Compiled for Darebin Heritage by Brian Membrey
The First Call To Action
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
Australia's first casualties came just under a month after general recruiting for the A.I.F. began.
In the years leading up to the outbreak of war, expansionist Germany (which had control of New Guinea) had established powerful wireless and telegraph stations in the south-
When Britain declared war on Germany, Australia was asked to destroy the radio stations and to occupy German New Guinea and the surrounding areas, leading to the formation of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) for which recruiting began on 10 August, five days after Britain entered the war.
Less than ten days later, a force of 1,000-
The ANMEF left Sydney on 19 August aboard HMAT Berrima escorted by the cruiser HMAS Sydney and joined later by two stores ships, two submarines and further escort vessels.
Just over a month later, at dawn on 11 September 1914, fifteen hundred men and almost the entire Australian fleet arrived off Rabaul in German New Guinea. The men had not been told of their destination or objectives until a few days before their arrival.
Two hours after arrival, two parties of 25 naval reservists under the command of an officer (Lieutenant Rowland Griffiths Bowen, a regular based in Port Melbourne with the Royal Australian Navy went ashore at the settlements of Herbertshöhe and Kabakaul to search and take two radio stations, believed respectively four and seven miles inland.
A letter written the night before to his family in Sydney by the group’s medical office, Captain Brian Pockley (the second Australian casualty and first commissioned officer to die in combat) the uncertainty behind the upcoming operation
"we are not even certain that they exist, and much doubt if they are defended. However, we shall see tomorrow ..."..
View the detailed history of “The First To Fight”
The Northcote Contingent
Just before the action, The Argus published a list of 104 Victorian Naval Reservists heading into action with ANEMF and for a town nowhere near the ocean, the Northcote district remarkably provided five of the group.
Able Bodied Seaman William George Vincent Williams from 36 Beavers Road became the first Australian casualty of the War; the other four were : Midshipman Charles William Hicks (11 Mitchell Street, Northcote), Ordinary Seaman William Nathanael Gothard (c/-
Hicks, Gothard and Bourne all resigned from the Reserve on their return and enlisted in the A.I.F.; he first three mentioned later enlisted with the A.I.F. -
Gothard was shown in private life as a 22-
Rupert Bourne served as 1038, 30th Battalion, A Company (later 5th Pioneer Battalion), shown as 23-
Hicks was later promoted to sub Lieutenant with the Naval Expeditionary Force. He enlisted as a 21-
Born 1887 in Adelaide, he enlisted 12 July, 1906 in Adelaide for a five-
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-
Action At Rabaul
The Force first saw action, and the first Australian casualties, when a raiding party of 25 – rather surprisingly Naval Reservists from H.M.A.S. Una rather than the trained infantry party -
One permanent officer and five Naval ratings were subsequently killed in the raid. One German and 30 New Guinea native police troops under German command were killed; RAN Reserve Officer Lieutenant Bond was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his action in disarming eight Germans and causing the surrender of 20 New Guineans.
The German administrator at surrendered Rabaul two days later, and on 21 September all German forces in the colony surrendered and ANMEF forces commenced military occupation of German New Guinea.
The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 acceded to Australian Prime Minister "Billy" Hughes' demand that the former German colony be placed under Australian control despite U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's grand plan for the "internationalisation" of the former German colonies. Japan occupied most of the remaining German possessions in the Pacific.
Officially the first casualty was Able Bodied Seaman William George Vincent Williams, a 29-
The eastern section of New Guinea in 1915; German colonies in red. Holland (who remained neutral during the war, held the western end of the island, the southern-
Officers and ratings of the Victorian naval contingent of the 1st Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force, circa August 1914. The officers in the foreground are, from left, Lieutenant Bowen, Sub Lieutenant Webber, Sub Lieutenant Hext, Midshipman Hicks, Midshipman Veale and Engineer Midshipman Willian.
The White Family, Nprthcote |
The Horwood Family, Preston |
The Twight Family, Northcote |
The Smith Family, Preston |
The Delbridge Family, Alphington |
The Moore Family, Northcote |
The Walker Family, Northcote |
South Preston State School (824) >> |
South Preston : A-C |
South Preston : D-G |
South Preston : H-J |
South Preston : K-Mc |
South Preston : Me-R |
South Preston : S |
South Preston : T-Z |
The First 26 |
1,000 Days |
1914 Special Leave |
... and On Average |
And from Northcote |
The White Family, Nprthcote |
The Horwood Family, Preston |
The Twight Family, Northcote |
The Smith Family, Preston |
The Delbridge Family, Alphington |
The Moore Family, Northcote |
The Walker Family, Northcote |
South Preston State School (824) >> |
South Preston : A-C |
South Preston : D-G |
South Preston : H-J |
South Preston : K-Mc |
South Preston : Me-R |
South Preston : S |
South Preston : T-Z |
The First 26 |
1,000 Days |
1914 Special Leave |
... and On Average |
And from Northcote |