The 8th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division formed the left of the attack, in the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July. The Australian units were (from north to south):
8th Brigade
Assaulting battalions 32nd (WA) and 31st (Qld, Vic)
Reserve battalions: 29th (Vic) and 30th (NSW)
14th Brigade (NSW)
Assaulting battalions 53rd and 54th
Reserve battalions: 56th and 55th
15th Brigade (Vic)
Assaulting battalions 59th and 60th
Reserve battalions: 57th and 58th
Photo: Fallen ‘Canadian’ soldiers Fromelles 20 July 1916 (www.stahlgewitter.com)
Introducing: Private Harold John Bourke 30th Battalion
Private Bourke’s name not only appears on the memorial at VC Corner Cemetery but also on the German Death List of those buried at Pheasant Wood, in an area undisturbed for over 90 years after the Battle of Fromelles. Twenty two soldiers (22) from the 30th Battalion appear on the list of the ‘missing at Fromelles’.
Photo: Pheasant Wood at commencement of archaeological dig, May 2008. [Carole Laignel, Secretary of the F.W.T.M. 14-18 (Fromelles Museum)]
Harold Bourke was a twenty one year old labourer, with 4 years militia experience, when he enlisted in his home town of West Maitland, New South Wales on the 1 September 1915. Private Bourke’s attestation papers, available on line at the National Archives of Australia, give no indication that he had any difficulty in enlisting. His mother gave a different picture when she completed the Roll of Honour circular. On this form, sent to next of kin seeking details regarding the deceased, Katherine Bourke noted that Harold had tried to enlist shortly after the outbreak of the war but was turned down on ‘medical grounds’, and on his third attempt he was accepted.
Photo: Private Harold John Bourke No1682
This photo has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian War Memorial
Private Bourke trained at the Liverpool camp near Sydney a member of the 30th Battalion which had been raised as part of the 8th Brigade on 5 August 1915. Most of the volunteers in the 30th Battalion came from around the Newcastle area and other parts of country New South Wales.
On 17 December 1915, acting Corporal Bourke embarked aboard HMAT Berrima with the 2nd Reinforcements 30th Battalion bound for Egypt. The Battalion was part of the 8th Brigade which was destined for the Western Front, in June 1916. The Australian War Memorial website states: The 30th Battalion’s first major battle was at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. It was tasked with providing carrying parties for supplies and ammunition but was soon drawn into the vicious fighting. Following Fromelles, the battalion was rotated in and out of the front line along with others in the brigade, but played no major offensive role for the rest of the year.
One hundred and five men (105) men from the 30th Battalion died as a result of The Battle of Fromelles. Private Bourke’s family in West Maitland received a telegram in August 1916 stating he was missing in action. The Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files provided evidence for Lambis Englezos when researching the names of the missing from the Battle of Fromelles but they also give us an insight into the circumstances surrounding the death of Harold. From an entry made on the Red Cross Files from Bugler & Driver A.C.Walker (792) we learn that Private Bourke was first injured soon after the attack had started but not heard from since…..I saw him in the first wave over at Fleurbaix on 19th at about 6:45pm. He was two before me, he was hit in front of the German wire and lay there. I saw him and he asked me to bring someone to bring him in as he was hit in the back…………….We could not go for him. If alive he must be a prisoner, as the Germans came back to that trench.
This is consistent with the description by C. E. W.Bean, The AIF in France 1916 Ch 12 The Battle of Fromelles of the scene at about 6.30, when the first fatigue parties were crossing:
The original carrying parties in the 14th Brigade, half the 55th Battalion and in the 8th Brigade, half the 30th, had crossed No-Man’s Land with their first loads of sandbags and ammunition on the heels of the fourth wave. But with the commencement of the attack the enemy had brought his artillery-fire heavily down upon the old No-Man’s Land, which was also much swept by machine-gun and rifle bullets, making the carriage of supplies across the open very dangerous and burdensome.
Private Bourke was not officially listed as killed in action until March 1917, by which time the British Army had received his identity tags from the German Army. In addition the German War Office had also returned a ‘notebook & silk skien’ belonging to Private Bourke. These three items were eventually returned to his mother, who also benefited from Harold’s will. Before proceeding overseas Harold Bourke had bequeathed his mother £25. Harold also made another bequest to Miss Cecilia Hanna from Narrabri West of the ‘rest of my property and money’. There is no indication from public documents of Miss Hanna’s identity but she was obviously close to Harold and would have mourned his death. Private Bourke had served less than 12 months in the AIF.
Photo: Anzac Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France [Australian Photographic War Graves Photographic Archive]
Anzac Cemetery, near the village of Sailly-sur-La-Lys, was started by Australian units shortly before the Battle of Fromelles and contains the graves of many Australian soldiers from the 8th and 14th Brigades who died in the battle. These men have been given the dignity of individual burial in their final resting place. This honour should be afforded to those men buried in the pits at Pheasant Wood by the German army nearly 92 years ago.
FFFAIF Policy Statement
The Families and Friends of the First AIF believes that the Australian Government through the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs should commit the to re-burial of the “missing of Fromelles” with individual graves and headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Pheasant Wood after DNA testing.
FROMELLES IS NOT HONOURED ON THE NATIONAL OR ANY STATE MEMORIAL IN AUSTRALIA.
FFFAIF SUPPORTS ALL EFFORTS TO RECOGNISE FROMELLES ON OR AT THE NATIONAL AND ALL STATE MEMORIALS THAT PRESENTLY LIST BATTLES BY NAME.
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