Pte Valentine Legg embarks, 1916

Members of 3 Reinforcements/58 Battalion on the dock before boarding

HMAT Ajana, 8 July 1916

Private Valentine Legg was amongst the reinforcements of 58 Inf Bn which boarded the Ajana on 8 July 1916 en route for the war in France.  In March 1917 Valentine received a head wound from a fragment of high explosive shell. Rod Martin tells his story.

Diary of a native of Flemington

Facsimile of Allen Allsop's diary on the FromThePage website

A transcription project from FromThePage includes the war diary of a young man from Mosman, NSW, Wilfred John Allan Allsop, who served with the 8th Field Ambulance.  Allan, as he was known, was born in Flemington, Victoria and the front pages of his diaries include addresses for friends and relatives in Kensington and Essendon.   If you like this kind of work, you might like to volunteer to transcribe this or other handwritten works.  There are a number of transcription projects being organised in Mosman.

Orry Farrant and the 107 Howitzer Battery

A 4.5 inch howitzer at Ravine Wood, near Ploegsteert.  AWM Collection.  Orry Farrant is not pictured.

In 1916, 18 year old Orry Farrant changed his desk at a livestock auctioneer's office for a 4.5 Howitzer in the 7th Field Artillery Brigade.  The enemy, of course, was always attempting to  knock out the batteries which did them so much damage, and Orry fell in just such an attack. Read Rod Martin's description of the work of Howitzer Batteries, and Orry's end here.

Buried at sea

Aquitania steaming through Mudros Harbour.

Deaths on Service
BAKER. - On the 29th November, on hospital ship
"Aquitania," of exhaustion, Douglas Gibbs, 6th Bty.,
2nd F.A.B., younger son of J. A. Baker, 19 Brighton
road, St. Kilda. In firing-line since April without rest.
(Inserted by his sisters.)
The Argus 18 Dec 1915
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1586588

Rod Martin gives an account of the actions in which Driver Douglas Gibbs Baker was involved on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and which led to his evacuation and ultimate death. Baker had been born in Ascot Vale, and attended the Ascot Vale State School, and is commemorated on their honour board. 

Pte Middleton in Sausage Valley

Australian troops in 'Sausage Valley', as the troops called Pozieres, in 1916.   Private Ellis Middleton of Bowen St, Moonee Ponds, was sent into Sausage Valley with the 2nd Australian Division on 24 July 1916, and never came out.  Read Rod Martin's account of Ellis Middeleton's war service.

Wheatley brothers of Moonee Ponds

Sgt Greg Wheatley on the left, and his brother Pte Horace Wheatley on the right, at
their  family home, 1 Athol St,  Moonee Ponds.  Courtesy of Lorraine Rogers.

When their younger brother Noel Wheatley, only 19 years old, was killed on 26 June 1915 on the Gallipoli peninsula, his two older brothers, Greg and Horace, determined to join the AIF and avenge  his death.  They are picture above not long before embarkation.


"Among the hundreds of recruits who left Melbourne
for Seymour yesterday was Mr J A [sic] Wheatley,
better known throughout the Commonwealth as 'Dad'
Wheatley, once the amateur champion cross-country
runner of Australia. Mr Wheatley represented Australia
at the Olympic games held at Athens several years ago.
His brother, Private Noel Wheatley, a promising black
and white artist, aged 20 years, was killed in action at
Gallipoli recently, and Mr G A Wheatley and another
brother, Horace have enlisted to avenge his death.
They are sons of Mr A E Wheatley, of Moonee Ponds,
formerly assistant registrar of titles."                   
The Argus 3 August 1915        
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1544524

Alex Galland of Ascot Vale

The First AIF boarding HMAT Hororata at Port Melbourne, October 1914

Alex Galland of Bank Street, Ascot Vale, would have been amongst the men boarding the Hororata in October 1914.  He left Australia as a private with the 7th Infantry Battalion, survived the landings at Gallipoli, and the battle of Krithia.  Later in France he was promoted to Temporary Sergeant.  Rod Martin tells the story of his battles in France.