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Fremantle Stuff > FHS > Fremantle Studies > 7 > Andrew Pittaway
Fremantle Anzacs
Andrew Pittaway
Pittaway, Andrew 2010, 'Fremantle Anzacs', Fremantle Studies, 7: 14-32.
The death of Peter Casserly in 2005 removed the last living link to a Fremantle soldier of the Great War. All that now remains are the words that they left in letters, diaries, oral histories and stories that have been passed down through their families and the sepia photos that show them in uniform in their prime of life. Just over 3000 men and women from Fremantle served in the First World War with 845 paying the ultimate price. 1 Those that died lie in graves across Australia, South Africa, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Malta, France, Belgium, Germany and Britain.
Prior to 1914, Fremantle was a bustling port town, with ships coming from all parts of the world to ply their trade. While its citizens were mainly of Australian or English birth there were also a significant population of people of non-British background living in the area, particularly from countries of a strong maritime tradition, such as Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The shipping industry, the wharf and the railways were the main employers, but there were also farms or market gardens in the Fremantle region and local merchants such as the Highams, Batemans and Watsons employed many. There were also some whose wives and families stayed in Fremantle while the men went off for employment elsewhere; to try their luck in the goldfields at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie; pearling in Broome, or timber felling in the South West.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo at the end of June 1914 would have largely passed unnoticed, if not remarked upon in the state newspapers of the time. Few would have thought that just another problem in the Balkans would set off a chain reaction that would see Australian troops fighting in Europe. Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was killed by a Serbian nationalist by the name of Gavrilo Princip. European alliances being what they were Austria demanded an ultimatum from the Serbians as a result of the slaying, Russia, being an ally of Serbia made it known that if Serbia was attacked they would come to their assistance. Austria then looked to Germany for support which the Germans seemed very willing to give. France and Britain, allies of Russia, then seemed certain to be drawn into the nearing conflict.
With the Russians' support the Serbians mobilized their forces and in return the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The Russians mobilized their forces on July 31st followed soon after by Germany declaring war on the Russians. France then in support of Russia, declared war on Germany. Though Britain was a supporter of Russia and France, it did not seem certain that they would also declare war on Germany until August 4th 1914 when the Germans invaded Belgium. The British had guaranteed the Belgian neutrality and so the Germans marching through Belgium was the final straw and Britain declared war on Germany that same day.
Young May Hicks, with her friend Madge Fordham was walking up High Street from the Fremantle Railway Station on August 5th 1914 when she noticed a gathering around the National Hotel.
There were crowds looking at a notice on the balcony of the National Hotel at the corner of High Street and Market Street which read “Britain has declared war on Germany”. Every day afterwards, young and older men were offering their services to go to the war and fight for our country - terrible dark days followed. 2
Multiple family members from both May’s and Madge’s family enlisted in the coming days and not all would make it back home.
Reg Evans, a commercial traveler of High Street Fremantle, began his war diary:
On the fourth day of August, year 1914, England declared war on the central powers, Germany and Austria, to take up her post beside her Allies, France, Russia and Belgium, for Germany and Austria had declared war on France and Serbia late in July, and on France's ally Russia a few days later, and had also violated Belgium by marching troops through Belgian territory. 3
Reg was one of the many Australians who got caught up in the early days of excitement when war was declared against Germany; it was an excitement that was pounced upon by the politicians. Would not Australia help Britain in this time of need?
The Fremantle Herald reported many of the local speeches as the countdown to war progressed, including one at the North Fremantle Town Hall.
The spirit of patriotism which seems to permeate the beings of Britishers in all parts of the globe when England is threatened or her prestige assailed, must surely have inspired His Worship the Mayor, Mr. Craig on Tuesday night at the Masqueraders concert in the North Fremantle Town Hall. Mounting the platform, Mr. Craig, during the course of a short speech, referred to the war cloud which at that moment hung over Britain and which was liable to burst at any time. He earnestly hoped that the God of Battles would watch over and protect England, and in the event of a struggle for supremacy that she would emerge victorious. The mayor asked the large audience to rise and sing the National Anthem which was sung most enthusiastically. 4
For boys and men who had been brought up and schooled on rousing tales of British history, the war was something they themselves could have a part in. Though the war was not expected to last very long many Australians were keen to assist Britain. With the lure of travel and adventure beckoning, as soon as Australia announced the formation of an Australian Division to be sent overseas, the recruiting offices were rushed by eager men. Initially only one division of Australian forces was to be created. Of its formations, the 1st Brigade was from New South Wales, the 2nd Brigade from Victoria and the 3rd Brigade would be from the other states. For Western Australia, their initial portion of the 3rd Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force was to be the 11th Battalion, two companies of the 12th Battalion, plus supplying men to artillery, medical and engineer units. 5
With men continuing to enlist it was decided that more Battalions could be formed and a 4th Brigade of infantry was recruited of which Western Australians would help to form the 16th Battalion. The Light Horse could also commence recruiting in Western Australia and the 10th Light Horse Regiment 6 was formed. Early in 1915 the 2nd Australian Division was formed with the 28th Battalion coming from Western Australia. Three more divisions followed through 1915-16 as Western Australians fully or partly formed the 32nd, 44th, 48th, 51st and 52nd Battalions. Reinforcement groups of varying sizes for these and other ancillary units would continue to depart from Fremantle until late 1918.
The initial excitement of the declaration of war was no different in Fremantle than from the rest of Australia and in August/September 1914, friends, brothers and workmates rushed to enlist at the Swan Barracks in Perth or the Drill Hall at Fremantle. The Adcock brothers of Solomon St Fremantle, both of whom were to be killed on the first day at Anzac Cove, enlisted together as did Ralph and Rex Wheeler of South Fremantle, the first of six brothers to enlist in the war.
As Fremantle was the major port for Western Australia many of the local population noticed a great increase in security around the wharves and their environs by both the military and the police. This led a journalist at the Fremantle Herald, somewhat cheekily, to write:
The North Fremantle Bridges are receiving special attention just now owing to the war. Constables armed with rifles are patrolling each bridge day and night. It is hard to conceive what effect the blowing up of the bridges would have upon the war. The only result of such an act would be the bottling up of perhaps two of Mitchells tramcars ... At all events they would have a chance of a real good clean up. 7
With Fremantle Harbour Trust on full war footing the Australian Naval authorities had stationed the ship, HMAS Pioneer in port to defend against any attack by a German raider or to intercept any German cargo ships which had not yet heard of the outbreak of war. This proved well founded, for on 19 August, 1914, while cruising west of Rottnest Island, the Pioneer intercepted the German steamer Neumunster which had set sail from Europe a month previously. Just over a week later, the crew of the Pioneer stopped and boarded the North German steamer Thuringen and took possession of it for the Royal Australian Naval authorities. 8
The captured cargo from the ships was treated ‘in accordance with the Naval Prize Act 1864' 9 and the confidential documents and code books were handed to authorities. The German captain and crew of both the Neumunster and Thuringen had sailed straight from Europe for Fremantle and had not heard about the outbreak of war. The Captains and crews of these two ships were held initially at Fremantle and then on Rottnest Island before being shipped off to prison camps in eastern Australia. However before these German crews departed for their prison camps they were called on for assistance, much to the chagrin of some of the locals. While the captured German ships were still held in port a fire broke out in the coal bunker of the Neumunster. Due to the urgency of the situation, with water being pumped in to quell the fire and the ship subsequently listing, naval authorities rushed four German engineers and firemen from their prison to assist in the dousing of the blaze due to their familiarity with the equipment on board. 10
The fire was successfully put out but it caused a local storm of protest. Telegrams were sent back and forth between Fremantle and Melbourne.
From Mr. R. McCutcheon, Trades Hall Fremantle to MHR R.J. Burchell Federal Parliament Melbourne.
This association indignant at action of authorities in placing German prisoners on board ship. Neumunster prize ship for purpose of getting up steam and pumping ship out after fire they are doing engineering work we consider this work should be done by Britishers and not by Germans.
Sgd R. McCutcheon Trades Hall 8am 11
To which the following reply was received
Re Neumunster have made enquiries and am informed action taken was absolutely necessary owing to seriousness of fire and necessity of getting engineers and firemen with knowledge of pumping connections and bunker arrangements of ship. Have given instructions that as far as possible local facilities and labor must be utilized.
(Sgd) George Pearce, Minister for Defence 6/10/1914 12
Following this anti-German stance many long term residents of Fremantle were arrested by military authorities due to their alleged or supposed Germanic origins. The Fremantle Herald reported on one such case.
Mr. Arthur Aeberhard, assistant to Mr. Julius Robins, jeweller of Market St, who was taken into custody the other day on suspicion of being a German spy is likely to be liberated at any moment. His friends have always regarded him as a native of Switzerland, and there appears to be little doubt on that part. 13
Thankfully he was released shortly afterwards.
Through the war years there were also instances of German-owned businesses and homes being stoned or vandalized by a few who heard the stories of what the German Army were doing as they marched through Belgium. Newspaper reports of Belgian babies being bayoneted and nuns being killed were grist to the mill for some and the local German population, including well known businessmen like Augustus Kopp, bore the brunt. 14 The following article in the Herald may have also helped to cause suspicion.
The local authorities are supposed to be on the lookout for a well known German gentleman of long residence at the port, who was at one time an officer in the Kaiser's Army. Seems that he disappeared several days ago. 15
Various locations around Western Australia were used for training throughout the war. Blackboy Hill at present day Greenmount was the initial camp. Fremantle Park was used by the Imperial Reservists. 16 More facilities for the training of civilians into soldiers were needed and as the war progressed the Fremantle Artillery Barracks, Swan Barracks, Belmont Race Course, Osborne Rifle Range (Swanbourne), Claremont Showground, Rockingham as well as camps in Bunbury and Albany were utilised.
Some Western Australians also went east to further their training. The 16th Battalion went to Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria; C and D Companies of the 32nd Battalion went to Adelaide to join with the South Australian half of the battalion while artillery, signals and engineering reinforcements also went to camps in the eastern states. Reg Evans noted of his preparation and training:
On September the 10th I offered my services and was medically examined at Blackboy Hill camp and passed as fit. I was placed in with a lot of other recruits. On the nineteenth I was attached to the sixteenth Battalion, of the second contingent of the AIF. A few days later I was transferred to the second stationary hospital of the first contingent. The idea of having the good fortune to be one of the first contingent was very pleasing and I took to Ambulance work and stretcher bearing better than I thought. On November 23rd, I with many others were granted three days leave. I spent this time at home in Fremantle and November 27th saw me having the clipper run over my scalp, for orders were given to the effect that all men were to be close cropped. The result that we looked more like mobs of convicts on exercise, than recruits on drill. 17
There were many sad farewells at Fremantle Harbour as through 1914 to 1918 troopships left for the journey overseas. Fremantle was the last sight that many family members and friends would ever have of one another. Herbert Brisco reflected:
After an early breakfast the Battalion entrained for Fremantle amid the shrill whistles of the engine in the railway yards and the cheering of the populace who happened to see us along the line. The wharfs were crowded and as one looked down from the deck of the Ascanius, our transport; it looked like a sea of faces. There was every conceivable expression on the faces of the people in the crowd, some very curious, others cheerful, some were sad and among the female population tears were freely shed as some proud mother or sweetheart waved goodbye to their dear boy who perhaps they will never see again. At last the good old Ascanius moved slowly out from the wharf and one by one the coloured paper ribbons held by the soldiers and the crowds snapped and the boat moved out into midstream and out to sea. Our journey had begun. 18
Prior to the contingents leaving Australia it was expected that the Australians would be sent to India to relieve the British Garrisons or on to France to fight the Germans. However because of the cold conditions of the English training grounds which had caused much sickness among the Canadian troops who were then training there, it was decided by the Australian military leaders to send our troops to Egypt as there would be a more favourable climate. During the first convoy’s voyage Turkey had entered the war on the side of the Germans and suddenly the idea of the Australian troops fighting on the Western Front was not so certain.
Once the first and second contingents of Australian and New Zealand soldiers arrived in Egypt they were put through a rigorous training program. There was also some time for leisure though and the men took in the pyramids and the sites of Cairo, including the infamous ‘Wazzer’, the place of cheap drink and women. 19
During February 1915, Turkish forces launched an audacious assault on the Suez Canal which was repelled by British, Indian and New Zealand soldiers. 20 In March 1915, the 3rd Brigade, to which the 11th and 12th Battalions belonged, was sent to Lemnos Island off the Turkish coast to complete their training. The harbour at Lemnos Island was a base for the British and French navies who were attempting to force their way through the Dardanelles Straits. However the naval operation by itself failed and so the infantry were now tasked with landing on Turkish soil in an attempt to capture the Dardanelles forts and thus help the British and French navies break through to Constantinople.
The transport ships left Lemnos and Imbros Islands and made their way to the various landings on the Turkish coast. The Australians and New Zealanders landed at North Beach and Ari Burnu, the latter known afterwards as Anzac Cove. The British 29th Division went ashore with mixed results at several beaches around Cape Helles while the French initially landed at Morto Bay.
Edward Inman wrote in his diary:
The lifeboats were towed alongside. It was a bright moonlit night. After about an hours steam, we anchored till the moon went down at 3am. We again set off and went very close to shore, not a sound was heard till just as we were getting into the boats. Then the shots fell in thousands, striking against the iron boats and falling in the sea. Just as we were going off, the ship went astern and shot us forward. The navy lads saved the situation many a time. When almost 30 yards from the shore, the boat struck a rock. Bill Bellamy 21 was hit about then, we jumped into the water up to our arms and waded ashore, then pulled off our packs and commenced our charge up the hill. 22
Ernie Higham also painted a picture of the danger:
A single shot rang out followed in a few seconds by a perfect hail of bullets. The launch cast us off and we had to row to shore, hop out on the beach, and get under cover as best we could ... the shore we had struck was fairly level, but lumpy with a lot of bush for fifty yards in some places to one hundred in others. There was a cliff straight up and down except where it was cut with water courses. The ground was heavy clay and very slippery. The cliffs were about 200 feet high, so you can guess it took a bit of work to get to the top where the Turks were entrenched. 23
On the first day, April 25th at Gallipoli, Fremantle soldiers from the 11th and 12th Battalion had been fighting and dying right across the battlefield. A section of line around the key position Baby 700 was captured and lost several times before it was finally lost for good. Frank Adcock was killed in a counter attack to retake that position and still lies there till this day; his brother Frederick was not seen again, his whereabouts unknown, much to the lasting grief of his family. No trace was found of Ernest Hearle after the landing despite repeated searches by his brother Herbert who was in the 12th Battalion. John Inman and Percy Andrews, both mortally wounded, died at sea on hospital ships. By late afternoon eighteen men from Fremantle had already been killed. 24
Albert Cobb, 10th Light Horse. Killed 7th August 1915 (Mr Ian Gill)
After the first day, the Australian, New Zealander & British troops at the Anzac battlefield continued in their attempts to advance and likewise the Turkish forces attempted to push their enemy back into the sea. Neither side gained significant ground but the attacks continued for the next eight months. In August there were further assaults on the Turkish positions; the 10th Light Horse charged at the Nek, made famous by the movie Gallipoli, with Albert Cobb and Thomas Buckingham being among those killed. The 12th Battalion fought at Lone Pine at which battle the 3rd Curlewis brother to die at Gallipoli fell; while to the north of Anzac Cove the 16th Battalion tried to advance up the scrubby foothills but were torn to shreds by the Turkish fire; Herbert and Harold Wheeler, brothers of South Fremantle being killed. Despite much bravery the Australians never advanced past their meagre gains and in December 1915 the Gallipoli battlefield was evacuated, the last Fremantle soldier being killed there was Lance Corporal William Bateman on the 8th December 1915. Overall, ninety-four Fremantle soldiers died at Gallipoli. 25
From 1916-1918 the Australian Light Horse would serve in Egypt and the areas we now know as Palestine, Israel and Syria. Though only around 100 Fremantle soldiers served in this theatre of war, mainly with the 10th Light Horse Regiment, they were present at the capture of Beersheba, Gaza, Jerusalem and Damascus. Major Lewis Timperley, a Customs Officer from Fremantle, led the 10th Light Horse into Damascus and this Regiment drove out the Turkish troops some time before Colonel TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) led his Arab Army into the city, a fact conveniently overlooked by Lawrence in his biography and the well known movie. 26
While the majority of Australian mounted troops remained in the Middle East, the Australian Infantry were sent to the Western Front where they would serve in Belgium and France through 1916-18. After the experiences of Gallipoli and the Middle East the men were overjoyed to arrive in France as expressed by George Harrison:
Early on the morning of June 12th 1916, we disembarked at Marseilles, and marched to the station. As we passed through the town which was tastefully decorated with British and Australian flags, we were accorded a great welcome by the civilian population, who followed us along the entire route with many cries of “Vive les Australians.” Arrived at the entraining point, we were placed in horse vans, and covered goods vans, and were made fairly comfortable with plenty of straw, and just before mid-day the long train journey of nearly 800 miles commenced. After the burning treeless wastes of Egypt, the fresh green of France in June, looked like fairy land to us. 27
The good times in France would not last long as in July 1916 the Australian infantry were involved in fierce actions at Fromelles and Pozieres. The Fromelles action was a disaster with many Fremantle men in the 32nd Battalion being killed or taken prisoner. 28 Pozieres, a village on the Somme battlefield, was successfully captured by the Australians but the Germans then unleashed a savage bombardment on the area which obliterated any trace of the village. From July 22nd to September 3rd 1916 the Australians suffered 22,000 casualties on this battlefield. Many homes in Fremantle would be receiving the grim telegrams informing the next of kin’s as to their loved one’s death or wounding. Herbert Bateman met his end from shrapnel wounds, the second son of the well-known Fremantle merchants to die in the war. Jack Cosson, a 50 year old well-known bookie from Hill St, also met his end this way. 29
Shelling was an all too frequent experience in the Great War and was a frightening ordeal for any soldier. Arthur Howell from North Fremantle left a good description of a normal day’s shelling.
The normal shelling of the afternoon, a scattered bombardment all over the landscape, which only brings perhaps half a dozen shells to your immediate neighbourhood once in every ten minutes, has noticeably quickened. The German is obviously turning on more batteries. The light field gun shrapnel is fairly scattered, but five point nine howitzers are being added to it. Except for his small field guns the German makes little use of guns. His work is almost entirely done with Howitzers, he possesses big Howitzers, eight inch and larger as we do. But the backbone of his artillery is the five point nine howitzer and the four point two. The shells from both these guns are beginning to fall more thickly. Huge black clouds shoot into the air from various parts of the foreground and slowly drift away across the hilltop. Suddenly there is a descending and ear splitting shriek drawn out for a second or two coming terrifyingly near. A crash far louder than thunder, a colossal thump to the earth which seems to move the whole world about an inch from its base, a scatter of flying bits and all sorts of under noises, rustle of a flying wood splinter, whirr of fragments, scatter of falling earth. Before it is half finished another shriek exactly similar is coming through. Another crash apparently right on the crown of your head, as if the roof beams of the sky had broken in. You can just hear through the crash the shriek of a third and fourth shell as they come tearing down the vault of heaven - crash, crash. Clouds of dust are floating over you. A swifter shriek and something breaks like a glass bottle in front of the parapet, sending its fragments slithering over your head. It bursts like a rainstorm, sheet upon sheet, smash, smash, smash, with one or two of the more heavier shells punctuating the shower of the lighter ones. The lighter shell is shrapnel from the field guns sent to keep you in the trench, while the heavier shells pound you there. A couple of salvos from each, perhaps twenty or thirty shells in the minute and the shrieks cease. The dust drifts down the hill, the sky clears and the sun looks in. Five minutes later down comes exactly such another shower. That is the beginning. As the evening wears on the shelling becomes more frequent. All through the night they go on. 30
The years of 1916/17 brought little gain for much loss of life. Fromelles and the Battle of the Somme were a foretaste for 1917 as further actions were fought at Bullecourt, Messines and Ypres which brought more sacrifice for Fremantle. The Watson brothers, sons of William Watson MHR and founder of the Watson’s Store in High Street (later known as Watsonia) were both killed at Bullecourt; John Luff, caretaker of Fremantle Oval was killed at Messines while going to the aid of a stricken comrade; young Charlie Nixon, son of the well-known Fremantle photographer met his end at Passchendaele. These were just three of the hundreds of Fremantle soldiers who were killed during 1917.
Lieutenant Herbert Bateman, 28th Battalion (Scotch College Archives)
As 1918 dawned no end to the conflict could be seen. The Americans had declared war in April 1917 but had yet to arrive on the battlefield in large numbers. To preempt the Americans arrival the Germans launched a massive assault in March 1918 which broke through the British Army. The Australian divisions were rushed to the vital city Amiens to attempt to bring the German offensive to a standstill. The Australians successfully stopped the Germans advance at Hebuterne, Dernancourt, Sailly-le-Sec and Villers-Brettoneux. Villers-Bretonneux, in particular, was captured by the Australians in a spectacular counter-attack. Many Fremantle men in the 51st Battalion fought there with two members of the Higham family falling in the action. Hubert Hitchcock and Fred Wallwork were two other Fremantle boys to be killed in the recapture of Villers-Bretonneux.
Through May and June 1918 the Australians began nibbling away at the German line through raids and other small actions. In July the most notable success was at Hamel when the Australians recaptured the village in ninety-three minutes and it was one of the few advances that went according to plan. Even though it was a success, casualties were still heavy.
Private Malcolm Higham, 51st Battalion (Scotch College Archives)
One Fremantle casualty was Charlie Comben, a Lumper from North Fremantle. Cyril Longmore who knew Charlie wrote of him that;
Most members of the original 44"‘ will remember Charlie Comben ... Every military convention was only something for him to break. Even Sergeant Majors could never fill him with the awe they inspired in everyone else. On occasions Charlie could give a teamster a run for his money in the artistic use of language and on company parade he would invariably give his opinion in a loud voice if the orders did not suit him. When the unit reached France he was No.2 on a Lewis Gun. His No.1 was temperamentally the exact opposite. A quiet, sincerely religious chap, who used the most proper language on all occasions. This strangely assorted pair went through the piece together for eighteen months without a quarrel and without a scratch ... (Charlie) was buried at the back of the trench on the hill by his cobber who, with his own hands erected the cross and murmured the burial prayer. 31
A month after the success at Hamel a large advance took place which was the beginning of the end for the Germans. On August 8th 1918, Australian, British, Canadian and French soldiers set forth on an advance which set the Germans on a retreat from which they never recovered. The Australian infantry was constantly in action from August 8th until October 5th 1918 and battalions which were nominally 1100 strong would only number from 100 to 150 men by the time the Australians were given a rest. These last few months, though successful, had cost Fremantle dearly with sixty- seven soldiers being killed in the advance, including 18 year old Jack O’Brien of Henderson Street
and John Parker of Victoria Ave North Fremantle.
Charlie Comben, 44th Battalion. Original grave cross (Mr Neville Browning)
Alex Swinton, a plumber from Duke Street East Fremantle, has the dubious distinction of being the last Fremantle soldier to be killed in action during the war when he fell at Montbrehain on October 5th 1918.
The Australian infantry were given a month’s rest and were just about to return to the front line when the armistice was declared on November the 11th 1918. Tom Elder noted of that significant day:
On the morning of 11th November 1918 word came through to our battery at lunch time that the German Army had applied for an armistice which had been granted. It was just on lunchtime when our commanding officer called on us to line up in our usual formation. He then read to us the official message regarding the German surrender - and there wasn’t even a cheer! Everybody was more interested in getting on with lunch. It was a day or two later that the fellows seemed to believe the war was over, and then some celebrations in various ways took place. Of course we all relaxed and took things leisurely. 32
With the war over the men wanted to return home but due to the lack of shipping it would be well into 1919 before the majority of Australians came home. After the armistice the Australians went to garrison parts of Belgium which had been under German rule since 1914. While they were situated here they attended education classes and took part in sporting activities, all the while hoping to be sent to England and from there on a troopship to Australia. Unfortunately a handful of Fremantle soldiers, who had survived the last few years of fighting, now succumbed to the dreaded Spanish influenza. Private William Browne of the 48th Battalion, a teamster from North Fremantle, and Driver Reginald Price of the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, a labourer from South Fremantle were among those to succumb to this illness. It was a scourge that would soon reach Australia.
Many soldiers became frustrated at the length of time it was taking to return home. Tom Elder reflected:
Those of us who were Western Australians were delayed in London because the ships that were leaving would not be calling at our home state. Some of us were very hostile about this. We heard that the Australian Governments Minister for Defence - Senator George Pearce (of WA) - was in London, and so we made a stray approach to him about our being left behind. Very soon after that a ship was put on that would be calling at Fremantle. That ship was the SS Somali. 33
On Monday the 2nd of June the Elder brothers, and many other Western Australians, got their wish when the SS Somali left Plymouth England on the voyage back home. The journey took them through the Suez Canal.
It was very hot passing through the Red Sea and we were glad to eventually arrive at Colombo on 24th June where we stayed for a day or two and thus were able to see over that place. We were glad when we were at sea again, and after several more days were thrilled to be actually back in our own beloved Australia. We got an enormous welcome back there when the ship tied up in Fremantle. My brother and I very soon spotted our parents and two younger brothers among the huge crowd on the wharf. It was so good to be home again - back in Aussie!! We came back feeling more fortunate than I ever that we lived in Australia - to us the best place in the World. 34
The West Australian recorded the arrival of the troopship and reported that as the soldiers were being marched to medical tents set up on Fremantle Oval for health checks, many relatives intervened in the march, having not seen their soldier relatives for two or three years:
The band, sublimely unconscious of anything untoward, bravely (played on) at the head of the column that for the most part had been absorbed in the crowd or at least struggled through in single file marked by long gaps representing successful raids by overjoyed relatives. By 3.30 there were more civilians than soldiers within the enclosure and the marquees were literally bursting with impatient men eager to be fitted up and away ... Everywhere about the oval long separated friends rushed upon each other, on all hands were evidence of joy at the return. 35
Through 1919 and into 1920 the soldiers continued to arrive home to resume their previous life or to embark upon a new one. Their emotions at arriving back in Fremantle would have been mixed. Sorrow for the mates they left behind in Europe and possibly marveling at their own luck in returning home and with a hope that what they had fought for would not be in vain and that the future would be a bright one.
For the families who had lost sons, brothers, fathers or husbands in the Great War there was the unending sense of grief. Only a few were able to make the long journey to Europe to visit the graves of the fallen. 36 They were, however, able to write epitaphs for the graves which would be looked after ‘In Perpetuity’ by the Imperial War Graves Commission. 37 Even then not all families could utilize this option as the Imperial authorities would charge a shilling a letter for an epitaph to be inscribed on a gravestone, a cost not affordable for many families. If one walks through a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery one can easily see the sadness, love, religious beliefs, anger and futility in these epitaphs, written by the families of those who had died. Unfortunately for the families whose soldier’s body could not be found for burial they did not have this option of writing an epitaph. Their soldier’s were labeled as ‘missing’ though they would be named on one of the many Memorials to the Missing that sprang up in Europe and the Middle East. Many families in the post war years continued to search for what exactly had happened to their loved ones and never found the closure they were looking for.
The family of Phillip Ball perhaps summed up the thoughts of many families when they wrote the epitaph for their son’s grave at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery: ‘I fought and died in the Great War to end all wars. Have I died in Vain.‘ While William Calhoun’s family had the hope that their son would be remembered when they wrote: ‘Let those who come after see to it that his name is not forgotten.‘ The huge loss experienced by the wife and children of Richard Forrest who died in Belgium in January 1918 and is buried at Trois Arbres Cemetery in Steenwerck can be felt by the epitaph they penned: ‘Had we a Dearest Wish Fulfilled; Dearest Daddy We Would Ask For You.’ 38
All over Australia memorials were funded for construction. Discussions were started soon after the war and in 1921 the residents of North Fremantle started raising money for an appropriate memorial. In January 1923 in front of a large crowd, the foundation stone was laid with the Governor, Sir Francis Newdegate, and Western Australia’s highest ranking soldier, General Sir Talbot Hobbs in attendance. By August the memorial was ready for unveiling.
Richard Forrest, 12th Battalion (Forrest family)
It took longer for the Municipal Council of Fremantle to organise a suitable memorial as there was much discussion as to whether a more useful memorial would be a dedicated new building such as a hospital or whether a cenotaph would be more appropriate. It was not until 1928 that work proceeded on the cenotaph on Monument Hill. With no financial (or moral) support from the state government, the money was raised by the Municipal Council and leading citizens.
Unveiling of North Fremantle Memorial (City of Fremantle Library, Local History Collection)
Fund raising for the memorial was led by William Watson MHR and Mr JW Bateman, who both lost two sons in the war. Initially designed to carry the names of Fremantle’s Fallen 39 this was later changed to reduce expenses so the Memorial would just carry the names of three theatres of war. It was unveiled on November 11th 1928 with many people in attendance. The Memorial can be best summed up by the State Historian of the time JS Battye, who wrote:
The site of the Memorial is the most prominent elevation in the District. When erected it will be visible fifty miles at sea. It will be the first Australian object that will meet the eyes of travellers coming from the Westward and will serve, it is hoped, for all time as a dignified, silent and reverent reminder of the stress and strain through which the peoples of the empire were called upon to pass, as well as a standing memorial to those sons of Fremantle and its district who gave all they had, even to life itself, to the service of their country. 40
Unfortunately just twenty years later the children of the Great War veterans would have to face another serious conflict and this one would come much closer to Australian shores. Sadly the sons of many of the returned soldiers would die in the Second World War. In 2014 it will be the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of the Great War and there will be many events until 2018 commemorating various aspects of the conflict so the war will once again be in the forefront of the national psyche. What was the cost to Fremantle? Three thousand of the best and brightest Fremantle could offer left these shores to serve in the war and eight hundred and forty two sons of Fremantle lost their lives. But it would not just be the loss of them that the community would mourn, it was the loss of any future sons and daughters they would have borne, citizens that could only have added to our community and nation.
Fremantle Studies Day, 2009
Notes
1 Fremantle Anzacs Roll of Honour - Army Museum WA Archive - Andrew Pittaway
2 Madge Fordham Oral History - Fremantle City Council Local History Section
3 Reginald Evans Diary, p 1 - private source
4 Fremantle Herald Friday August 7th 1914
5 A Division is made up of three Brigades and each Brigade had four battalions. A Battalion is nominally made up of approx. 1100 officers and men. Within a Battalion there are four companies (A,B,C and D) nominally made up of 250-300 men
6 A Light Horse Regiment was nominally 500-559 strong, about half the strength of an Infantry Battalion.
7 Fremantle Herald Friday August 14"‘ 1914
8 NAA MP472/1 16/15/128
9 ibid.
10 ibid.
11 NAA MP472/1 19/14/7407
12 ibid.
13 Fremantle Herald Friday August 14th 1914
14 References to Anti German/Austro-Hungarian activity can be found in many articles in the Western Mail, West Australian, Sunday Times and Daily News newspapers through 1914/15
15 Fremantle Herald Friday August 14”‘ 1914
16 Imperial Reservists were men who had been released short of their 12 years service in the British Army to pursue a career outside the army, but on the outbreak of war, they would be recalled to service with their Regiments.
17 Reginald Evans war diary - private source
18 Herbert Brisco AWM DRL/0154
19 See Dr. Charles Bean's Volume 1 Official History of the AIF for references of the ‘Wazzer’
20 The only Australians involved in this Turkish attack were the 3rd Field Company Engineers
21 Pte William Bellamy-Customs Officer of Cottesloe survived wound and returned home in 1918
22 Edward Inman Diary - From Inman family
23 Ernie Higham - Scotch College Bulletin 1915 - Ernie died at Villers-Bretonneux April 1918
24 Australian War Memorial Red Cross Reports 8c NAA Service Records B2455 under soldier’s name
25 Fremantle Anzacs Roll of Honour - AMWA Archive - Andrew Pittaway
26 See the Official History of the Light Horse by H.E. Gullett and the 10th Light Horse history by Browning and Gill
27 George Harrison diary AMWA
28 Fromelles has come to light again in recent times with the discovery of Australian soldiers bodies at Pheasant Wood near Fromelles. These men had been buried by the Germans after the battle and had remained ‘lost’ until research by Victorian historian Lambis Englezos led to their ‘rediscovery’.
29 Red Cross reports AWM 8c NAA Services Records B2455 series
30 Arthur Howell - Signaller at the Front Hesperian Press
31 Eggs A Cook - 44"‘ Battalion history by Cyril Longmore
32 Tom Elder collection - Battye Library
33 ibid.
34 ibid.
35 The Western Mail July 19th 1919
36 William Watson MHR visited France to see his son’s graves though only William had a known burial. The Loveday family also visited Arthur’s grave at Daours and Walter Binning’s father visited his grave at Gommecourt.
37 This later became the Imperial War Graves Commission and they were tasked to look after the graves and Memorials of the United Kingdom's and Commonwealth countries' war dead. Countries like France and Belgium donated land for these cemeteries and memorials.
38 Epitaphs retrieved from the author’s visit to these cemeteries.
39 This has now been rectified and by 2015 Fremantle Council will have plaques installed on Monument Hill commemorating Fremantle's fallen of the Great War. Names of fallen supplied by author's research.
40 Fremantle Council - Monument Hill file SRO.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 28 April, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/fhs/fs/7/Pittaway.html (it was last updated on 16 December, 2018). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.