The New South Wales Government has posted on it’s website, footage from the 2008 Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Sydney Centotaph and March through the streets of Sydney. To view click here.
Have other state governments posted similar items about their commemorations? Please let us know: projectfffaif@yahoo.com.au
Following the success in locating the descendants of Private Henry (Harry) Cressy we are now seeking help in locating descendants of another Australian digger from the Great War, Private William Henry Craine, No 7093.
Private Craine’s portrait, like that of Private Cressy, has been donated to the Families and Friends of the First AIF by foundation member Ross St Claire and it is hoped that we can have a happy ending to this story as we did with the descendants of Harry Cressy. You can read Private Cressy’s story by clicking here.
Photo: Private William Henry Craine
William Craine was twenty years old when he enlisted in the AIF on the 10th August 1915 in Melbourne his attestation papers stated that he was a motor mechanic. William lived at home with his widowed father, Thomas Craine and his sister Clara, at 4 Washington St, Toorak, Victoria. Filed in Private Craine’s Service Record is the enlistment consent letter from his father, Thomas, written on the letterhead of the family business. It is highly probable that William worked with his father in the family business, in a Carriage Factory at Princes Bridge, City Road, Melbourne – Motor Car, Carriage and Buggy Manufacturer & Importer.
William had served for three years in the school cadets at Warnambool College followed by twelve months service in the militia as a member of the 49th Infantry. When he entered the Warnambool and later the Broadmeadow Training Camp of the AIF he would have been familiar with bivouacking under canvas.
Private Craine’s first 15 months of service with the AIF was spent in Australia before he embarked as a member of the 8th Battalion, 23rd Reinforcements from Melbourne on 23rd November, 1916 aboard HMAT Hororata bound for Plymouth. His arrival in Britain coincided with the coldest winter on record and within a fortnight he was admitted to Fargo Military Hospital, from Durrington Camp, suffering from bronchitis. After two weeks treatment he was discharged and joined the 2nd Training Battalion back at Durrington where after a further 2 months he joined the draft for overseas service on 4 June 1917.
Private Craine marched into the Australian Divisional Base Depot at Le Havre before re-joining the 8th Battalion on 27 June 1917. At that time the 8th Battalion, located south of Messines was under heavy fire from German artillery and mortar attacks. Private Craine was in the field with the Battalion until late July, during which time the Battalion marched south to Albert and took part in the Battle of Pozieres. On 26 July 1917 William’s Service Record, which can be viewed on line at The National Archives of Australia, shows he was admitted first to 2nd Australian Field Ambulance then onto 56th Casualty Clearing Station finally being admitted to the 12th General Hospital at Rouen suffering from ‘debility’, on 9 August.
Private Craine rejoined the 8th Battalion on 10 September 1917 in the field in the front line trenches in the Ypres Sector. After less than a month in the front line he was hit by a shell and killed on the Passchendaele Ridge, on 4 October. The Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files, available on line at the Australian War Memorial, give an insight to how he was killed. Private B. Costin (6966) stated:
Craine was in my platoon, he was a short fellow of about 22, I should say and thin. He was fair and clean shaven. He was not very strong and rather sickly. At Broodeseinde Ridge, Passchendaele Ridge we were going up to dig a strong post. We were an engineers party. We were walking in single file. I saw a shell drop and kill Craine instantly and a man next to him called Steve Harrison was so affected that he was seized with shell shock. I was not more than 7 or 8 yards away. I cannot give any details of his burial.
Private W.J. Long (6881) stated:
I knew the casualty ….he was known as Bill. Casualty was advancing at Passchendaele Ridge. I was in the same advance. He was about 50 yards from me and from the objective. An H.E. {high explosive} shell exploded near him killing him instantly. I saw the casualty as I was coming back and he was still lying in the same place. I do not know where he was buried.
Private Craine’s Service Record shows his final resting place as Ypres Reservoir Cemetery where he was reburied after his body had been exhumed from his original grave, in July 1921, by the Imperial War Graves Commission.
It is hoped that through the many visitors to this website that we may be able to re-unite the photographic portrait of Private William Henry (Bill) Craine with his family. If you have any information which could be of assistance, in achieving this aim, please contact the Web Editors at: projectfffaif@yahoo.com.au
Lest We Forget
With the media’s attention focused on the Olympic Games, in China there has been little coverage on Fromelles or any other World War 1 stories.
The Border Watch: Soldier will be laid to rest. Click here.
The Oxford Mail: Uncle may be in mass grave. Click here.
FFFAIF member Andrew Pittaway features in an article appearing in the Subiaco Post from Western Australia: Aussie remains found in France after 92 years. To read the article click here at go to pages 26 & 62.
*****
The Olympic Games and the Great War
In 1912 the Games of the V Olympiad were held in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 1916 Games were planned for Berlin, Germany but were cancelled.
The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp, Belgium to honour the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgium people. It was a Game of ‘firsts’ – it was the first time the Olympic Oath was recited and the Olympic Flag was flown. It was the first time New Zealand competed in it’s own right, rather than part of a combined team with Australia. Finland, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Monaco, Estonia and Czechoslovakia also competed as nations at the Olympic Games for the first time. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were not invited.
*****
The Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne
The Shrine runs a comprehensive series of public lectures throughout the year on a variety of topics. These lectures are available to download from The Shrine of Remembrance website.
This month’s lecture programme included:
General Sir John Monash , presented by Assoc. Prof. John Lack. Historian John Lack discussed the remarkable legacy of General Sir John Monash. Monash was pre-eminently a Great War hero, but his many achievements also extended into times of peace. To listen to or download the lecture click here.
Ninety four years ago today the Australian Red Cross was formed in Melbourne.
The Australian Red Cross website describes its establishment :
Australian Red Cross was formed as a branch of the British Red Cross at Government House, Melbourne on 13th August 1914 by Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson, wife of the Governor-General, exactly nine days after the outbreak of World War I. Lady Munro-Ferguson had been a member of the British Red Cross in Fyfe, Scotland and she was acutely aware of the important role the organisation enjoyed in Britain. At the same time she called on the wives of each State Governor to form a local committee in each capital, which they readily agreed to do, and so Australian Red Cross was born. The main task of the first Australian Red Cross volunteers was to supply care parcels containing soap, toiletries, special food and games for sick and wounded troops.
Within weeks of formation, the Branch was providing clothing (flannel shirts, cardigans, socks and gloves), medical supplies and equipment. Soon Australian Red Cross expanded its services by shipping items such as mosquito nets, hospital clothing and materials, as well as more food parcels. It commenced the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD), whose members cared for the sick and wounded in hospitals, on trains during transport and in convalescent homes.
Australian Red Cross was responsible for providing assistance to the survivors of the Battle of Gallipoli, the soldiers who fought in Egypt, the blind and those suffering from the effects of war.
In 1915 the Transport Service commenced, driving soldiers who had returned on the hospital ships to their homes or convalescent facilities. By the end of 1916 the total number of cars was 2,500 with more than half abroad, providing transport on the battlefields of France, Italy and East Africa.
Vera Deakin, the youngest daughter of the Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, volunteered her services establishing the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau of the Australian Red Cross in Cairo, Egypt in 1915.
Photo: Vera Deakin [AWM P02119.001]
This photo has been reproduced with the permission of the Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial describes the work of the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau of the Australian Red Cross: The aim of the bureau was to provide information for relatives of Australian soldiers who had been listed by the army as either wounded or missing, killed or a prisoner of war. It was the official link between prisoners and their families and also maintained full casualty lists for each state. The War Memorial has the records she and her helpers in the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau created during 1915-1919.
It was from these records that Lambis Englezos gathered vital information about the burial of the missing diggers from the Battle of Fromelles. Vera Deakin was awarded an OBE in 1919 for her services as head of the Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau of the Australian Red Cross.
This week 94 years ago the melting pot of tensions throughout Europe at the time came to a head, culminating in:
The Outbreak of War in Europe
On 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Hapsburg’s Austro-Hungarian Empire was in Sarajevo, Bosnia, accompanied by his wife, Countess Sophie. Bosnia with its volatile ethnic mix of Slavs, Serbs and Croats had been the scene of a number of rebellions by those who wanted Bosnia to join Serbia. A number of students conspired to assassinate the Archduke and one fired his revolver killing the Archduke with his first shot and Countess Sophie with his second shot.
The Austrians accused the Serb Government of being involved in the plot and on 23rd July Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia, which if agreed to would destroy Serbia as an independent state.
On 28th July Austria-Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with Serbia and declared war.
Russia had an alliance with Serbia and mobilised troops on 30th July.
On 31st July, Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia demanding demobilisation of its army. Germany, France, and Belgium each mobilised their troops.
On 31st July, Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher says, ‘Australians will stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to the last man and the last shilling’.
When the Russians refused to demobilise, Germany declared war on Russia on 1st August.
On 1st August, Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledges support to Britain saying ‘if the old country is at war, so are we’.
On 2nd August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium.
On 3rd August, Germany and France declared war on each other.
On 4th August Belgium refused Germany’s request followed by Germany declaring war on Belgium. Great Britain mobilised its forces and issued an ultimatum to Germany to guarantee Belgium neutrality by midnight (11pm London time) or the two countries would be at war.
4th August, the Australian Government offered 20,000 troops to the British Government. When the British ultimatum expired, Britain and her empire, including Australia, were at war with Germany.
94 years Ago – The Pfalz and the first “British” shot of the war
When the British Government’s ultimatum expired at 11pm in London on 4th August, it was midnight in Europe and 9am on 5th August in Melbourne, where the Australian Government was then located. Shortly thereafter the first “British” shot of the war was fired from Fort Nepean in Melbourne across the bow of the German ship Pfalz to prevent its escape from Port Phillip Bay.
The Pfalz was seized by Australia, renamed the SS Boorara and served as a troop transport. During July 1917, the Boorara’ was accidentally rammed by the French cruiser Klber and in July 1918 was torpedoed in the English Channel when transporting captured German war trophies from England to Australia. The SS Boorara survived the war and in June 1924 was transferred to the Commonwealth Government Line.
Source: Billett, R.S. War Trophies of the First World War, 1914-1918
Gallipoli
Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre
at Hickson Road, Walsh Bay.
July 30 until August 23.
Tickets: $77. Bookings: (02) 9250 1777
The Sydney Morning Herald – Friday 1st August – Brycett Hallett had this to say about the production:
The ghostly sight of young Australian men boarding a ship destined for uncertain adventure and later; nestled in a boat, their oars pointing to the heavens before ploughing the cruel sea, are among Gallipoli’s unforgettably stirring images.
Devised and directed by Nigel Jamieson, the epic is drawn from first-hand accounts of the 1915 campaign which would become a defining moment in Australia’s history: a much-mythologised time and place where many believe our national character was formed and out of which our true psychological independence grew.
Jamieson never loses sight of the big picture or of the social conscience driving the ambitious work. He and the splendid creative team, notably Trudy Dalgleish (lighting), Alan John (composer, musical director) and Antonia Fredman (video artist), have crafted a lyrical, tough, entertaining and wrenching account, not just of the mateship, fragility and skylarking but the carnage and disease that turned trenches into horrific deathbeds.
It throws into stalk relief the romanticised heroism and propaganda of the censored reports and what Charles Bean, the official Australian war correspondent, exposed in his diaries to be the truth of the matter: horror; beastliness, cowardice and treachery.
Performed on a raked stage with an amazing, albeit deceptive, simplicity, Gallipoli incorporates the rough-hewn delights of music hall, a fluid form of expressionist theatre with its clever and convenient trapdoors, the social awareness of Joan Littlewood’s political theatre and a muscularity and wryness that seems purely Australian. It is vigorously and skilfully played by the cast.
The Sydney Theatre Company’s permanent acting ensemble has manned the trenches several times to explore the bloodbath and cost of war but this is by far the most gripping and powerful to date. The consistently fine actors John Gaden, Pamela Rabe and Peter Carroll, among others, afford necessary depth alongside the third year acting students from NIDA The meld of movement and music invites comparison with The National Theatre of Scotland’s exhilarating and affecting Black Watch, but Jamieson’s (Honour Bound, Dead Man Walking) flights of fancy further reveal his own clear-sighted stage mastery.
Apart from a couple of didactic history-lesson patches in the second half, the epic sweeps the audience into its dovetailing vignettes of political expediency, military incompetence, misery and sacrifice with great immediacy, musicality and force. There is occasional pause for reverie amid the spectacle and when such moments arrive they are genuinely moving and tragic, none more so than the fury of flies swarming around bodies or the rising roll- call of the dead at the climax.
Gallipoli is a landmark production. It deserves a wide audience.
To read The Australian’s review click here.
Message from the web editor:- Well worth seeing if you have the opportunity.
The Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, The Hon. Warren Snowdon announced on Thursday 31st July that a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery would be created at or near the Pheasant Wood site and the soldiers’ remains [found during the June archaeological dig] would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones.
Fromelles Church from Pheasant Wood site. [Carole Laignel]
Stories of a personal nature are being featured in the media in Australia as well as overseas.
The West Australian: Fitting for soldiers to be given proper burial. Click here.
goldcoast.com.au: Revere the 5533 men of Fromelles. Click here.
The Goulbourn Post: Leave Uncle Jack in Peace: another local man at Fromelles. Click here.
Oxford Mail: Hopes grow of tracing war dead. Click here.
La Voix du Nord :- Lille,Nord-Pas-de-Calais,France: Un mois de juillet marqué par des tournants de l’histoire. To practice your French Click here.
The Australian: Plans for an Anzac track through France. Click here to read the article which reveals that the Federal Government may be re-thinking the way in which fallen Australians are honoured in France.
Fromelles Museum is located in the top floor of the Town Hall.
Bullecourt Walking Tour
Bullecourt Town Hall
Villers-Bretonneux Town Hall
Since the recent announcement by Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, The Hon. Warren Snowdon that a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery would be created at or near the Pheasant Wood site and the soldiers’ remains would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones, Fromelles has returned to the media spotlight.
Photo: Fromelles Church [Ray Hudson]
The announcement was made at the Cobbers Statue in Melbourne on Thursday 31 July and was broadcast on TV news. Selected coverage can be viewed through the Families and Friends of the First AIF website by clicking on the images following.
RSL supports dignified reburial of soldiers of Fromelles
Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel announced that the remains of the “missing” WW1 soldiers of Fromelles would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery near the Pheasant Wood site. Nine News item with interview of National President of RSL Bill Crews.
Watch the news item here:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5TPKmrFvE]
Relative supports dignified reburial of soldiers of Fromelles
Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel announced that the remains of the “missing” WW1 soldiers of Fromelles would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery near the Pheasant Wood site. Nine News item with interview of a relative, Tim Whitford.
Watch the news item here: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLdmZVGFS78&feature=user]
Dignified reburial of soldiers of Fromelles
Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel announced that the remains of the “missing” WW1 soldiers of Fromelles would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery near the Pheasant Wood site. 7 News item.
Watch the news item here: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn3qZe_rwms&feature=user]
The Australian, Saturday 2nd August features an article entitled: Fromelles diary reveals nation’s worst day, which features extracts from the diary of Captain Frederick Percy Williams. Williams was a Church of England chaplain attached to the 58th Battalion during the Battle of Fromelles and in his diaries he writes of the battle, the horrific casualties and a “morning of desolation”. To read the article click here.
United Press International also featured an article entitled: Soldiers from 1916 to be reburied. To read the article click here.
*****
Please check back for our WEB-WEDNESDAY update or breaking news updates during the week, to keep up to date on what’s happening with the Families and Friends of the First AIF and check out our other pages on this site. Look at the high resolution photos in the FFFAIF Photos section (contributions welcome) and look for updates in the Research area and the Member’s area. To contribute or make ‘constructive’ comments on our website please contact projectfffaif@yahoo.com.au, our aim is to ‘Keep the Memory Alive’ – KTMA.
If you enjoy reading our news and visiting our website you are invited to join the Families and Friends of the First AIF. We have members all over Australia and a growing worldwide membership. To meet some of our members click here.
It’s easy and inexpensive to join – simply print off the membership form and complete. Then post it off with your subscription to our membership secretary or contact us at projectfffaif@yahoo.com.au
*****
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 welcomes the Australian Government commitment to the re-burial of the “missing of Fromelles” with individual graves and headstones in a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery near Pheasant Wood and believes that DNA testing should be used to help identify as many of the soldiers as possible.
The recent announcement by Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, The Hon. Warren Snowdon that a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery would be created at or near the Pheasant Wood site and the soldiers’ remains would be exhumed and reburied with full military honours beneath individual headstones, has once again put Fromelles in the media spotlight.
Photo: Fromelles road signs [Ray Hudson]
The following reports appeared in the world press:
The Times Online: Troops in lost grave to be buried with full honours. Click here.
Oxford Mail: Dead soldiers bodies found. Click here.
The UK Herald: Troops In War Mass Grave To Be Buried. Click here.
Scoop World NZ: War Grave Plans Announced for Fromellles WW1 Dead. Click here.
International Herald Tribune: WW1 soldiers in mass grave to be reburied. Click here.
The Telegraph U.K.: Hundreds of British troops to be exhumed in France. Click here.
The Australian media has the following reports:
The Australian: Fromelles to get Digger Cemetery. Click here.
The Sydney Morning Herald: Full honours for fallen troops. Click here. Australian WW1 remains to be reburied. Click here.
ABC Radio Australia: Fromelles soldiers to be buried with military honours. Click here.
The Herald Sun: 170 mass grave Diggers to be buried with honours. Click here.
The Melbourne Age: Fromelles fallen to be reburied with honours. Click here. Reburying soldiers ‘the decent thing’. Click here.
The Brisbane Times: Full honours for fallen troops. Click here.
The ABC: Diggers group back Fromelles reburial. Click here. On this page you can also click on a video of the announcement and and audio recording of the announcement. Fromelles Mayor committed to remembering WW1 soldiers. Click here. Audio recordings available on this page also.
Illawarra Mercury: Fromelles burial plan brings mixed emotions. Click here.
*****
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.
