19th Bn AIF History

Colour patch of 19^th Battalion

FFFAIF member Wayne Matthews has been gathering material to publish a history of 19th Bn AIF, 1915 – 1919. The FFFAIF is providing some support to this effort by spreading the word that the project is well advanced. Anyone with photos of personnel, diaries, letters or other information on the unit that might be included, please contact Wayne Matthews at wayne.bren@bigpond.com.au phone (02)4929 4061 (Newcastle) or David Wilson at david.wlsn4@gmail.com or 0416 339 714 (Sydney).  The publication of this unit history will go a long way to filling a significant gap in unit histories of the 5th Brigade and 2nd Division, AIF.

The 19th Battalion was raised at Liverpool in New South Wales in March 1915 as part of the 5th Brigade. A large number of the 19th’s original recruits had already served with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) in the operations to capture German New Guinea in 1914. The 19th left Australia in late June, trained in Egypt from late July until mid-August, and on 21 August landed at ANZAC Cove. To read more about the 19^th Battalion from the Australian War Memorial website click here.

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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.

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.