General Outline
WWI was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. However, leading up to this event, there were escalating tensions involving nationalism militarism, alliances and imperialism.
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| Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Tuesday 30 June 1914 |
The conflicting
ambitions of various nations climaxing in The Great War, resulted in more than 20 million soldiers dying and 21 million being wounded.
Most of the nations of Europe, Russia, America, the Middle East, and various other regions, including Australia, were involved.
The Allies included Serbia, Russia, France, Britain, Italy and the United States. They were opposed by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.
When Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, Australia, a nation of only five million people, was also at war.
Prime Minister Andrew Fisher claimed, “We will defend the Mother Country to the last man and the last shilling”.
By the end of 1914, more than 50,000 Australian volunteers had enlisted.
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| The Departure of the First West Australian Contingent-Scenes at Fremantle on the Morning of October 31. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 11 December 1914 |
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| OUR NAVAL VOLUNTEERS. Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 29 August 1914 |
New Guinea
Germany had claimed the northeastern part of New Guinea as a protectorate in 1884, fuelling Australian fears of an expansionist Germany.
On September 13, 1914, Australia captured German New Guinea and dismantled the communication systems of the German navy in the Pacific. Australia then hoisted the Union Jack.
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| The Australian Troops marching- through Sydney prior to leaving for German New Guinea. Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919) |
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| LANDING AUSTRALIAN , TROOPS THROUGH THE SURF IN GERMAN NEW GUI NEA, 'Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), Thursday 24 September 1914 |
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| 1 GERMAN MACHINE-GUN, TAKEN BY THE 9th BATTALION, A.LF.; AND TURKISH MACHINE-GUN, 2. TWO BAYONETS TAKEN FROM THE 3. PRIVATE SPENCER SHOWING CARTRIDGE-BELT CAPTURED BY THE 3rd BATTALION, A.I.F., AT QALLIPOLI (1916). MOEWE AT RABAUL (1916). FEEDING TURKISH MACHINE-GUN 4. TURKISH TRENCH MORTAR. 6. GERMAN FLAG FROM NEW GUINEA.6. MACHINE-GUNS CAPTURED BY THE 18th BATTALION, A.I.F., AT POZIERES AND ON THE SOMMK. NUCLEUS OF AN AUSTRALIAN WAR MUSEUM ON VIEW AT THE EXHIBITION BUILDING, MELBOURNE.Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) |
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| The grave with the railing is that of Captain B. C. H. Pockley (Sydney.) The other crosses mark the last resting places of C. V. Williams, H. C. Williams and Henry Street. New Guinea, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938) |
Gallipoli
On 25 April 1915, about 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, 300km south-west of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and fought alongside those from Great Britain, Ireland, France, India and Newfoundland.
The Gallipoli Campaign was a failure, resulting in the death of 115,000 British, 27,000 French and more than 8700 Australians.
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| Landing at Gallipoli. Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918) |
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| Australians, IN THE TRENCHES ON GALLIPOLI., Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 30 October 1915 |
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| Water fatigues [Gallipoli], Taken sometime in 1915, Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons) |
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| Unknown Australian solders in trenches at Gallipoli, probably stretcher bearers of the 9th Battalion AIF, 1915 ] [Joseph Cecil Thompson - presumed photographer] |
(the western side of territory under Germany's control)
The first major battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front was an attack on French village of Fromelles on 19 July 1916.
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| A party of ANZAC gunners taking a big gun along a chalk road from which they raise clouds of dust. ANZACS in France, Aussie Mobs |
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| Hot work in hot weather - Anzacs in France - WW1, Aussie~mobs |
The battle of Fromelles has been described as the worst 24 hours in Australia's history.
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| Troops of the 53rd Australian Battalion. Only three of the men survived the battle, all wounded. Waiting to attack during the Battle of Fromelles, July 19, 1916. |
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| AN AUSTRALIAN 18-POUNDER BATTERY IN ACTION ON THE WEST FRONT., Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 6 June 1918 |
Other battles of the Western Front were the Somme, Bullecourt, Messines, Passchendaele, Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens and Mont St Quentin.
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THREE MORE . QUEENSLANDERS. Private Fred- Johnson and his ttfo mates, Privates Lcs. Whale and F. Weare. Private F. Johnson is tho son of Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Johnson, Lang street, Dutton Park. The three mates are on service in France.Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 23 February 1918. (The slouch hat became a famous symbol of the Australian fighting man during World War Oneand continued to be worn throughout World War Two)
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In 1917, alone, more than 76,000 men of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were killed or wounded.
The Germans were driven from Villers-Bretonneux in 1918 by Australians coming from the east, and British troops coming in from the north and west.
Over 295,000 Australians
served on the Western Front between March 1916 and November 1918 and 46,000 lost their lives.
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| Nurses prior to boarding HMAT Orsova (A67). Identified are (left to right): Sister Mary Florence Kitson; Staff Nurse Victoria Dorothy Christenson; unidentified; possibly Staff Nurse Annie McHardy; unidentified. Sister Kitson served with the Hospital Transport Corps while Staff Nurses Christenson and McHardy served with the Convalescent Depot, Harefield Park, London. 16 July 1915, First World War, 1914-1918, AWM (nurses had to be single or widowed to serve in WWI) |
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A Great Dug-Out in the Garden of a House at Nesle, Where the German Headquarters Were Located.Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 1 June 1917 |
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| SYDNEY'S TRIBUTE TO THE HEROES OF GALLIPOLI, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 1 May 1918 |
Middle East
In 1916, Australian troops participated in the defence of the Suez Canal against attacks by Ottoman Turkish forces and pro-Turkish tribesmen.
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| Australian Light Horse passing through Bethlehem. (Australian Official Photograph.) Anzac bulletin : issued to members of the Australian Imperial Forces in Great Britain and France by authority of the High Commissioner for Australia. Issue No.73. (New Issue). (May 31, 1918.) |
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| Australian Light Horse Bivouac in tha Desert, Palestine. (Australian Official Pholngrnph. Anzac bulletin : issued to members of the Australian Imperial Forces in Great Britain and France by authority of the High Commissioner for Australia. Issue No.73. (New Issue). (May 31, 1918.) |
In 1917, Australian and Allied troops advanced into Palestine capturing Gaza and Jerusalem, which were under Ottoman rule. The allies then occupied Lebanon and Syria.
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| Wounded Australians from Palestine, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 20 February 1918 |
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| Australian Nurses in Palestine. In Front (Left to Right): Sister Irwin, Sister Behring. At Back: Sister Bird, Sister Donellson.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 20 March 1918 |
Finally Over
On 11 November 1918, an armistice
ended the war in Western Europe.
On 30 October 1918, Turkey surrendered.
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| Adelaide, South Australia: Group portrait of 540 Sapper Arthur Findon Dunbar MM, 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company (in uniform with his arm resting on gate) and his family members gathered outside their house at 45 Chief Street, Brompton, SA. The gateway has been decorated overhead with a sign that reads 'Welcome Home' and an Australian flag. Taken in July 1919, Australian War Memorial collection |
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| Group portrait of five decorated Australian Flying Corps officers standing in front of an Avro 504K aircraft, serial number is partially visible includes the numerals ?112? All the aircraft bear their original British serial numbers and camouflage finish. Place made: Point Cook, Victoria, Australia Date made: c 1919-1920, AWM |
Did you Know?
Australia shipped about 120,000 horses overseas during WWI. More than 81,000 were sent to India and about 39,000 horses served with the AIF.
About 7,000 "enemy aliens" were interned in Australia during WW1, mostly of German and Austro-Hungarian origin. Australia had been fairly cohesive pre-war but was becoming fractured.
Prime Minister Billy Hughes made two attempts to
introduce conscription when referenda were held in 1916 and 1917. The question of conscription polarised Australians but was rejected both times.
It is estimated that about 1,000 people with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestry served with the Australian Imperial Force.
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Group portrait of Australian soldiers, some of whom are members of the 60th Battalion after a snow fight at a training camp in England. Identified in the back row, second from left is 3289A Private (Pte)
William 'Bill' Martin Walsh, 57th Battalion and indigenous serviceman, centre front row, 2141 Pte Alfred Jackson Coombs of the 59th Battalion. 1916, AWM |
Some men who returned from serving in the war experienced anxiety, panic attacks, tics, nightmares, impaired reasoning and/or an inability to sleep, eat or talk. This condition was called "shell shock", at the time.
The Australian Government
established a war pension scheme in late 1914 to help wounded veterans and the families of those who were killed.
Of the 60,000 Australian soldiers killed in WWI, about 25,000 were listed as missing and many families received no further information.
In 1918 and 1919, an influenza pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. This number is about three times the deaths in WWI. In 1919, between one-quarter and one-third of all Australians contracted influenza and it caused more than 12,000 deaths.
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| MAKING MASKS AT ANTHONY HORDERNS', Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Wednesday 29 January 1919 |
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| INFLUENZA MASKS IN SYDNEY, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 15 February 1919 |
At Home During WWI
The population of Australia in 1914 was 4,948,990.
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| MOTOR-CYCLE AND SIDE-CAR AMBULANCE. This ambulance was invented by Mr. Henderson and presented to the Commonwealth Defence Department by the students and staff of the International Correspondence Schools Mr. Wray when making the presentation, stated that they had another one almost ready, and possibly there would be others to follow. Colonels Wallach, Fiaschi and Newmarch, who accepted the ambulance on behalf of the Department, said that it was the most useful form of ambulance made. The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 3 No. 1 (1 December 1914) |
The Piddington Royal Commission reported in 1920 that real wages in Australia fell by approximately 30% between 1914 and 1919.
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| Strike In The Railway Workshops. DISCUSSING THE SITUATION OUTSIDE THE SYDNEY TRADES HALL.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 8 August 1917 |
Womens' Business
Some women worked in munitions factories, making weapons and ammunition for the troops. Others worked in hospitals caring for wounded soldiers.
At the time of World War I, most women in Australia were unpaid "homemakers". As nurses had to be single or widowed to serve in WWI, many women provided voluntary comfort and fundraising roles to support the troops overseas.
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| Wauchope "War Chest" Branch, War chest review. Vol. 1, no. 12 (April 1919) (War Chest was a fundraising group from New South Wales affiliated with the ACF. Their main purpose was to raise funds through the sale of buttons or badges. The proceeds went to ACF to distribute comfort items to Aussie troops) |
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| The War Chest Depot Stalls, Martin Place, G. H. Hills, Castlereagh St. War chest review. Vol. 1, no. 8 (December 1918) (War Chest Day was held in Sydney in 1916, 1917 and 1918. It was organised to obtain public support for troops overseas through raising money and the provision of troop comforts) |
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| Youthful War Workers : Packing Christmas-boxes for Our Airmen, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 31 July 1918 |
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| V.A.D RETURNED QUEENSLANDERS AND THE PARRAMATTA V.A.D. The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 8 No. 8 (1 July 1918) (The primary role of a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) member was that of nursing orderly in hospitals, carrying out menial but essential jobs) |
As many women did not earn wages at this time, many women were entitled to receive the full (or part) of their husband's wages, if he nominated them as their next of kin, while they were away on military service.
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| The first female doctor to win the Military Medal. Though Phoebe Chapple was recognised as a skilled doctor, the Australian government’s policies precluded her from military service. Undaunted, the Adelaide-born Chapple travelled to Britain in 1917 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, becoming one of the first two woman doctors sent to France. During a bombing raid near Abbeville in May 1918, her care for those wounded around her, regardless of personal danger, led to her being awarded the Military Medal – the first woman doctor ever to receive this decoration for bravery. Taken sometime in 1917, AWM |
On The Land
In 1900 wool made up 42 percent of total exports. However, by 1914, the wheat industry was the country’s largest employer, with a large growth in manufacturing.
(1.)
From April 1914 to May 1915, severe drought periods afflicted various regions of Australia. Stock died, and wheat production suffered.
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| Harvesting and stocked, near Orange, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 3 November 1915 |
Clothing
AIF soldiers were issued with a thick woollen khaki uniform, a broad-brimmed slouch hat with a Rising Sun badge, a rifle and a long sword bayonet.
At home, over the war period, clothing would transition from the
impressive and often ornate Edwardian era style to the post-war drop-waist dresses, bobbed hairstyles and attitude of rebellion in the 1920s.
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| At the Water Board Picnic, Truth (Perth, WA : 1903 - 1931), Saturday 28 March 1914 |
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| A. J.C. ANNIVERSARY MEETING : FASHIONS AT RANDWICK. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 29 January 1919 |
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THE MILITARY TOUCH IN FASHIONABLE HEADGEAR.
The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 3 No. 5 (1 April 1915) |
Melbourne, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946)
Shopping
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| The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 2 No. 7 (1 June 1914) |
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| The "Department" Store, Hay-street, Perth. WA. |
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| Magnificent New Department Stores,Victoria Square, New Adelaide, Critic (Adelaide, SA : 1897-1924), Wednesday 11 September 1918 |
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| Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), Thursday 2 October 1913 |
Music and Songs 12 popular songs at the time of the First World War. The songs included are 'It’s a
long way to Tipperary', 'Good-bye-ee', 'Keep the home fires burning', 'If you were the only girl in the world', 'There’s a Long Long Trail A Winding', 'You called me baby doll a year ago', 'Who were you with last night?', 'Take me Back to Dear Old Blighty', 'Till We Meet Again', '[The Arcadians]', '[Sons of the Sea]', and 'Pack up your troubles in your old Kit Bag'.
The songs are generally humorous, and patriotic in nature. AWM (
1.)
Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit-Bag (And Smile, Smile, Smile)
It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary (1915)
Keep the Home Fires Burning
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| The Lone hand. New Series Vol. 3 No. 5 (1 April 1915) |
Film
For Australia is a 1915 Australian silent film, about a newspaper journalist, who discovers a German spy ring in Sydney. The film was shot in and around Sydney with some scenes at an Aboriginal mission at Brewarrina in northern New South Wales.
How We Fought the Emden is a 1915
Australian silent film, about the Battle of Cocos, where an Australian cruiser destroys the German light cruiser SMS
Emden.
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| Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), Monday 17 January 1916 |
also known as
Deeds that Won Gallipoli is a 1915 Australian silent film about Australia's fight with the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
While making
The Joan of Arc of Loos, a 1916 Australian
silent film, the French village of Loos was recreated on Tamarama Beach in Sydney.
Things To Watch
Watch;
Beneath Hill 60,
Forbidden Ground (tells the story of three British soldiers during World War I, on the Western Front in 1916),
Gallipoli (1981 - story about several young men from Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during World War I),
Ghosts of War (Australian Private Joseph Richmond and his fellow soldiers from the 18th Battalion A.I.F. have retreated into a supply trench during an artillery barrage),
The Lighthorsemen (a 1987 Australian war film about Sinai and Palestine campaign's 1917 Battle of Beersheeba),
The Water Diviner (2014 film about an Australian farmer, who travels to Turkey soon after World War I),
William Kelly's War (an 2014 Australian film, set during World War I. Scenes were shot on the Davis family farm in Victoria, with fortifications being made from chipboard, mud, and cement)
