He was only 19. Private Laurie James

Troops on board HMAT Hororata at Port Melbourne, 17 April 1915, AWM PB0448.

Laurie James, a bricklayer from Ascot Vale, was 19 years old when he swung out of the front gate of his family's tiny weatherboard home in Walter St, Ascot Vale and headed into Melbourne to enlist in the AIF.  It was January 1915.

The Hororata had left with the first contingent of troops in October the previous October, but had returned in time to embark a fresh lot of troops, including Laurie James, in April 1915.  The first troops had not yet scaled the heights of Gallipoli on the day Laurie left Melbourne on 17 April. By July that year Laurie was landed at Anzac Cove.  From that time forward Laurie was almost continuously engaged in warfare. For years it seemed he led a charmed life, but it all came to an end in an offensive against the Germans in August 1918.  As Rod Martin put it, 

"He had come so close to the end of the war, successfully fighting at Gallipoli, Pozières, Mouquet Farm and Passchendaele, only to fall less than three months before the Great War came to  a close."

Laurie served with the renowned local Battalion, the 7th Battalion, and in his story about Laurie, Rod Martin traces the dogged steps of the 7th Battalion as they ground their way towards an Allied Victory.  You can read Laurie's full story here.

Sister Fleming at Dartford, 1917

A lovely new portrait of Sister Elizabeth Gertrude Fleming has appeared at the Australian War Memorial - it certainly wasn't there the last time I looked for pics of Gertrude.   Just goes to show that it is worth rechecking repositories from time to time.  There was also a portrait of Lt General Chauvel on horseback said to have been taken by Gertrude.  You can further details on Gertrude's Empire Called webpage.

This memorial plaque for Pte David Fiddes of the 58 Inf Battalion (formerly 60 Inf Bn) was sent to his father, Andrew Fiddes, of 80 Gower St, Kensington.

The plaque was later donated to the Flemington & Kensington Returned and Services League.  The RSL now has a grant to frame some of their memorabilia of the Great War, and this plaque will be among those items.

Remembrance Day at the Flemington & Kensington Memorial, 

Racecourse Rd, 2018.  Photo: LenoreFrost

Private Wren Teale of Moonee Ponds

The above newspaper photograph which includes Hugh Lindsay (Wren) Teale was spotted in Winner  by Cheryl Griffin, who is doing a mighty job for Coburg at the Fighting the Kaiser blogspot.  Cheryl looked for "Wren Leale" on the Coburg Cycling Club Honour Board and realised he would be W Teale on the board.     Wren, from McPherson St, Moonee Ponds,  is seated front left in the photo.  He served with the 38 Inf Bn, and was killed in action on 19 Nov 1917.

Gunner Thomas Hogg, the mature recruit

With his usual precision, Rod Martin follows the military career of the mature recruit, Thomas Bell Hogg, a railway employee of Ascot Vale.

Mud and Blood

 

At the Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds, 

31 Aug at  12pm and 8pm

Local hero General 'Pompey' Elliott led the Essendon Rifles and took most with him to WWI after a farewell at Essendon Town Hall..

This compelling play by Moonee Ponds writer, Meg McNena, is directed powerfully by Alice Bishop. Set 1914-1921, in battle and at home, Pompey inspires as husband, father, brother, general, Anzac, veteran, leader. He and a soldier's mother deal with his vow to look after his boys in war as if they were his own. Women's contribution and their struggles also drive the drama. Potent themes of family, duty, loyalty, trauma, betrayal, legacy and grief vividly unfold during world-changing times.

The matinee performance will be followed by a Q&A and then by a talk by Ross McMullin, an award winning historian, biographer and author of two books on Pompey Elliott.

The matinee running times (approx):
Performance: 12.00 - 13.20
Q&A: 13.20 - 13.35
Break: 13.35 - 13.45
WWI Talk: 13.45 - 14.30
Questions: 14.30 - 14.45

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Duration: approximately 80 minutes,no interval. Note: 12pm performance is followed by a Q&A and interval (approximately 160 minutes in total).

Adult	$40
Children (17 and under)	$25
Student (FT)	$25
Concession (Age Pensioner)	$28
Concession (Health Care)	$28
Family (2 Adult / 2 Child)	$110

Book tickets

Sergeant George of the Railways Unit

British light rail engine, as used on the Western Front      (AWM H01948)

In late 1916, at the request of the British government, Australia advertised for experienced men to join a new railway operations division.  By the end of January 1917, the Victorian section was filled by ‘a very fine body of men’ from the Victorian Railways. Among these  was thirty-two-year-old engine driver, Alfred George of 37 Hardiman Street, Kensington.

Rod Martin describes the experiences of Sergeant Alfred Thomas George in Number 2 Section, Australian Railways Operations Division.  

Peter Stanley in his book Bad Characters, talked of the AIF being civilians in uniform:  

"In broad terms the AIF resembled the factories, workshops or shearing sheds that many of its members had known in civilian life.  Privates were the workers; non-commissioned officers (NCOs) were foremen, gangers or overseers; officers were the proprietors, managers or supervisors.  Soldiers saw them in these terms....  Australian soldiers often applied their civilian principles to their military experience."  (p37)

 This applied particularly to the trades unionists among them, and the railway soldiers were probably among the most heavily unionised soldiers of the AIF.   This becomes apparent in Rod's story telling of the reactions of the Number 2 Railway Unit when faced with unacceptable directions from their officers.