Beaten Down By Blood Page 18

  Clarence Magick, a labourer, was 19 and required the consent of Harry and Mary of Armatree to join the AIF on 9 June 1916. He served with the 53rd Battalion before joining the 20th in March 1917. It was Clarry who had the appendectomy, an ‘excellent scar’, in May 1917 and he also suffered a carbuncle on his back. In the attack on Mont St Quentin on 31 August, Magick received multiple gunshot wounds, or a shell wound, to his neck. He recovered fully and returned to Gulargambone, where he worked on properties around the district, married, and later in life ran a fruit and vegetable shop with his wife as well as mowing lawns around the town. He died in 1973, but has no headstone in the Gulargambone cemetery, just a marker and a plaque with the rising sun and the words ‘C Magick, 2946, 20th Battn’.

  George Mill attacked with the 34th Battalion along the Bouchavesnes ridge on 30 August. He had not enlisted until 1917, was 28 years old and six feet two inches tall, a farmer and the eldest of ten children. His experience of France was as eventful as his experience of London — apart from having mumps he suffered a shell wound to his arm and back in February 1918 and was gassed in June. At Mont St Quentin-Péronne he suffered a penetrating bullet wound to his chest and back which left him struggling to breathe. He too survived but, like Clarence Magick, this was his last battle of the Great War. George Mill also returned to Gulargambone, never married, and is buried in the local cemetery.

  Joseph Pickles is not commemorated on any war memorial in the district. British born, 28 years old on enlistment in December 1915, a labourer with red hair, he nonetheless gave his postal address as Gulargambone and embarked with four other Gular boys on the Ceramic in April 1916. Wounded previously at Bullecourt, on 1 September 1918 he received a gunshot wound to his right leg in the 54th’s attack on Péronne. Joseph Pickles did not return to Australia. He married in England during the war and had a child by the end of it, requesting to be discharged in London to take up a job as a blacksmith’s striker in Leeds.

  Edward Green, a labourer who had enlisted in 1916 at the age of 25, had been wounded three times in France and Belgium before attacking with the 53rd Battalion on the morning of 1 September. This time his luck ran out. He was killed in action and is buried in Péronne Communal Cemetery Extension with Alex Buckley who was killed on the same day. Edward Green’s case was a sad one. It took a long time for the authorities to notify his relatives of his death. His estranged mother expressed no grief, but wrote a letter enquiring about his money and his property — ‘surely I should get something’ — even though she was not named as the next-of-kin. Green’s personal effects were returned to his cousin, who asked for a photo of his grave.43

  The Gular boys are part of the story of Mont St Quentin-Péronne in more ways than simply those who fought there, those who were wounded and those who died. Their town and district is a microcosm of the AIF as a whole. They reflect the Australian character in all the features that have come to be associated with these men — work ethic, independence, courage in the face of adversity, duty, mateship, humour, pride in achievement — born of the need to survive and prosper in a harsh environment. Joan McKenzie, in her history of Coonamble and its district, including Gulargambone, writes that it is easy to see the district as a flat, drab place, but this conclusion is only drawn ‘by those who do not know its spirit’ and do not understand that ‘the men and women are of such stuff that they will never give in’.44 This is precisely how the Battle of Mont St Quentin-Péronne was won.

  Statistically, Gulargambone and its district reflect the general Australian trends. Just under 40% of its men who were eligible to enlist did so, some who were rejected the first time round trying again later. Albert Holland, who suffered from a severe cleft palate which inhibited his ability to eat and speak, was at first rejected, tried again and succeeded, becoming one of the Argyllshire men. He only got as far as England before being discharged as medically unfit. Charlie Law was severely wounded with a gunshot wound to the abdomen in 1916, repatriated to Australia, re-enlisted and served again with the 2nd Division Artillery in 1918. Around one in five of those who went to war lost their lives. The great bulk of those who enlisted did so in 1915 and 1916, before the horror lists of casualties began to appear, although enlistments never dried up completely.

  As in so many other places, the war had a profound impact on this community, where everyone was doing something for the war effort. Coonamble, in fact, claims that it formed the first country branch of the Red Cross Society in August 1914.45 Photographs reveal that repatriated men, at any stage of the war, returned home to find their houses covered in bunting and flags. People generally believed in the worth of the cause and the call to duty. The price they paid was enormous, and not only in loved ones lost or damaged in some way. There was a shortage of manpower and a reduction in the demand for goods and services which led to some businesses being forced to close and infrastructure not being maintained. The towns and villages assumed a forlorn appearance.

  Some of the returned men remained in the district; some, like George Mill, his brother Lloyd, Jack Andrews and a newcomer, John Herring, who fought with the 34th Battalion and called his property and later his house in town Barambah after the ship in which he sailed, took up soldier settlement blocks. However, as drought again struck the area in 1918–1920, many left to look for the ‘bright new future’ for which they had fought in a different place.

  A good account of themselves

  Malvern is located some eight kilometres south-east of Melbourne, Victoria. Settlement first began there in the 1830s, when cattle and sheep grazed its well-watered pastures. In the 1850s, in the wake of the gold rushes, crown land was released and syndicates and speculators purchased blocks which could be further subdivided later at a profit. Market gardens, orchards and plant nurseries replaced grazing properties and a village began to grow, populated by immigrants from Britain. Hotels were established to catch the Dandenong road–Gippsland trade, where stock from the Gippsland cattle stations and timber for the spars and masts of ships from the Dandenong Ranges were conveyed to Melbourne by bullock drays over the primitive tracks. Wagons containing fruit and vegetables from Malvern began to make their way to the city.

  In the 1860s several brickworks dotted the landscape, the Malvern Cricket Club was established and, in 1869, the village was linked to Melbourne’s main water supply. There was a strong association with racing — the Victorian home of racing at Caulfield is not far away — and many horses were trained in the paddocks adjoining the Wattle Tree Hotel, which was also the starting point for ‘the hunt’, that very English tradition of setting beagle hounds to flush out unsuspecting kangaroos, foxes, hares, dingoes and deer. In the 1890s the Melbourne Hunt Club held its opening meets at Ranfurlie, the home of William Knox, a ‘squire’ who entertained his guests as though at a hunt in England.46 Knox became a Malvern councillor and was involved in the establishment of the original BHP Company when silver was discovered at Broken Hill in 1884.

  The development of the area continued unabated in the 1870s and 1880s. Malvern itself resembled an English village: life centred on St George’s Church of England, consecrated in 1875, and the ‘village green’. There was a distinct ‘pecking order’, the ‘gentry’ living in mansions surrounded by gardens and overlooking fields where wildflowers grew in abundance. Impressive public buildings were constructed — Alfred Deakin, as Minister for Public Works, laid the foundation stone for the Shire Hall in 1885 — and gas lighting replaced kerosene lamps and candlelight in 1881. Malvern was known to Melbournians as a desirable locality, particularly with the advent of the railway in the late 1870s, making it easier for those with means to commute between their idyllic rural residences and businesses in the city. These were the halcyon days of Malvern.

  The depression of the early 1890s hit Malvern hard. Many of the large estates with their grand houses did not survive, and were divided into allotments. The houses, if they still stood, assumed a run-down appearance. In Melbourne itself the population declined by 50,000
and, in Malvern, building projects ground to a standstill. However, it was a resilient place and, by the end of the decade, building was booming again as the affluent middle class moved in.

  Consequently, between 1900 and 1914 Malvern changed considerably. It was declared a town in 1901 with a population of 10,614, and a city in 1911 when it could claim 15,969 inhabitants. By 1912, 800 houses were being built yearly, a rate unequalled by any other suburb. Malvern did not enjoy the easy egalitarianism of bush communities such as Gulargambone and class distinctions were readily apparent. Malvern’s residents sought to create a ‘proper’ suburb, very ‘English’, very middle class, with its mostly brick houses exuding respectability.47 Thus, it did not respond well to its ‘larrikin’ element which, at times, challenged its clear precepts of law and order.

  At the Toorak end of town the well-to-do lived in ‘residences’, each one individual and unique. From 1901 the Governors of Victoria took up residence in the large mansion of Stonnington, from which they could watch the increasing sprawl of houses. In the middle, ‘gentlemen’, who usually commuted to the city each day, lived in ‘villas’, while the tradespeople, shopkeepers and tramway employees, so vital to the city’s prosperity, lived in ‘cottages’ or ‘semis’ which were still considered ‘decent’.48 By 1914 most of these houses were owner-occupied. However, by the end of the First World War there was a ‘sameness’ about much of Malvern and, by the time it was fully established as a suburb between the wars, it had become average and monotonous.

  Electric power lines soon dominated the Malvern streetscape and, after 1910, tram lines also linked Malvern to Melbourne through Prahran. Although it prided itself on being a city of parks and gardens, rapid development placed a strain on the once-pristine environment as creeks and pastures disappeared in the wake of urban expansion. Remnants of a rural past such as the violet farm in the Glen Iris valley attracted hundreds of people on a Saturday afternoon, particularly in May and June when the air was ‘perfumed with the scent of the violet’.49 It was not until 1916 that street trees were planted in Malvern itself in an attempt to alleviate the rawness.

  Malvern’s three state schools were grossly overcrowded in the years before the war, but still managed to achieve good academic results. The smattering of private schools such as Malvern Grammar School, established in 1890, supposedly instilled leadership and moral superiority into its pupils and were central to Melbourne’s class structure in preserving the patterns of wealth, influence and power.50 All schools subscribed to the ethos of king, country and empire and most boys were involved in army cadet units. Churches of all denominations were either established or consolidated and Christian values were important. Literary and debating societies thrived. In its political life, Malvern elected men who espoused family values, attended church, were fairly traditional in outlook, had philanthropic leanings, demonstrated selfless patriotism and, after 1914, were engaged in some kind of war service. 51

  The outbreak of war in 1914 was greeted enthusiastically. Men began to enlist within weeks of its declaration, with many more answering the call in 1915 and early 1916. The figures indicate that, overall, enlistment in Malvern was higher than the national average, with over 50% of the 3000 eligible men stepping forward. Some of these men were very young — 18 or 19 — and parents willingly gave their consent. William Montgomery was just 18 when he was killed at Fromelles in 1916 fighting with the 59th Battalion, and Hugh Burns, with the 6th Machine Gun Company, was also 18 when he was killed at Passchendaele in 1917.

  The sense of adventure and the promise of secure employment were undoubtedly less influential in determining the men’s reasons for going to war than in Gulargambone. The Malvern community reflected the importance of empire and allegiance to the British crown. It was also patriotic and believed that the freedom of Australia was at stake and that the Allies were fighting a just cause. As the war gathered momentum, a huge propaganda campaign stressed the brutality of the ‘Hun’ and recruiting was fuelled by hatred of Germany. There were anti-German riots in nearby Prahran and St Kilda and, in Malvern, any German-sounding street name was changed. The churches believed that Christianity itself was under threat and 90 men from the Malvern Presbyterian Church enlisted — 37 of them died.

  Unsurprisingly, the civilian occupations of the Malvern recruits were quite different to those of the Gular boys. There were a number of tradesmen — including carpenters, plumbers, sheet metal workers, printers, blacksmiths and builders — salesmen, a chemist, a librarian, school teachers and several grocers, engineers, a bank accountant and a bank manager, a doctor and an architect. A few were labourers, a few farmers or farm hands; there was a market gardener, a dairyman and a butter-maker. One man was a hospital wardsman, while others were warehousemen. Some 140 Malvern tramway employees served, 12 of whom died. Most obvious, however, was the number of clerks who enlisted. These were white collar workers who were prepared to give up good jobs to go to war. These boys from the outskirts of Melbourne were tall and strong and there was no doubt that they would give ‘a good account of themselves’.52

  The men from Malvern served in a wide range of military units. Very few had the necessary skills to join the Light Horse. Instead, they were infantrymen, gunners or bombardiers in the artillery, machine-gunners, pioneers, signallers, engineers and sappers. In the infantry there were a number of 6th Brigade men, some in the 10th Brigade, a smattering in Pompey Elliott’s 15th Brigade and quite a few in the 8th.

  Malvern could boast one very distinguished recruit. Lieutenant Colonel George Knox, the son of ‘squire’ William Knox, commanded the 23rd Battalion at Gallipoli from August 1915 until he was wounded on the Somme in 1916. He was mentioned in despatches, received the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) and was well regarded by his men. An old boy of Malvern Grammar School, he was one of 110 men from that school to serve in the Great War. Knox served again in Australia in the Second World War and was knighted in 1945. He was known for his involvement in politics and his work as a philanthropist.

  Two of George Knox’s brothers also fought with distinction. William Knox, who fought with the 13th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, was awarded the MC and mentioned in despatches before dying of wounds received at Passchendaele. Macgregor Knox joined a British field artillery brigade and was also awarded the MC before being permanently incapacitated. Another brother, Robert, worked with the Australian Red Cross Society during the war. No-one could say that the sons of Malvern’s prominent citizens and councillors did not lead by example.

  It was not unusual for more than one member of a family to enlist, and not unusual for at least one son to die. In the Sloss family, four brothers enlisted, Roy and Bruce with the 10th Machine Gun Company, John with the Medical Corps and James, who became a prisoner of war in Turkey and received the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM), with the Australian Flying Corps (AFC). Bruce, a well-known Australian Rules footballer, was killed in 1917. Arthur and Frank Bailey, Edward and William Kneale, Frederick and Otto Kiellerup and Eric and Frank Richardson all gave their lives. The Malvern boys suffered heavily at Gallipoli, on the Somme in 1916 — particularly at Pozières — at Bullecourt and Passchendaele and in the battles of 1918. Overall, 184 men were killed in action or died of wounds or disease; of those who enlisted, approximately one in nine did not return.

  Three Shearwood brothers, born and bred in Malvern, enlisted together in July 1915. The eldest, Arthur, was 24 and a warehouseman and was discharged as medically unfit before leaving Australia. Ernest was 22 and a clerk, while Harry, a painter, enlisted at 20 with his parents’ consent. Both boys embarked on the Osterley in September 1915 as part of the 5th Reinforcement of the 21st Battalion. Harry quickly proved his mettle and rose through the ranks to sergeant in October 1916 and second lieutenant in April 1917. In February 1917 he won the MM for his actions at Malt Trench near Warlencourt. In April he was mentioned in despatches, perhaps for his actions at Bullecourt, where he was incapacitated following a severe mu
ltiple fracture to his right humerus and forced to return to Australia.

  Ernie also rose through the ranks and, by the end of 1917, was a lieutenant. He was trained as a sniper and observer, attended Officer Cadet School at Cambridge in 1917 and became an intelligence officer in May 1918. In 1916 he was wounded twice. On 20 September 1917 he transferred from the 21st Battalion to the 53rd. It would appear that, on 1 September 1918, Ernie was liaising with the 23rd Battalion, operating on the left of the 53rd, for their respective attacks on Mont St Quentin and Péronne. A mate, Lieutenant Jack Ridley, wrote of the way Ernie Shearwood died on that ‘horrible morning’. Ridley had gone to 23rd Battalion headquarters specifically to find Shearwood. While he was enquiring as to Ernie Shearwood’s whereabouts, ‘a shell burst right at the mouth of the dugout’, covering him with bits of sand and dirt. The candles were extinguished ‘and the place was filled with sickening fumes’. A number of men were wounded or killed. The body of Ernie Shearwood was found later.53

  Shearwood was buried, alongside several other men, in the new AIF cemetery at Feuillères by Reverend Alec Greville, the 53rd’s chaplain, at 2.00 pm on 4 September and a cross placed over the grave. The service was attended by the 53rd’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel William Cheeseman, and several officers. His name was also inscribed on a large cross erected in Péronne Military Cemetery in honour of those who fell during these operations.54 He was finally laid to rest in Hem Farm Military Cemetery after the war. A prayer book and religious medallion, photos, diary, books, clothing and other personal effects were returned to his parents, Robert and Sarah, in Malvern.

  Mateship was strong in Malvern and many of the men who enlisted must have known one another from cadets, the Rifle Club, the Grammar School, the state schools — 500 old boys from Tooronga Road School enlisted — and organisations such as the East Malvern Hockey Club, which saw all but four of its 33 members enlist. Ernie Shearwood’s mate Melville Beattie, another 21st Battalion man and, like Ernie, a former member of the Malvern Rifle Club, was killed at Bullecourt. Another man Ernie knew, George Collett, a bombardier with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade, suffered severely from mustard gas at Zonnebeke in September 1917. George Collett had enlisted with his 18-year-old brother Ernest; the two left Australia together, served in the same unit and were gassed at the same time. Ernest Collett died. Among his effects was a silver boomerang charm, but sadly this young man did not come home.