World War I (1914-1918) began the
transformation of Australian life from six separate colonies to a united country aware of
its new identity. World War I (1914-1918) began the
transformation of Australian life from six separate colonies to a united country aware of
its new identity.
On the 4th of August, 1914, Australia was ready to fight for the "Mother Country", as England was then called. Australia had been preparing for the possibility of war for 3 years following the opening of the Royal Military College in Duntroon in 1911 and the opening of the Central Flying School in 1913. Australia was ready, and sent 20,000 men to help the defence of Britain, much to the relief of Britons. In 1914 the Australian army had a strength of 45,645 men with many more eagerly enlisting.
On the night of the 24th of April as the convoys neared the coast of Gallipoli the Australians were given the task of landing at the dangerous Gaba Tepe Peninsula, 21 kilometres north of Cape Helles, and from their travel inland to stop the Turks from attacking the later landing 29th Division at Cape Helles. The Australians didn't hesitate, up Gaba Tepe they went, into the cross-fire. By 8am, 8000 Australian troops were ashore and fighting skirmishes in a non-existent front line. By nightfall the casualties exceeded 2000 and the ANZACS were besieged in a small enclave with the offshore British fleet unable to help. The Australians were told to dig in and wait it out, and dig they did, into the rough ground firing as they worked. They earned the name "Diggers".
On the 19th of May the then famous "man with the donkey", John Simpson was killed. John and others had been taking donkeys into the dangerous Monash Valley to bring back wounded men. He was commemorated with a statue at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. On the eighteenth of May, a day before John Simpson's death, with only 12,500 men available for frontline fighting the Turks attacked, outnumbered three to one the ANZACS stood firm. The Turks ill-conceived offensive was their greatest disaster, they lost 10,000 men while the ANZACS losing only 160 men with 468 men wounded, hardly anything for such a major offensive. On the 24th of May a truce was arranged to bury the dead lying in front of the trenches.
Throughout the war the ANZACS fought, from battling the Turks to fighting the rife trench diseases. They fought, they dug, they tunnelled, weakened by continuous fighting, by poor rations, by debilitating diseases, still they fought for the betterment of the world.
Jesai Knight, Herberton, Australia
References
George Odgers Diggers Life Distributors Pages 142 - 151
Picture from The Down Under Collection Delux, New Horizons, Armidale, Australia, 1995.