WHEN, on the night of August 4th, 1914, Britain declared war upon Germany, the Australian people were behind the Government in immediately offering unreserved help to the Mother Country.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Joseph Cook, expressed the feelings of the people when speaking the day before the actual declaration of war. "If there is to be a war you and I shall be in it. We must be in it. If the Old Country is at war, so are we."
Whilst Andrew Fisher, leader of the Labour Party, then in opposition, said: "Australians will stand behind the
Mother Country, to help and defend her, to our last man and our last
shilling." And so Australia went to war.
We had sent contingents from each colony to other small wars before Australia became a Commonwealth. In this 1914 war, when our Prime Minister offered to Britain a contingent of 20,000 men, for service anywhere, they were drawn from all States of the Commonwealth and bore the proud title of the Australian Imperial Force. .
By the time the war ended, over four years later, the A.I.F., to use its usual title, had made a name for itself as one of the world's finest
In October, 1914, the 20,000 volunteer soldiers from all States of the Commonwealth said goodbye to their relations and friends and went on board the ships which were to take them over the sea to serve wherever Britain needed them. The soldiers were formed into what, in military language, is called a division. They were the-First Australian Division. This Division was further divided into three brigades, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades, and was commanded by Major-General W. T. Bridges.
The soldiers in their ships first went to Albany, in Western Australia, where they waited in the fine harbour for the other ships to arrive. By the end of October there were 28 ships with Australian troops on board, and 10 ships which had brought the New Zealand soldiers from their country to join the Australians.
- There were 8000 New Zealanders, which was a very large force in proportion to the population.
(They formed the New Zealand Expeditionary
Force or NZEF)
On Sunday, November 1st, 1914, this large fleet of 38 ships, called a convoy, set out on its journey across the sea. The convoy was drawn up
in three lines of ships containing the Australian soldiers, and two shorter lines behind them with the New Zealand soldiers.
The convoy was guarded by several warships, including our Australian ships, the "Sydney" and "Melbourne". It was a good thing that they were there as the German cruiser "Emden" was quite close. On November 9th a radio message was sent from Cocos Island, forty miles away, to the warships, telling them that the "Emden" was there.
The "Sydney" went off and found her, and after a hard fight, the "Emden" was driven ashore on Keeling Island, in the Cocos Group, and destroyed.
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When the soldiers left Australia not even General Bridges, their commander, knew what their destination would be. It was thought that
they would first go to England, where they would have more training before they did any fighting. While the convoy was crossing the Indian
Ocean General Bridges received information that Turkey had declared war on Britain and he was told that the Australian and New Zealand troops were to go to Egypt for their training, and not to England.
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So, early in December, 1914, the convoy, after passing through the
Suez Canal, arrived at Alexandria, situated on Aboukir Bay, where Nelson
had fought the Battle of the Nile more than a hundred years before. There was great excitement amongst the troops as they were landed at Alexandria and at once went by train to Cairo, the capital of Egypt. On
the way the soldiers were very interested in seeing the people at work in their cotton fields.
When they arrived at Cairo, a very large and beautiful city, the Australians were told they were to go to a big camp at Mena, ten miles south of Cairo, close to the wonderful Pyramids and the Sphinx. An enormous camp, to hold 20,000 troops, had been made ready for them just a mile from the Pyramids. The camp was all tents and sixteen men lived in each tent. The New Zealand troops went to another camp, Zeitoun, to the north of Cairo.
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At these camps the soldiers lived for three months. They trained and drilled very hard every day, and sometimes at night. On Saturday afternoons and Sundays they were able to go sightseeing, or spend time exploring the wonderful Pyramids, the largest of which is 451 feet high and covers thirteen acres of ground. They also went to Cairo to see the fine city, to visit restaurants and shops, and to have a change from camp life and food.
While the 1st Division was at Mena Camp another brigade of Australian soldiers, the 4th Brigade, arrived in Egypt to join them. This Brigade was commanded by Colonel Monash who later was to be one of Australia's most famous soldiers.
At the end of February, 1915, there was great excitement at Mena Camp. The 3rd Brigade was to leave for "an unknown destination". All was bustle and excitement. Where was it going? When would the other brigades follow? How soon before they would be in action? |
