hospital on Sunday, will be interred with military honors this afternoon. The funeral will
leave the residence of hie grandfather, Mr. Hugill, 23, Fourth-avenue, St. Peters, at 3 p.m., for the Payneham Cemetery.

A MOUNT GAMBIER RESIDENT.
Mount Gambier, May 3.
The first local hero to be killed in action is Private Ernest Martini, of Glencoe. He died at the Dardanelles last week as the result of injuries received in action. The information came through yesterday to Archdeacon Samwell, who motored to Glencoe and broke the news to the relations.
Mr. Martini was the adopted son of Mrs. A. Sims.

NEW SOUTH WALES SOLDIERS.
Sydney, May 3.
The New South Wales military authorities have been advised of the under-mentioned casualties in the Dardanelles, and the relatives in this State of those soldiers who are officially reported dead are given as follow:

Lieutenant P. S. Anderson, 4th Battalion, died of wounds April 29 or April 30. Father, Mr. J. A. Anderson, Elsmore, near Inverell.
Private E. C. Bird, D (late A) Company, 2nd Battalion, died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. Mother, Mrs. Bird, Boundary-street, Singleton.
Private V. A. Stack. C (¡ate H) Company, 4th Battalion, died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. His father resides in Melbourne.
Private J. H. Sharp. A Company, 4th Battalion, died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. Wife Mrs. James Sharp, care of Post-Office, Dudley.
Private R. E. Bailey, C (late B) Company, 4th Battalion, died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. Relatives reside in England.
Private G. Straker, 1st Battalion, late 2nd Reinforcements, died of wounds on H.M.S. Gascon between April 25 and April 29. Next of kin resides in England.
Private G. F.Tudenham D (late E) Company, 3rd Battalion, died of wounds between April 27 and .April 29. Relatives reside in England.
Private W. V. Knight D (late F) Company, 1st Battalion, died of wounds between April 27 and 29. Relatives reside in England.
Private F. A. Doodson, C (late H) Company, 1st Battalion, died of wounds H.M.S. Gascon between April 25 and April 29. Father, Mr. E. E. Doodson, Francis street, Lidcombe.
Private H. L. I. Finch, 11th Battalion,died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. Next of kin, Mrs. E. H. Finch, Bank of New South Wales, Bungendore.
Private H. C. H. Caldwell, B (late D) Company, 1st Battalion, died of wounds between April 25 and May 1. Next of kin, Mrs. Letitia Caldwell, 83, English street, Camperdown.
Private J. M. McInnes, 11th Battalion, died of measles on April 15. Mother, Mrs. A. C. McInnes, Galong. He probably died on the way to the Dardanelles, and hence the delay in notification.

VICTORIAN SOLDIERS.
Melbourne, May 3.
Second Lieutenant E. S. H. Chapman
was one of the 16 subalterns attached to the 7th Victorian Infantry Battalion which forms part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade. He received his appointment on August 24, 1914. Prior to joining the Expeditionary forces he was associated with the 58th Infantry, Essendon Rifles, to which unit he was gazetted second lieutenant on July 1, 1913. He was only 21 years of age. His parents are well known in Essendon, where they have resided for several years.

Second Lieutenant S R Close was only just 20 years of age. He gained his first military knowledge at Ballarat as a subultern in the 70th Infantrv (Ballarat) Regiment. He volunteered for service soon after war was declared, and on August 28, 1914, he was appointed to a junior commissioned rank in the 8th Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Brigade.

Bom at Geelong 40 years ago, Captain W. F. Hodgson was a military enthusiast from boyhood, and took a keen interest in the profession. He originally joined the extinct Harbor Trust Battery under
a militia regiment, and rose to the rank of senior sergeant-major. Subsequently he joined C Company, 1st Battalion Victorian Scottish Regiment, under Colonel Wanliss, and acted as captain for some years. On the institution of compulsory training his good services were recognised by the authorities, and he was transferred to, the 46th Regiment, with headquarters at Surrey Hills. After performing much organising work Captain Hodgson was changed over to the 48th Regiment, which was formed at Camberwell.

For l8 months he ranked as acting major under Major Kruse, until volunteering for service with the First Expeditionary Force, in which he was given the command of C Company Infantry Brigade. It is a strange coincidence that Captain Hodgson and Lieutenant Henderson, who
was also killed in action, belonged to the same infantry regiment at Camberwell and resided opposite each other in Harcourt-strcet, Camberwell. Captain Hodgson was in charge of a platoon, which was dispatched to defend the Suez Canal at Ismailia, but missed the actual fighting owing to, the retreat of the Turks.

In letters home he stated that his company had been .specially congratulated for musketry manoeuvres by the commanding officer in charge. Captain Hodgson was a commercial traveler, and had been in the employ of Messrs. Connibere, Grieve, and Connibere for 17 years. He left a widow and three young children. A rumor gained circulation in connection with the death of Captain Hodgson that he received the injuries which caused his death as the result of a shell exploding
during the landing of a boatload of troops. This fact, if true, might account for the large proportion of Victorian men killed.

Lieutenant A. D. Henderson was a resident of Camberwell, where he resided with his parents. He was a fine athletic man, 20 years of age, and very popular with his military comrades. He was one of 54 old collegians of Holy Trinity College, Kew, who responded to the call, and enlisted in the expeditionary forces. Alter leaving college he joined the 48th Battalion, whose headquarters are at Camberwell, and from the outset took a keen interest in military duties. Under Captain Hodgson who also lost his life in action, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and upon the outbreak of war promptly volunteered for service and was granted a commission as second lieutenant.

During the stay in Egypt he was promoted to lieutenant. His brother is the Rev, K. T. Henderson, M.A., a master at the Church of England Grammar School. Another brother is on active service and holds the rank of captain in the 7th Battalion to which Lieutenant Henderson belonged.

Private H. *. E. Dalton, of Dimboola, who died as a result of wounds received in action, was a prominent district rifle shot, well known and greatly respected in the north-western district. When volunteers were called for active service he and his brother were among the first in camp.
Private Wilfred McDonald was the first resident of Mortlake io volunteer for active service. He was well known in the town and district. Flags were flown at half mast at Mortlake to-day as a tribute to his memory

Private P. A. Tippett was employed as a porter at the Sandringham railway-station prior to the outbreak of war. He was previously similarly employed at Thornbury. He was a young man.

Lieutenant F. O. Rogers was a fellow subaltern with Lieutenant Chapman (killed) in the Essendon rifles. He was J gazetted a second lieutenant in the expeditionary forces on August 24, 1914. He is 20 years of age, and his relatives reside at Ascot Vale.

Captain R. P Flockhart, was a company commander, attached to the 5th Battalion of Colonel McCay's brigade. Prior to joining the expeditionary forces he was a captain in the 51st Infantry (Albert Park). He is 29 years of age.

Second Lieutenant C. C. Riddell joined the expeditionary forces on August 24 last year. He was educated at the Melbourne University and prior to graduating, served as a lieutenant in the University rifles. He is 28 years of age.

Lieutenant R. C. G. Prisk, who has been slightly wounded in action, received a commission in the Commonwealth military forces on August 15 last, and was appointed a subaltern in the 6th Infantry Battalion. He is 21 years of age

A QUEENSLAND SOLDIER
Brisbane, May 3.

Private Turnbull, who was killed at the Dardanelles, came from Sandsborough on the north coastline, where his mother resides.

NEW ZEALAND FATALITIES.
Wellington, May 3.
Tho following New Zealand casualties have been announced:

Died of Wounds.

Lieutenant Robert Andrew Fraser, Auckland Infantry- Battalion.
Private Alfred Richard Hayward, Otago Infantry.
Corporal Peter Cowperthwaite, Otago Infantry.
Private Robert Watson, Auckland Infantry.

The last three casualties occurred between April 25 and May 1. Lieutenant Fraser, who had recently been promoted from the rank of sergeant died aboard the transport steamer on April 30. Corporal Cowperthwaite left New Zealand asa private.

A MESSAGE OF PRIDE.
Wellington, May 3.

The Hon. J. Allen to-day sent the following message to Major-General Sir Alexander Godley:-

"The people of New Zealand have read with quickening pulse the meagre news of your magnificent doings. New Zealand awaits the casualty list with fortitude born of pride that her
sons have proved themselves worthy in this time of trial. Please convey to your command, and especially to the wounded men that our hearts and thoughts are with them."

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN DEAD.
Perth. May 3.
The Defence authorities announced this morning the deaths in action of Privates Batt and Thurgar, of the Western Australian battalion. Both are Englishmen, the former having arrived in this State just before the war broke out. They were single men, and their next-of-kin reside in
England. Private Batt's age is given as 31 years on his official documents, and Private Thurgar's is 29 years. On the outbreak of the war these two men were in the first batch of volunteers, and were among the first 200 men selected. They went into camp immediately it was established at Blackboy Hill. Private Thurgar had lived three years in Australia, and was
a boot salesman.

CONDITION OF THE WOUNDED.
GENERALLY SATISFACTORY.
Melbourne. May 3

The following cable message has been received by the Defence Department, in reply to an inquiry concerning the condition of members of the Australian Imperial forces reported to be wounded: —

"With reference to your telegram on May 1, it may be assumed that progress is generally satisfactory, except in the report on cases dangerously wounded."

...........................

Note that many ANZAC Diggers who enlisted were born in England, and most Diggers were very active in the community, including part-time Military Service. From Federation, until just after WW2, the Australian Military Forces had only about 4,000 Permanent Army personnel, and the remainder were civilian soldiers.

General, Sir John Monash, was a Militia (C.M.F) Colonel, when he landed at ANZAC COVE, and a lawyer and engineer in civilian life.

                         ................................

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51467/

27th Australian Infantry Battalion

Units	New Zealand & Australian Division Australian Imperial Force 7 Brigade
Events	Battle of Amiens Battle of Broodseinde Ridge Battle of Flers Battle of Hamel Battle of Menin Road Battle of Pozieres Beaurevoir Line German Spring Offensive Hindenburg Line Morlancourt
Battle Honours	Albert, 1918 Amiens Beaurevoir Broodseinde Bullecourt Egypt, 1915-16 France and Flanders, 1916-18 Gallipoli, 1915 Hindenburg Line Menin Road Mont St. Quentin Passchendaele Poelcappelle Polygon Wood Pozières Somme, 1916, '18 Ypres, 1917

Commanding Officers	Dollman, Walter Slane, James Charles Francis Chalmers, Frederick Royden
Decorations	1 CMG; 5 DSO; 20 MC, 2 bars; 14 DCM; 69 MM, 2 bars; 5 MSM; 21 MID; 6 foreign awards
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
References	W. Dollman and H.M. Skinner, The blue and brown diamond: History of the 27th Battalion (A.I.F.) on active service, (Adelaide: Lonnen & Cope, 1921) AWM4/23/44/1-23/44/45
Category	Unit
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Unit hierarchy	Commonwealth Military Forces Australian Imperial Force Infantry 27th Australian Infantry Battalion

Description

The 27th Battalion was raised in South Australia in March 1915, from recruits previously earmarked for the 24th Battalion, a large number of whom hailed from the suburbs of Adelaide. The battalion left Australia in June, and, after two months spent training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 12 September.

At Gallipoli, the 7th Brigade, which included the 27th Battalion, reinforced the weary New Zealand and Australian Division. The 27th had a relatively quiet time at Gallipoli and the battalion departed the peninsula in December, having suffered only light casualties.

After another stint in Egypt, the 7th Brigade proceeded to France as part of the 2nd Australian Division. The 27th Battalion entered the front-line trenches for the first time on 7 April 1916 and took part in its first major battle at Pozieres between 28 July and 5 August. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd Division returned to the south in October. The 27th Battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers in the Somme Valley, both of which floundered in the mud.

Although it participated in minor attacks during the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917, the 27th Battalion did not carry out a major attack again until 20 September 1917. On this occasion, it was part of the 2nd Division's first wave at the battle of Menin Road. Victory here was followed up with the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October, in which the 27th Battalion also played a role.

Like most AIF battalions, the 27th fought to turn back the German spring offensive in April 1918, and later in the year participated in a string of offensive battles as Germany was pushed ever closer to defeat. It attacked around Morlancourt on the night of 10 June; acted in a supporting role during the battle of Hamel on 4 July; and was in the first wave at the battle of Amiens on 8 August. On 8 August, the battalion captured 9 artillery pieces, 25 machine guns and over 200 prisoners.

The Battalion's last actions of the war were fought as part of the effort to break through the Beaurevoir Line in the first week of October 1918, but it was not disbanded until 4 June 1919.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27th_Battalion_(Australia)

27th Battalion (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Members of the 27th Battalion marching through Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre in the Somme, France, 7 April 1918

The 27th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was initially raised in 1915 as part of the First Australian Imperial Force for service during World War I. During the conflict, the battalion saw action briefly at Gallipoli before later fighting on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. It was disbanded in 1919, but was re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizens Force, which later became the "Militia". During World War II the battalion was used mainly in a garrison role until the last year of the war when it was committed to the fighting against the Japanese during the Bougainville campaign. Following the end of hostilities it was disbanded in May 1946. Between 1948 and 1965 the battalion was re-raised and disbanded a number of times before eventually becoming part of the Royal South Australia Regiment. It was disbanded for a final time in 1987, when it was amalgamated with the 10th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment to form the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment.

History

Active	1915–1919 1921–1946 1948–1960 1965–1987
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	~800–1,000 men^{[Note 1]}
Part of	7th Brigade (1915–19) 3rd Brigade (1921–42) 23rd Brigade (1942–46) 9th Brigade (1948–60; 1965–87)
Nickname(s)	South Australian Scottish Regiment
Motto(s)	Primus inter Pares
Colours	Brown over Blue
March	The Campbells Are Coming
Engagements	World War I Gallipoli campaign Western Front World War II Bougainville campaign

Insignia

Marchers in World War II Australian uniforms, wearing the colour patch of the 2/8th Battalion.

World War I

Gallipoli

Because of the restrictions that the Defence Act (1903) placed upon deploying units of the Citizens Force overseas, following the outbreak of World War I, the Australian government decided to raise an all volunteer force for overseas service. This force was known as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).^[3] Initially, the AIF was to consist of only one infantry division,^[3] but following the despatch of the 1st Division in late 1914 further units were raised and these were eventually organised to form the 2nd Division.^[4] As part of the 2nd Division, the 27th Battalion was formed on 16 March 1915 at Ascot Park Camp, Adelaide,^[5] from recruits drawn mainly from South Australia, who had originally been allocated to the 24th Battalion.^[6] After a period of basic training, the battalion embarked for the Middle East on the troopship HMAT A2 Geelong on 31 May 1915,^[7] arriving there on 6 July.^[8]

They then undertook a further two months of training in Egypt before an urgent request for reinforcements led to them being dispatched to Gallipoli where they landed on 12 September. Attached to the 7th Brigade, along with the 25th, 26th and 28th Battalions,^[6]^[9] they reinforced the battle-worn New Zealand and Australian Division and took up a defensive position on Cheshire Ridge.^[10] Throughout October they defended the ridge, during which time they suffered five killed and 29 wounded,^[11] before being relieved by New Zealanders in early November. After this they moved to new positions in Mule Gulley where they undertook further defensive operations alongside the 26th Battalion. Losses during this time amounted to two killed and eight wounded.^[12] In December, they took over from the 28th Battalion around Happy Valley, before the decision was made to evacuate the Allied forces from the peninsula. On 12 December 1915, the battalion embarked upon the Osmaliegh, bound for Lemnos Island.^[13]

Following this the 27th Battalion returned to Egypt, where the AIF undertook a period of training and re-organisation as reinforcements arrived from Australia.^[4] During this time the AIF was expanded from two infantry divisions to four – with a fifth forming in Australia – and many infantry battalions that had seen service at Gallipoli were split up to provide cadre staff for the newly raised battalions. The battalions of the 2nd Division, however, were not split up in this manner and the 27th Battalion remained intact.^[14]

Western Front

In early 1916, the decision was made to transfer part of the AIF to Europe to take part in the fighting in the trenches along the Western Front in France and Belgium.^[6]^[15] Still attached to the 7th Brigade, the 27th Battalion entered the front-line for the first time on 7 April 1916 as the Australians took over a quiet sector near Armentières. On 8 July 1916, the 7th Brigade was ordered to march to the Somme to support the Australian 1st Division which was taking part in the fighting around Pozières.^[16] On 28 July, the 7th Brigade undertook an attack on the German line, however, during this time the 27th Battalion was held back in reserve.^[17] The attack proved unsuccessful and as a result it was ordered to launch a second attack on 4 August, centred upon German positions around Bapaume.^[18]

This time the 27th Battalion was to play a key role. Moving off from positions around La Boiselle in the afternoon, the battalion advanced with two companies forward and two back in reserve under the cover of an intense artillery barrage. Due to congestion around the assembly trenches, the battalion arrived at its objective late. Nevertheless, the first wave managed to capture the first line of German trenches and although the follow-up waves became lost amidst thick smoke, the two assault companies began to consolidate their position during the night.^[18] In the early morning of 5 August, a heavy German counterattack was launched. This was turned back with considerable cost, with the Germans suffering an estimated 100 men killed and 60 men captured. Following this, the battalion sent out patrols into No Man's Land as reinforcements were brought up. Later during the day their positions were subjected to heavy shellfire from German guns positioned around Thiepval.^[19] Although successful, the attack proved costly with the battalion reporting the following casualties: 40 killed, 289 wounded and 67 missing.^[20] Afterwards they were relieved by the 48th Battalion and were eventually transferred to Belgium where they were rested in a 'quiet' sector south of Zillebeke.^[21]

In early October, they undertook a number of small scale raids on the German line, capturing a number of prisoners, before they were withdrawn from the line on 27 October and transferred back to the Somme where they subsequently took part in two unsuccessful attacks against German positions east of Flers.^[6] In January 1917, the 7th Brigade moved into the Le Sars sector where they took over from British units that were holding the line near Mametz.^[22] Offensive operations during this time were largely curtailed by bad weather, but on 2 March the battalions of the 5th and 7th Brigades launched a combined attack north of Warlencourt.^[22] The initial assault yielded some ground, but the Germans completed a successful outflanking move on the left, which threatened to take the momentum out of the attack. As reinforcements were brought up, the 27th Battalion linked up with the 26th Battalion on its left flank near the Loupart Road and, under the cover of mist, managed to establish a new trench line 500 yards (460 m) long and captured a number of prisoners.^[23]

The battalion's next engagement came on 26 March 1917 when they undertook an attack on Lagnicourt, during which they lost 11 killed and 29 wounded.^[24] The 27th Battalion did not undertake a major engagement until 20 September when they took part in the Battle of Menin Road, which resulted in success for the Australians.^[25] During the battle, they were committed to the fighting as part of the first wave which routed the German forces.^[6] Advancing under a cover of artillery and machine gun fire, the battalion captured a section of the German line known as the 'Blue Line' between Polygon Wood and a position known as the Iron Cross Redoubt.^[25]^[26] Later, they successfully took part in the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October,^[6] which was their last major offensive action in 1917.^[27]

A soldier from the 27th Battalion in the trenches at Villers-Bretonneux, July 1918

n early 1918, the 7th Brigade was placed in divisional reserve around Romarin as extreme winter weather conditions set in.^[28] At the end of January the brigade was relieved and moved back to Henneveux where it was tasked with covering a 24 miles (39 km) length of the line. During this time the 27th Battalion was near full strength, with 43 officers and 993 men, and was positioned between Bellebrune and Cremarest. They remained there throughout February and March during which time they undertook training and the men were given leave to visit Boulogne.^[29] In March 1918, the Germans launched their Spring Offensive in an effort to bring about an end to the war. The offensive saw considerable tactical gains, and although the Australian Corps missed the opening phase of the offensive as they were out of line at the time, they were brought up in April to help stem the tide of the German advance.^[30] As a part of this effort, the 27th Battalion returned to the battlefields of the Somme, as the 7th Brigade relieved the 13th Brigade around the Somme Canal on the night of 7/8 April.^[31] At the end of the month they moved to the Camon–Rivery area. As the German offensive became focused upon Villers–Bretonneux they were called upon to undertake a supporting role to the Australian counterattack,^[32] relieving the 6th Brigade around Ville-sur-Ancre following the 6th's assault on the town.^[33]

In early June, plans were made for the Australian 2nd Division to attack around Morlancourt in preparation for a more significant attack at Hamel. On 10 June, the battalion advanced on the right of the 7th Brigade's line, capturing the German front line trenches around Morlancourt and wiping out a whole battalion, taking 325 prisoners for the loss of 400 men.^[34] On 4 July the battalion undertook a supporting role in the successful Australian attack at Hamel,^[35] following up the initial success with a further, albeit small, advance on 8 July.^[36] After the German offensive petered out, the 27th Battalion undertook peaceful penetration operations against the German line as the Allies began to prepare to launch their own offensive.^[37]

On 8 August 1918, the Allies launched their Hundred Days Offensive. During the fighting around Amiens, the battalion was responsible for capturing 200 prisoners as well as a number of machine guns and artillery pieces.^[6] They remained in the line throughout August and September, undertaking further attacks at Biaches and Mont St Quentin.^[38] Casualties during this time were high and by the end of September 1918 the battalion's strength had fallen to 31 officers and 537 men.^[39] Their final engagement of the war came on the night of 3 October 1918, when they took part in the Battle of Beaurevoir.^[6] During this battle, the battalion attacked around Prospect Hill,^[40] suffering 67 casualties.^[41] The following night they crossed the Estrees Road and took up position northeast of Estrees to support the 6th Brigade which was attacking positions beyond Beaurevoir.^[42]

Following this, the battalions of the Australian Corps were removed from the line for rest on 5 October, after a request from the Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes.^[30] They had been severely depleted and were suffering from acute manpower shortages as a result of the combination of a decrease in the number of volunteers from Australia and the decision to grant home leave to men who had served for over four years.^[43] Subsequently, when the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, the Australian Corps had not returned to the front and was still in the rear reorganising and training.^[43] With the end of hostilities the demobilisation process began, and men were slowly repatriated back to Australia. The process took a considerable period of time, though, and a large number of men were able to undertake tertiary and vocational training in England and France to prepare for their return to civilian life.^[44] Finally, as numbers dwindled, the battalion was disbanded on 4 June 1919.^[6]

The battalion suffered 762 men killed or died on active service during the war, as well as a further 2,155 wounded.^{[Note 2]} Members of the 27th Battalion received a number of decorations, including: one Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), five Distinguished Service Orders (DSOs), 20 Military Crosses (MCs) and two bars, 14 Distinguished Conduct Medals (DCMs), 69 Military Medals (MMs) and two bars, five Meritorious Service Medals (MSMs), 21 Mentions in Despatches (MIDs) and six foreign awards.^[6]^{[Note 3]} A total of 16 battle honours were awarded to the 27th Battalion for its involvement in the fighting on Gallipoli and the Western Front.^[45]

Interwar years

In 1921, the decision was made to perpetuate the battle honours and traditions of the AIF by re-organising the units of the Citizens Force to adopt the numerical designations of their related AIF units.^[46]^{[Note 4]} The 27th Battalion had been recruited mainly from personnel that had served in the 74th (Boothby) Infantry Regiment, and as a result, on 1 May 1921, the 74th's successor units—the 2nd and 5th Battalions, 27th Regiment—were amalgamated to re-raise the 27th Battalion.^[45]^[47] Through this link, the 27th inherited the battle honour "South Africa 1899–1902".^[45] Upon establishment, the battalion formed part of the 3rd Brigade and was based in South Australia where it formed part of the 4th Military District.^[48]^{[Note 5]}

In 1927, territorial titles were adopted by the units of the Citizens Force,^[49] and as a result the battalion adopted the title of the "South Australian Regiment". It also adopted the motto of "Primus inter Pares", meaning "First Among Equals".^[47] The following year, 1928, the battalion formed an alliance with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which were also known as the 27th Regiment of Foot. A year later, following the election of the Scullin Labor government, the compulsory training scheme was abolished and in its place a new system was introduced whereby the Citizens Forces would be maintained on a part-time, voluntary basis only.^[50] It was also renamed the "Militia" at this time.^[51] The decision to suspend compulsory training, coupled with the economic downturn of the Great Depression meant that the manpower of many Militia units dropped considerably and as a result the decision was made to amalgamate a number of units.^[52] The 27th Battalion, however, did not suffer this fate and in 1938 it adopted the territorial title of "South Australian Scottish Regiment"^[45] and was afforded the right to wear the MacKenzie tartan, after forming an alliance with the Seaforth Highlanders. At the same time it also raised a pipe band.^[48]

World War II

Following the outbreak of World War II, due to the provisions of the Defence Act (1903) which precluded deploying the Militia outside of Australian territory, the government decided to raise an all volunteer force for overseas service, known as the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF).^[53] As such while the Militia would provide a cadre for this force, its main role was to provide training to conscripts as part of the compulsory training scheme which was re-established in early 1940.^[53] During this time the Militia were called up in cohorts for periods of continuous training and the 27th Battalion, along with the rest of the 3rd Brigade, undertook garrison duties in South Australia as well as running number of training camps designed to increase the nation's defences in case of war in the Pacific.^[48] With Japan's entry into the war following the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Malaya, the battalion was mobilised for wartime service on 9 December 1941 and transported to Darwin in northern Australia where it formed part of the garrison force to defend against possible Japanese attack. During this time it was based at Winnellie and took part in building defences in the north.^[48]

Later, in December 1942, the 27th Battalion was transferred from the 3rd Brigade to the 23rd Brigade. This unit had previously been a 2nd AIF unit, but the loss of several of its battalions when they had been deployed to Ambon, Timor and Rabaul, had resulted in it being re-formed with Militia battalions and the 27th joined the 7th and 8th Battalions to round out its establishment.^[48] In March 1943, after having endured several bombings by Japanese aircraft since their arrival in Darwin the previous year, the battalion was replaced in the Darwin garrison and its personnel returned Adelaide for leave. In December, they regrouped on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland for jungle training,^[48] as the 23rd Brigade—then part of the 3rd Division^[54]—was converted to the jungle establishment, in preparation for them undertaking active service in New Guinea.^[55] Around this time the battalion was gazetted as an AIF battalion,^[45]^[56] meaning that because more than 65 per cent of its personnel had volunteered for service outside of Australian territory, it could be deployed beyond the limits set out in the Defence Act (1903).^[57]

A 27th Battalion mortar team during a training exercise in December 1944

Post World War II

In 1948, with demobilisation of Australia's wartime army complete, the decision was made to re-raise the part-time forces of the Militia, albeit with the new name of the Citizens Military Force, on a reduced establishment.^[60] The 27th Battalion was re-raised in May 1948,^[56] and was once again assigned to the 3rd Division, attached to the 9th Brigade.^[61]^[62] In 1951, the compulsory training scheme was reintroduced and as a result the size of many CMF units swelled.^[63] The march, The Campbells Are Coming, was approved as the battalion's regimental march in 1953.^[45] In 1959, the national service scheme was suspended, and as a result numbers dropped once more.^[64] Following the introduction of the Pentropic divisional structure in early 1960, the CMF was reorganised and a number of infantry battalions were disbanded or amalgamated together to form six new State-based regiments.^[65]^[66]

As part of these changes, in July 1960 the 27th Battalion was amalgamated with the 43rd/48th Battalion (Hindmarsh Regiment) and 10th Battalion (The Adelaide Rifles) to form the Pentropic 1st Battalion, Royal South Australian Regiment (1 RSAR),^[56] with the 27th Battalion's personnel forming 'A' and 'B' Companies within this organisation.^[67]^[68] The 16 battle honours awarded to the 2nd AIF's 2/27th Battalion, which had served in North Africa, Syria, and New Guinea with the 7th Division were entrusted to the battalion in 1961, through the promulgation of Army Order 135.^[45] In 1965, the Australian Army's experiment with the Pentropic structure was abandoned and the CMF was once again reorganised with many of the Pentropic battalions being split once again to form additional battalions.^[69] On 1 July 1965, 1 RSAR was split and the 10th, 27th and 43rd Battalions were reformed in their own right as battalions of the Royal South Australia Regiment.^[56]^[70]^[71] On 29 November 1987, the 10th and 27th Battalions were linked to form the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment (10/27 RSAR).^[70] This unit continues to exist to this day, maintaining the battle honours and traditions of its predecessor units.^[70]

Alliances

The 27th Battalion held the following alliances:^[45]

United Kingdom – Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers;
United Kingdom – Seaforth Highlanders.

Battle honours

The 27th Battalion was awarded the following battle honours:^[45]

South Africa 1899–1902 (inherited);
World War I: Somme 1916–18, Pozières, Bapaume 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Amiens, Albert 1918, Mont St Quentin, Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, France and Flanders 1916–18, Gallipoli 1915–16;^[6]
World War II: Liberation of Australian New Guinea.^[48]^{[Note 7]}

In 1961, the battalion – although no longer on the Australian Army's order of battle – was entrusted with the battle honours awarded to the 2/27th Battalion for its service with the 2nd AIF during World War II. The honours it inherited at this time were: North Africa; Syria 1941; The Litani; Sidon; Adlun; Damour; South-West Pacific 1942–1945; Kokoda Trail; Efogi–Menari; Buna–Gona; Gona; Liberation of Australian New Guinea; Ramu Valley; Shaggy Ridge; Borneo 1945; Balikpapan.^[45]

Commanding officers

World War I

Lieutenant Colonel Walter Dollman (16 March 1915);^[6]
Lieutenant Colonel James Charles Frederick Slane (22 August 1916);^[6]
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Royden Chalmers (1 October 1917).^[6]

World War II

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Mayfield Best (1 May 1934);^[48]
Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay Keith Farquhar (6 November 1939);^[48]
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Pope (14 April 1942).^[48]
Lieutenant Colonel Cooper

Footnotes

During World War I, the authorised strength of an Australian infantry battalion was 1,023 men. By the start of World War II, it was 910 men all ranks, however, later in the war it fell to 803.^[1]^[2]
The wounded figure includes 86 men who were gassed.^[6]
The Australian War Memorial source does not indicate what these foreign awards were specifically.^[6]
Upon formation, the units of the 1st AIF were raised from men drawn from the recruitment territory of already established Citizens Force units and as a consequence many 1st AIF units retained links to Citizens Force units from where they drew the majority of the initial intake of personnel.^[47]
In 1918, the infantry regiments of the Citizens Force were reorganised so that their numerical designations mirrored those of the AIF. Within these regiments a number of battalions were raised—sometimes as many as five—with the 1st Battalion being the inactive reserve battalion formed from ex-AIF personnel, the 2nd Battalion being the Citizens Force battalion, the 3rd Battalion formed from Senior Cadets and so forth. Consequently, the 74th (Boothby) Infantry Regiment was redesignated the 27th Regiment and raised five battalions.^[47]
This includes died of wounds, accident or illness.^[48]

These battle honours are currently maintained by the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment.^[70]

Further reading

Bennet, A (1969). The Chocolate and Blue Soldier: A Pictorial History of the 27th Australian Infantry Battalion (A.I.F.), Formerly the South Australian Scottish Regiment, in the Second World War. Adelaide, South Australia: 27th S.A. Scottish Regiment (A.I.F.) Ex-servicemen's Club. OCLC 215973034.
Dollman, W.; Skinner, H.M (1921). The Blue and Brown Diamond: A History of the 27th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, 1915–1919. Adelaide, South Australia: Lonnen & Cope. OCLC 15142545.
Winch, Ronald (2000). 3rd Australian Infantry Brigade: The War Diary of the 3rd Australian Infantry Brigade of South Australia CMF (later AIF) during World War II, 8 December 1941 to 30 April 1944. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: R.Winch. ISBN 978-0-646-40377-9.

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WHEAT FOR BELGIANS. LADY GALWAY'S APPEAL.

OFFERS FROM FARMERS.

A movement has been started with the  object of inducing farmers in all parts of the State who are desirous of helping the suffering people of martyred Belgium to sow one acre or a larger area of their fields with wheat, the produce of which all be devoted to the Belgian Relief Fund. Already several farmers have signified to T. J. A. Riley, the secretary of the fund, their desire to put in areas extending to 20 acres in some instances.

If energetically supported this project should result in a large quantity of grain being made available. There are between 13,000 and 14,000 farmers in South Australia, and if the "Belgian plot" only averaged three acres in extent the aggregate would reach 40.000 acres or over. The season has begun well, and with a yield of 10 bushels to the acre, which is not extraordinarily large, there woul d be a quantity of 400,000 bushels or its equivalent in cash.

The noble stand made by the Belgians against the German invaders at Liege and elsewhere early m the war not only saved France, but probably had much to do with saving the British Empire. It certainly helped to make exportation of wheat possible by closing the access of the Germans to the northern seaports of France, and thus preventing German cruisers from securing bases whence they could slip out to sea. From the standpoint alone the farmers owe the Belgians a debt of gratitude, and in any case no farmer will miss such a contribution that suggested a few shipments of wheat to a needy people would not only be a very "valuable help, but it would also form a magnificent proof both of Australian generosity and Australian prosperity. No doubt other wheat-growing States of the Commonwealth will join in the project when once it has been successfully launched. There has been some difference of opinion as to the best means of handling the product of the Belgian plots-whether through the wheat finns or the agricultural bureaus.

The suggestion has been made that the .best method would be for all to unite and for each finn or bureau to be credited with the area or quantity of wheat to be collected. The whole contribution should be through the recognised channel, so well controlled by the secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society. (Mr. J. A.Riley), who has some promise, of contributions already in hand. As seeding is now in fail swing an active canvassing is required. When the project is fully understood it is probable that very few. farmers will care to miss the opportunity of helping such a worthy cause.

There need not be any specified plot to be sown, as the average of the crop could be take. It been suggested that the wheat firms who deal with the farmers' crop would consent to handle the contribution free of charge and to send it the proper quarter. There is plenty of seed in South Australia; and plenty of labor is available. If the other wheat-growing States of the Common-wealth join in the movement the result should be magnificent.

There no doubt as to the need or as to the merits of the Belgians, who have been stripped o£ all their belongings by the Germans, who have also laid bare their fields and gardens. The rain which has so materially helped seeding operations came on the anniversary of the birthday of King Albert of the Belgians.

Note - Had not the Belgians led by their King not blown up railway tunnels and fought under Albert, so bravely, with terrible loss of life, including women and children, and widespread destruction of historic buildings, the Germans would have swept through Belgium and France and the whole history of the Modern World may have been changed.

Great Britain with a small Army, and tiny fledgling Air Force, but large Navy could easily have been beaten and the Germans would have taken the large very large France navy, and they planned to take Italy as well, and their navy, and could easily have forced Great Britain and it's Colonies and Dominions to have signed a truce and handed over large areas of the Empire.

The German Kaiser wanted an Empire, as big as or even bigger than that ruled by his cousin, King George V.

Australia with a small navy in 1914, would not have been able to defend itself, and Germany had colonies, very near us, seized earlier in the WWI, but could have been retaken easily had France been defeated, as the Germans would have ruled the large French Colonial Empire, as well.

History is decided by the victors.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)

3rd Australian Light Horse Regiment Units

New Zealand & Australian Division Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division Australian Imperial Force 1 Light Horse Brigade
Place	Rafa
Events	August Offensive Battle of Magdhaba Battle of Romani Battles of Gaza Es Salt Raid First Amman Raid
Battle Honours	Anzac Defence of Anzac Egypt, 1915-17 El Mughar Gallipoli, 1915 Gaza-Beersheba Jaffa Jericho Jerusalem Jordan (Amman) Jordan (Es Salt) Magdhaba-Rafah Megiddo Nablus Nebi Samwil Palestine, 1917-18 Rumani Sari Bair Suvla
Commanding Officers	Rowell, Frank Milton Bell, George John Fulton, David
Decorations	2 CMG; 1 CBE; 3 DSO; 5 MC; 4 DCM; 8 MM; 28 MID; 2 foreign awards
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
References	*N.C. Smith, The Third Australian Light Horse Regiment 1914-1918: A short history and listing of those who served, (Gardenvale: Mostly Unsung Military History Research and Publications, 1993).* *AWM4/10/8/1-10/8/53*
Category	Unit
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Unit hierarchy	Commonwealth Military Forces Australian Imperial Force Light Horse 3rd Australian Light Horse Regiment

Description

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was raised in Adelaide on 17 August 1914. Although most of its recruits were enlisted in South Australia, one of the regiment's three squadrons was composed of Tasmanians and was raised and trained in Hobart. The two components sailed from their home ports in late October 1914 and arrived in Egypt in the second week of December. Here, they joined the 1st and 2nd Regiments to form the 1st Light Horse Brigade.

The 1st Light Horse Brigade deployed to Gallipoli without its horses and landed there on 12 May 1915, joining the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 3rd Light Horse played a defensive role throughout the campaign and was in reserve when its sister regiments attacked as part of the August offensive. It left Gallipoli on 14 December 1915.

Back in Egypt, the 3rd Light Horse joined the ANZAC Mounted Division. Between January and May 1916, the regiment was deployed to protect the Nile valley from bands of pro-Turkish Senussi Arabs. On 18 May, as part of its parent brigade, it joined the forces defending the Suez Canal. The 1st Light Horse Brigade played a significant role in turning back the Turkish advance on the canal at the battle of Romani on 4 August. In ensuing days the regiments of the brigade participated in the immediate follow-up of the defeated Turks, but were soon withdrawn to rest.

The 3rd Light Horse rejoined the Allied advance across the Sinai in November and was subsequently involved in the fighting to secure the Turkish outposts on the Palestine frontier - Maghdaba on 23 December 1916 and Rafa on 9 January 1917. A stint of protective duty along the line of communications through the Sinai followed. The 3rd's next major engagement was the abortive second battle of Gaza on 19 April. Gaza finally fell on 7 November, after a wide outflanking move via Beersheba, in which the 1st Light Horse Brigade played a part.

With the capture of Gaza, the Turkish position in southern Palestine collapsed. The 3rd Light Horse Regiment participated in the advance to Jaffa that followed, and was then committed to operations to clear and occupy the west bank of the Jordan River. It was involved in the Amman (24-27 February) and Es Salt (30 April-4 May) raids and the repulse of a major German and Turkish attack on 14 July 1918.

The final British offensive of the campaign was launched along the Mediterranean coast on 19 September 1918, with the ANZAC Mounted Division taking part in a subsidiary effort east of the Jordan aimed at Amman. Turkey surrendered on 30 October 1918. The 3rd Light Horse Regiment sailed for Australia on 16 March 1919 without their horses, which were either shot or transferred to Indian cavalry units.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)

3rd Light Horse Regiment (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in September 1914, and by December as part of the 1st Light Horse Brigade had moved overseas. The regiment only fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Palestine and Jordan. After the armistice the regiment eventually returned to Australia in March 1919. For its role in the war the regiment was awarded nineteen battle honours.

During the inter-war years, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit based in the state of South Australia. It was later converted to a reconnaissance squadron during the Second World War but was disbanded in early 1943 without having been deployed overseas. In the post war period, the regiment was re-raised as an amalgamated unit, designated the 3rd/9th Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles), which is currently part of the Australian Army Reserve.

3rd Light Horse Regiment hat badge

Active	1914–1919 1921–1943
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Mounted Infantry
Size	Regiment
Part of	1st Light Horse Brigade
Engagements	First World War North African Campaign Gallipoli campaign Senussi Campaign Sinai and Palestine Campaign

UNIT PATCH

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in September 1914, and by December as part of the 1st Light Horse Brigade had moved overseas. The regiment only fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Palestine and Jordan. After the armistice the regiment eventually returned to Australia in March 1919. For its role in the war the regiment was awarded nineteen battle honours.

During the inter-war years, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit based in the state of South Australia. It was later converted to a reconnaissance squadron during the Second World War but was disbanded in early 1943 without having been deployed overseas. In the post war period, the regiment was re-raised as an amalgamated unit, designated the 3rd/9th Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles), which is currently part of the Australian Army Reserve.

Formation

On 17 August 1914, the 3rd Light Horse Regiment was raised in Adelaide, South Australia and in Hobart, Tasmania.^[1] It had an establishment of twenty-five officers and 497 other ranks serving in three squadrons, each of six troops.^[2] Each troop was divided into eight sections, of four men each. In action one man of each section, was nominated as a horse holder reducing the regiment's rifle strength by a quarter.^[3] Once formed the regiment was assigned to the 1st Light Horse Brigade serving alongside the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Regiments.^[1]
All Australian Light Horse regiments used cavalry unit designations, but were mounted infantry armed with rifles, not swords or lances,^[4] and mounted exclusively on the Australian Waler horse.^[5]

Operational history

Gallipoli

In October 1914, the regiment left Australia, bound for the Middle East. After arriving in Egypt in December, they took part in the North African campaign defending the Suez Canal. They remained there until May 1915, when they left for the Gallipoli campaign with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).^[1] The regiment left their horses in Egypt, and arrived at the Gallipoli peninsula on 12 May 1915.^[1] Here regiment fought in the Landing at Anzac Cove, and the Battle of Sari Bair, but spent most of the campaign in a defensive posture. The regiment left Gallipoli for Egypt in December 1915, by which time they had earned four battle honours.[1

Two snipers from the 3rd Light Horse Regiment

Sinai and Palestine Campaign

After its return to Egypt, the regiment – along with the rest of the 1st Light Horse Brigade – became part of the ANZAC Mounted Division, and was given responsibility for the defence of the Suez Canal from raiding Senussi Arabs. On 4 August 1916, they fought in the Battle of Romani, before being withdrawn to rest and refit.^[1] The regiment rejoined the brigade in November and took part in the battles of Maghaba and Rafa in December 1916 and January 1917. This was followed by defeat in the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917, and then the successful Battle of Beersheba and the Third Battle of Gaza in October and November.^[1]

The regiment followed up the retreating Ottoman forces and fought in the Battle of Mughar Ridge, the Battle of Nebi Samwill, the Battle of Jerusalam, the Battle of Jaffa, the capture of Jericho, the attack on Amman, the attack on Es Salt and finally, in September and October 1918, the Battles and Megiddo and Nablus.^[1]

The Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, bring the war to an end. No longer required, the regiment sailed for Australia in March 1919 and subsequently disbanded. Their campaigns in the First World War cost them 158 men killed and 653 men wounded.^[1]

3rd Light Horse Regiment in front of Bethlehem

Perpetuation

In 1921, the decision was made to perpetuate the honours and traditions of the AIF by reorganising the units of the Citizens Force to replicate the numerical designations of their related AIF units.^[6] As a result, the 3rd Light Horse was re-raised as a part-time unit based in the 4th Military District,^[7] which encompassed the state of South Australia and part of New South Wales. Adopting the designation of the "South Australian Mounted Rifles", it assumed the lineage of several previously existing militia units, including the 22nd Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles) that had been formed in 1912. This unit traced its lineage back to the 16th Australian Light Horse Regiment (South Australian Mounted Rifles), which had been formed in 1903 as part of the amalgamation of Australia's colonial forces into the Australian Army after Federation.^[8]

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 3rd Light Horse was assigned to the 4th Cavalry Brigade, which was part of the 1st Cavalry Division.^[7] In December 1941, the regiment was re-organised as a reconnaissance company, adopting the designation of the 3rd Reconnaissance Company (South Australian Mounted Rifles), although this was changed in May 1942 to the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron.^[9] In early 1943, as the Australian Army undertook a partial demobilisation, the unit was deemed surplus to requirements and was disbanded without having seen operational service during the war.^[9]

In the post war period, the regiment was re-raised in 1948 equipped with armoured cars.^[10] It was initially designated the 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment (South Australian Mounted Rifles), but the following year it was amalgamated with the 9th Light Horse and re-designated the 3rd/9th Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles).^[11] The 3rd/9th remains part of the Australian Army Reserve and is currently part of the 2nd Division.^[10]

Commanding officers

The following officers commanded the 3rd Light Horse Regiment during the First World War:^[1]

Lieutenant Colonel Frank Milton Rowel
Lieutenant Colonel George John Bell
Lieutenant Colonel David Fulton

Battle honours

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was awarded the following battle honours:

ANZAC · Defence at ANZAC · Suvla · Sari Bair · Gallipoli 1915–1916 · Egypt 1915–1917 · Romani · Magdhaba-Rafah · Gaza-Beersheba · El Mughar · Nebi Samwill · Jerusalem · Jaffa · Jericho · Jordan (Es Salt) · Jordan (Amman) · Megiddo · Nablus · Palestine 1917–1918^[1]

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https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51043

9th Australian Light Horse Regiment

Units	Australian Mounted Division Imperial Mounted Division Australian Imperial Force New Zealand & Australian Division
Places	Damascus Rafa
Events	Attack on Beersheba Battle of Magdhaba Battle of Megiddo Battle of Romani Battles of Gaza Charge at The Nek Egyptian Uprising 1919 Es Salt Raid
Battle Honours	Anzac Damascus Defence of Anzac Egypt, 1915-17 El Mughar Gallipoli, 1915 Gaza-Beersheba Jerusalem Jordan (Es Salt) Magdhaba-Rafah Megiddo Nebi Samwil Palestine, 1917-18 Rumani Sari Bair Sharon Suvla
Commanding Officers	Miell, Albert Reynell, Carew Grant, William Arnott, John McLean Scott, William Henry Daly, Thomas Joseph
Decorations	2 CMG; 5 DSO, 1 bar; 1 OBE; 6 MC; 8 DCM; 14 MM; 1 MSM; 44 MID; 2 foreign awards
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
References	*T.H. Darley, With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War, (Adelaide: The Hassell Press, 1924).* *AWM4/10/14/1-10/14/54*
Category	Unit
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Unit hierarchy	Commonwealth Military Forces Australian Imperial Force Light Horse 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment

Description

The 9th Light Horse Regiment was formed in Adelaide and trained in Melbourne between October 1914 and February 1915. Approximately three-quarters of the regiment hailed from South Australia and the other quarter from Victoria. As part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, it sailed from Melbourne on 11 February and arrived in Egypt on 14 March 1915.

The light horse were considered unsuitable for the initial operations at Gallipoli, but were subsequently deployed without their horses. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade landed in late May 1915 and was attached to the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 9th was fortunate to be the reserve regiment for the Brigade's disastrous attack on the Nek on 7 August, but subsequently suffered 50 per cent casualties attacking Hill 60 on 27 August. Exhausted and under-strength, the 9th then played a defensive role until it finally left the peninsula on 20 December 1915.

Back in Egypt, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade became part of the ANZAC Mounted Division and, in March 1916, joined the forces defending the Suez Canal from a Turkish drive across the Sinai Desert. The Turks were turned at Romani. Although it didn't take part in the actual battle, the 9th Light Horse was involved in the advance that followed the Turks' retreat back across the desert.

By December 1916, this advance had reached the Palestine frontier and the 9th was involved in the fighting to secure the Turkish outposts of Maghdaba (23 December) and Rafa (9 January 1917), both of which were captured at bayonet point. The next Turkish stronghold to be encountered was Gaza. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade, now part of the Imperial Mounted Division (later re-named the Australian Mounted Division), was involved in the two abortive battles to capture Gaza directly (27 March and 19 April 1917) and then the operation that ultimately led to its fall - the wide outflanking move via Beersheba that began on 31 October.
With the fall of Gaza on 7 November 1917, the Turkish position in southern Palestine collapsed. The 9th participated in the pursuit that followed and led to the capture of Jerusalem in December. The focus of British operations then moved to the Jordan Valley. In early May 1918 the 9th was involved in the Es Salt raid. It was a tactical failure but did help to convince the Turks that the next offensive would be launched across the Jordan.

Instead, the offensive was launched along the coast on 19 September 1918. The mounted forces penetrated deep into the Turkish rear areas severing roads, railways and communications links. The 9th Light Horse took part in the capture of Jenin on 20-21 September and Sasa on 29 September. It entered Damascus on 1 October, and was on the road to Homs when the Turks surrendered on 31 October. While awaiting to embark for home, the 9th Light Horse were called back to operational duty to quell the Egyptian revolt that erupted in March 1919; order was restored in little over a month. The regiment sailed for home on 10 July 1919.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)

9th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 9th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted rifles regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in October 1914, and assigned to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. The regiment fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Palestine and Jordan. After the armistice the regiment eventually returned to Australia in March 1919. For its role in the war the regiment was awarded fifteen battle honours.

During the inter-war years, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit based in South Australia, adopting the designation of the "Flinders Light Horse". It was later amalgamated with the 23rd Light Horse to form the 9th/23rd Light Horse, but in late 1941 was re-formed in its own right and converted to a motor regiment during the early years of the Second World War but it was disbanded in early 1943 without having been deployed overseas. In the post war period, the regiment was re-raised as an amalgamated unit along with the 3rd Light Horse designated the 3rd/9th Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles).

9th Light Horse hat badge

Active	1914–1919 1921–1943
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Mounted Infantry
Size	Regiment
Part of	3rd Light Horse Brigade
Engagements	First World War North African Campaign Gallipoli campaign Sinai and Palestine Campaign

Insignia

9th Light Horse Regiment colour patch.jpg

Formation

The 9th Light Horse Regiment was raised at Adelaide and trained in Melbourne between October 1914 and February 1915. A unit of the all volunteer Australian Imperial Force, about two thirds of its recruits were from South Australia while the remainder came from Victoria.^[1] The regiment comprised twenty-five officers and 497 other ranks serving in three squadrons, each of six troops.^[2] Each troop was divided into eight sections of four men each. In action one man of each section, was nominated as a horse holder reducing the regiment's rifle strength by a quarter.^[3] Once formed the regiment was assigned to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, serving alongside the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments.^[1]

All Australian Light Horse regiments used cavalry unit designations, but were mounted rifles armed with rifles, not swords or lances,^[4] and mounted exclusively on the Australian Waler horse.^[5]

Operational history

In February 1915, the 9th Light Horse Regiment left Melbourne for Egypt, arriving on the 1 February 1915.^[1] When the Australian infantry units were dispatched to Gallipoli, it was thought the terrain was unsuitable for mounted troops, and the light horse regiments remained in Egypt. However, heavy casualties resulted in the deployment of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade as reinforcements in May 1915.^[1] On arrival, the regiment was attached to the New Zealand and Australian Division. The regiment was the brigade reserve for the battle of the Nek, so did not suffer the same level of casualties as their sister regiments in the brigade, however their first commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Albert Miell, was one of those killed.^[6] The regiment was involved in the brigade's next attack at Hill 60 on 27 August, which resulted in the death of the replacement commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Carew Reynell the next day.^[7] From then until December 1915, when the regiment was withdrawn, they were only used in a defensive role.^[1]

9th Light Horse trench Gallipoli

Sinai and Palestine campaign

On the regiment's return to Egypt, together with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, they were assigned to the newly raised ANZAC Mounted Division. Used in the defence of the Suez Canal, the regiment provided the majority of the fighting troops for The Jifjafa Raid. They missed the early battles of the Sinai and Palestine campaign, but were involved in the pursuit of the Ottoman forces into Palestine, following their defeat in the Battle of Romani.^[1]

In December 1916, the regiment took part in a bayonet attack during the battle of Magdhaba, and another in the battle of Rafa in January 1917. The regiment and brigade were then assigned to a new division, the Imperial Mounted Division – which was later renamed the Australian Mounted Division – and subsequently fought in the unsuccessful First and Second Battles of Gaza.^[1]

The next Battle of Beersheba in October 1917, was a success, and led to the fall of Gaza. This led to a general withdrawal of Ottoman forces north into Palestine, followed by the British Empires forces. During this pursuit the regiment was involved in the capture of Jerusalem in December. In 1918, the regiment took part in an unsuccessful raid across the River Jordan at Es Salt. On 21 September, the regiment captured Jenin and Sa'sa', and entered Damascus in October. The war in the Middle East ended shortly afterwards when the armistice of Mudros was signed in October 1918. Afterwards, the regiment returned to Egypt to assist in putting down a revolt, before sailing for Australia in July 1919. The war cost the regiment over 100 per cent casualties, 190 killed and 481 wounded

Perpetuation

In 1921, Australia's part-time military forces were re-organised to perpetuate the numerical designations of the AIF following its demobilisation.^[8] Through this process, the 9th Light Horse was re-raised as a Citizens Forces unit within the 4th Military District in the state of South Australia, drawing lineage from the 24th Light Horse (Flinders), which had been formed in 1913 and which traced its origins back to the 17th Australian Light Horse Regiment that had been formed in 1903 as part of the amalgamation of Australia's colonial forces into the Australian Army after Federation.^[9]

Later, this unit was amalgamated with the 23rd Light Horse to form the 9th/23rd Light Horse, and at the outbreak of the war the regiment was assigned to the 6th Cavalry Brigade, which was part of the 1st Cavalry Division.^[10] In December 1941, the 9th was re-raised in its own right and converted into a motor regiment, adopting the designation of the "9th Motor Regiment (Flinders Light Horse)".^[9] The regiment was deemed surplus to requirements and, as part of a gradual demobilisation of the Australian Army, on 19 February 1943, it was disbanded without having seen operational service during the war.^[9]

In the post war period, Australia's part-time force was re-raised and in 1949 the regiment was reformed as an amalgamated unit with the 3rd Light Horse Regiment, adopting the designation of the 3rd/9th Light Horse (South Australian Mounted Rifles).^[11]

Battle honours

The 9th Light Horse Regiment was awarded the following battle honours:

Defence at ANZAC · Suvla · Sari Bair · Gallipoli 1915–1916 · Egypt 1915–1917 · Romani · Magdhaba-Rafah · Gaza-Beersheba · El Mughar · Nebi Samwill · Jerusalem · Jordan (Es Salt) · Megiddo · Sharon · Palestine 1917–1918.^[1]

Commanding officers

The following officers commanded the 9th Light Horse Regiment during the First World War:

Lieutenant Colonel Albert Miell (KIA)^[6]
Lieutenant Colonel Carew Reynell (KIA)^[7]
Lieutenant Colonel William Grant DSO^[12]
Lieutenant Colonel John McLean Arnott CMG^[13]
Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Scott CMG, DSO & Bar^[14]
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Joseph Daly DSO^[15]

9th Light Horse crossing the Suez Canal

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https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51045

11th Australian Light Horse Regiment

Unit	Australian Imperial Force
Place	Semakh
Events	Attack on Beersheba Battle of Megiddo Battles of Gaza Egyptian Uprising 1919 Es Salt Raid
Battle Honours	Damascus Egypt, 1915-17 El Mughar Gallipoli, 1915 Gaza-Beersheba Jerusalem Jordan (Es Salt) Megiddo Nebi Samwil Palestine, 1917-18 Rumani Sari Bair Sharon Suvla
Commanding Officers	Grant, William Parsons, John William Bailey, Percival John
Decorations	4 DSO; 9 MC, 1 bar; 6 DCM; 13 MM; 27 MID; 2 foreign awards
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
References	E.W. Hammond, History of the 11th Light Horse Regiment, Fourth Light Horse Brigade, Australian Imperial Forces, war 1914-1919, (Brisbane: William Brooks & Co., 1942). *AWM4/10/16/1-10/16/47*
Category	Unit
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Unit hierarchy	Commonwealth Military Forces Australian Imperial Force Light Horse 11th Australian Light Horse Regiment

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Light_Horse_Regiment_(Australia)

11th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 11th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in August 1914, and assigned to the 4th Light Horse Brigade. The regiment fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Palestine and Jordan. After the armistice the regiment eventually returned to Australia in March 1919. For its role in the war the regiment was awarded fourteen battle honours. During the inter-war years, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit based in the Darling Downs region of Queensland. It was later converted to a motor regiment during the Second World War but was disbanded in 1943 without having been deployed overseas.

11th Light Horse Regiment hat badge

Active	1915–1919 1921–1943
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Mounted Infantry
Size	Regiment
Part of	4th Light Horse Brigade
Motto(s)	Forward
Engagements	First World War North African Campaign Gallipoli campaign Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Battle honours	Gallipoli 1915–1916 Suvla Sari Bair Egypt 1915–1917 Romani Palestine 1917-1918 Beersheba El Mughar Nebi Samwill Jerusalem Jordan (Es Salt) Megiddo Sharon Samakh Damascus 1918

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11th Light Horse Regiment colour patch.jpg

UNIT COLOURS

Formation

The 11th Light Horse Regiment was raised in Queensland and South Australia, and came together in Brisbane in May 1915.^[1] Light horse regiments normally comprised twenty-five officers and 497 other ranks serving in three squadrons, each of six troops.^[2] Each troop was divided into eight sections, of four men each. In action one man of each section, was nominated as a horse holder reducing the regiment's rifle strength by a quarter.^[3] Once formed the regiment was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Brigade.^[1]
All Australian Light Horse regiments used cavalry unit designations, but were mounted infantry,^[4] and mounted exclusively on the Australian Waler horse.^[5]

Operational history

Aden

The 11th Light Horse Regiment divided into two contingents sailed for the Middle East in June 1915. The first group were diverted to Aden to assist the small British garrison against an expected assault from Ottoman forces. The attack did not materialise and the regiment's contingent re-embarked in July 1915, never having seen any action.^[1]

Gallipoli campaign

When the Australian infantry units were dispatched to Gallipoli, it was thought the terrain was unsuitable for mounted troops, and the light horse regiments remained in Egypt. However, heavy casualties amongst the Australian infantry resulted in the deployment of the 4th Light Horse Brigade as reinforcements in August 1915.^[1] On arrival, the regiment was split up to reinforce other light horse regiments that had landed earlier that were under-strength. The regiment's A Squadron served with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, B Squadron the 5th Light Horse Regiment, and C Squadron to the 9th Light Horse Regiment.^[1]

C Squadron resting their horse en route to Beersheba

Sinai and Palestine campaign

When the British forces were withdrawn from Gallipoli, the 11th Light Horse Regiment was reformed in Egypt. Their first deployment was in defence of the Suez Canal in July 1916, and patrolling into the Sinai desert.^[1]

In April 1917, following the withdrawal of Ottoman forces, the regiment moved into Palestine. Its first battle as a regiment, was the unsuccessful second battle of Gaza, where they fought on foot. In October, during their next battle at Beersheba while the other two regiments in the brigade, the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments took part in a mounted charge, the 11th was providing flank protection and was too widely dispersed to take part.^[1] They did, however, with the 12th Light Horse carry out a charge on 7 November, during the Battle of Sheria. Faced with heavy Ottoman gun-fire, the regiment had to dismount to continue the attack, but were eventually forced to withdraw.^[1]
When Gaza was captured in November 1917, the Ottoman forces withdrew into Palestine, and the 11th were involved in the pursuit. They then spent the early months of 1918, training and resting. The regiment then moved to the River Jordan, taking part in the raid on Es Salt in April and May. They were still on the river in July, helping to defeat heavy German and Ottoman attacks in July.^[1]

In August 1918, the regiment was issued with the traditional cavalry sabre and training began in cavalry tactics, so they were ready to resume the British advance in September. Advancing along the coast, the 11th Light Horse took part in the battle of Samakh on 25 September. The regiment first charged the Ottoman defences on horseback using their sabres, then dismounted and cleared the town with their rifles and bayonets.^[1] The Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, and the war in the Middle East ended. However, the regiment had to return to Egypt, where rioting had started in March 1919. Finally, in July 1919, the regiment sailed for Australia. The war cost the regiment over 100 per cent casualties, with 95 killed and 521 wounded.^[1]

Perpetuation

In 1921, Australia's part-time military forces were re-organised to perpetuate the numerical designations of the AIF following its demobilisation.^[6] Through this process, the 11th Light Horse was re-raised as a Citizens Forces unit within the 1st Military District in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, drawing lineage from several previously existing units through which it could trace its history back to the 14th Australian Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry), which had been formed in 1903.^[7]

This unit remained in existence throughout the inter-war years, and in December 1941 it was converted into a motor regiment, adopting the designation of the "11th Motor Regiment (Darling Downs Light Horse)(QMI)". In 1943, the regiment was re-designated the "11th Australian Motor Regiment" and was gazetted as an AIF unit,^[7] meaning that it could be deployed outside of Australian territory to fight if necessary.^[8] Nevertheless, as part of a gradual demobilisation of the Australian Army the regiment was deemed surplus to requirements and on 3 July 1943 it was disbanded without having seen operational service during the war;^[7] its personnel were re-allocated to the 2/10th Infantry Battalion as reinforcements.^[9] The regiment was part of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and then later, the 1st Motor Brigade when the cavalry units were reorganised.^[10]

Battle honours

The 11th Light Horse regiment was awarded the following battle honours:

Suvla · Sari Bair · Gallipoli 1915–1916 · Romani · Egypt 1915–1917 · Gaza-Beersheba · El Mughar · Nebi Samwill · Jerusalem
Jordan (Es Salt) · Megiddo · Sharon · Palestine 1917–1918 · Damascus 1918 ^[1]

Commanding officers

The following officers commanded the 11th Light Horse Regiment during the First World War:

Lieutenant Colonel William Grant DSO^[11]
Lieutenant Colonel John William Parsons DSO, VD^[12]
Lieutenant Colonel Percival John Bailey DSO^[13]

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Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Executive and the parliament

As a matter of constitutional law, Parliament has no formal decision-making role.

Conscription

By Jenny Tilby Stock

First World War

Cheer-Up Society

By Margaret Allen

By Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia

http://southaustraliaswar.com.au/monthly-posts/191510-october-1915/

October, 1915

The first Anzac Day? Adelaide 1915: highlights reel

‘The first Anzac Day? Adelaide 1915: highlights reel’, Honest History, 13 October 2015

Cheer-Up Society

http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/events/violet-day

Violet Day

By Catherine Manning, History Trust of South Australia

'Violet Day' in Adelaide

IMPRESSIVE VIOLET DAY

OBSERVANCE.

Violet Day Adelaide light show at Torrens Parade Ground to remember World War I impact

VIOLET DAY 100 YEAR CELEBRATION - 2005

BOER WAR MEMORIAL

KING WILLIAM STREET - NORTH TERRACE CORNER

War Horse Memorial

By Jude Elton & Bernard O'Neil, History SA

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http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1/display/50022-war-horse-memorial/

War Horse Memorial

Light Horse Memorial

By Jude Elton & Bernard O'Neil, History SA

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https://veteranssa.sa.gov.au/history-and-stories/south-australian-regiments-and-battalions-1914-18/

South Australian Regiments and Battalions (1914 – 1918)

(Source: SA Parliament Research Library)

The following is an extract from a Research Paper titled “First World War Centenary: A Time Line” prepared by Dr John Weste, Director of the South Australian Parliament Research Library.

Mounted Infantry

3rd Light Horse

9th Light Horse

11th Light Horse

Infantry

10th Battalion

12th Battalion

16th Battalion

27th Battalion

32nd Battalion

43rd Battalion

48th Battalion

50th Battalion

52nd Battalion

Australian Field Artillery

18th Battery

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https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/military-districts

Military Districts

Establishment of military districts

Reorganisation of military districts and regional commands

Sources:

More about:

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South Australian Regiments WW1

10th Battalion

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51450/

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Battalion_(Australia)

10th Battalion (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

World War I

Roy Inwood, who received the Victoria Cross for his actions during the fighting around Polygon Wood

Battalion song

Inter-war years and World War II

Band members from the 10th/48th Battalion on parade in Darwin, September 1944.

After World War II

Battle honours

Notes

27th Australian Infantry Battalion

27th Battalion (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Members of the 27th Battalion marching through Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre in the Somme, France, 7 April 1918

History