Grief ... and other emotions

During the week these two letters in the Courier attracted our attention


On Saturday May 22nd 1915 some one writing under the pseudonym 'Cave Canem' wrote:

and on Monday May 24th, young McGrath answered:

What news is this? Official Casualty Lists

This official casualty list was printed in the Ballarat Courier on Monday 24th May 1915.  The casualties sustained by the Australians at Gallipolli to date exceed 3000, which includes 360 deaths.  With our 20/20 hindsight from 100 years into the future, 360 deaths seems like a very low number for what the AIF is experiencing on the Gallipolli peninsula. By chance we saw this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, asking why did official casualty statistics become so distorted?  Why the Numbers of our WW1 Dead are Wrong

And as I turned the 100 year old Courier over this week, I found a memorial notice for Major Richard Wells:

 We've been following Major Wells, and noted that he was mortally injured at Krithia.  Here it is mentioned that his father-in-law Con Burrow is the superintendent of the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum. Letters on Major Wells' service record file are addressed simply 'Con Burrow, Ballarat' so he must have been very well known.

The casualty lists published in the Courier contain the names of many Ballarat men, and the grief in the city must have been profound.  A letter written to the Courier Editor wonders why the Town Hall flag isn't at half mast. 

Ballarat Courier, May 6th 1915

International Conscientious Objectors Day

Today is International Conscientious Objectors Day.

There is an interesting article on the ABC's Drum website which you can read here.

As you will see, that article, calling for a national monument for Conscientious Objectors, has resulted in a number of comments, and a lively discussion.  Its a shame that some people only see Conscientious Objectors as 'shirkers' and refuse to acknowledge the moral stance that being a Conscientious Objector involves. 

When I was in London 2 years ago, I came across this memorial in Tavistock Square, by coincidence on May 15. Up until then I hadn't realised there was a Conscientious Objectors Day.

The stone reads "To commemorate men and women conscientious objectors to military service all over the world and in every age. To all those who have established and are maintaining the right to refuse to kill : their foresight and courage gives us hope."  The stone was laid on May 15, 1994.  In Tavistock Square there is also a memorial to Gandhi, and the Hiroshima Tree.  You can read more about this memorial and what it means at the Peace Pledge Union website.

Another memorial I discovered in London was this one.  Erected by Sylvia Pankhurst in Woodford Green (north east London), this one is prescient, sad and forgotten.

 It is an anti aerial bombing memorial, so in a way its not a memorial at all, but a protest.  Sylvia wrote 'there are thousands of memorials in every town and village to the dead, but not one as a reminder of the danger of future wars'.  It was erected in 1935 and that is why I find it so poignant.  Its message is as valid now, with drone attacks in Afghanistan and elsewhere, as it was then, when London had not yet faced the Blitz, and firestorms were as yet unknown. You can read more about Sylvia Pankhurst and 'the stone bomb' here

The use of white feathers in WW1 - handing them to men it was deemed should have 'joined up', inferring they were cowards - is mentioned in one of the oral histories the Library holds.  Here is an excerpt from Doug Cotton's oral history (no. 40) relating something that happened to him in WW2:

I was mainly interested in ARP [air raid precautions] because I'd been rejected for service in the AIF on medical grounds, and also because I was over 35 in a reserved occupation ... how people reacted and the dreadful ways we treated each other in the war time ...  I was on a tram going up Sturt Street, home, and a lady came in and there wasn't a seat so I popped up and said "here you are, madam." She didn't say 'thank you' or 'kiss my foot' but she sat down, got something out of her purse and passed it to me for everybody to see: a white feather! That was one of the worst moments I had but I was fortunately able to think quickly enough and say "Is this one of your own madam, did you pluck it out yourself?"  Oh dear its a mad memory, it stirs me up a bit I really was rocked with that.

 Doug Cotton was an outstanding Ballarat citizen. In this case he was not a Conscientious Objector - he'd been rejected from the AIF - but he still had to withstand the derision of others for not 'joining up.'  

Conscientious objectors are courageous - to hold out against violence and killing when you face public hostility and hatred, when you are going against the tide of popular opinion – to maintain a stand against all this, and then to be labelled a ‘shirker’ - all this takes a great moral conviction.  It is a day with a valuable message today, May 15. Truly, Lest We Forget. 

Major Richard Wells, Krithia and Ross McMullin in Ballarat

Today, May 8th, is the centenary of the charge to Krithia. Where or what is Krithia? people say, when I mention this.  After the ANZAC landings, what came next?  Krithia is one part of what came next.

We’ve been following Major Richard Wells, of the 6th Battalion.  He has tree no. 151 in the Ballarat Avenue of Honour, although he was from Melbourne. His father in law Con Burrow, was an outstanding Ballarat citizen, a very military man, and we suspect it was he who ensured Major Wells was included in the Avenue.

The 6th battalion was part of the brigade called to help assist the British in the assault on Krithia, a strategically placed little village on the Gallipoli Peninsula.  Along with other country Victorian battalions the 5th 7th and 8th, the 6th left bitter fighting in the ANZAC sector and were shipped south.  They were already decimated by the fighting on 400 Plateau and Pine Ridge, but were to face worse yet.

Major Wells, Commanding Officer of C Company, 6th Battalion fell at Krithia.  Ron Austin in his history of the 6th Battalion As rough as bags writes “As the battalion advanced along Central Spur in full view of the Turkish defenders, the enemy fire quickly took its toll.  On the right flank of the Sixth’s advance, C Company, lost its company commander, Major Dick Wells, also Lieutenant Richard Kieran, both mortally wounded.”  Major Wells was evacuated to a hospital ship with gunshot wounds to his throat, and he died on 11th May.

The Krithia story is important to Ballarat because many Ballarat men were included in the 8th Battalion, and  were involved in the battle. The casualties at Krithia were higher than the ANZAC landings.

Tonight at Ballarat Library Ross McMullin will be speaking on this story, focussing on Clunes Mathison, the eminent young medical researcher killed at Krithia.  Mathison is the subject of one of the chapters of Ross McMullin’s award winning book Farewell Dear People.  Ross’ talk is part of Heritage Weekend, and free to attend.  It is 5.45pm for a 6pm start, this evening, May 8th.

Major Wells is the third officer on the left.  From "As Rough as Bags" p.26

Sinking of the RMS Lusitania

RMS Lusitania. taken from www.times.co.uk

 
 May 7th  marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania by German submarine U-20 off the coast of Ireland  killing 1,198 and leaving 761 survivors. While not directly related to Ballarat, the sinking of the Cunard ship was a key event in the early stages of the war.   The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany. It also contributed to the American entry into the war as a large number of the passengers that perished were American.  It also became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.

As Joan Beaumont ponits out although the Lusitania was probably carring contrband, its sinking was seen at the time as a cold-blooded and premeditated outrage, yet another German atrocity.  As a patrriotic Australian wrote on 14 May:

                      Would you have us fight with your own vile tools?
                      If we've no choice we must do the same
                     But we don't  sink boats with civilian crews
                     We leave that to you - tis a cowards game

                     Joan Beaumont Broken nation:Australians in the Great War

To commemorate the anniversary a book has been published which is available through Ballarat Library.  Dead wake: the last crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson.

Front page of the Ballarat Star reporting the sinking.  May 10 1915

 

Painting of the sinking. Taken from www.images.google.com

Recruiting poster used as a result of the sinking.  Taken from www.images.google.com

ANZAC Landings

Having commemorated the 100th anniversary of the landings last weekend this post will look at how the landings were reported in the local press in 1915.  It did not take long for the landings to be reported. The first stories appearing in the Ballarat Courier on the 29th April.  The reports were heavily censored for domestic consumption by British Officials.  The reports stated how enemy attacks was being repulsed and the Allies were pushing forward.  No mention of the heavy casualties being taken.  No doubt people reading these  reports in Ballarat in 1915 were left with the impression that their boys would be home for Christmas and that everything was going wonderfully well.. This sense of optimism would soon be dashed when the casualty lists would start appearing  in the paper within a couple of weeks.   Following is the initial report of the landings in the Ballarat Courier.

Ballarat Courier April 29th  1915

Map of the landings on the 25th April 1915.  Taken from www. gallipoli.com.au

The real tragedy of what was taking place came from the letters sent home to loved ones from Gallipoli. They told a completely different story.  As well journalists like Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Charles Bean and later Keith Murdoch  would write about the difficult conditions the ANZACS were facing. One thing all them reported  was how gallant the ANZACS were considering the hugh obstacles they were encountering.. Following is an excerpt taken from a letter sent home to loved ones from then Capt Leslie Morshead, later to become Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Morshead, one of Ballarat's finest citizens.

           This is the first letterI have attempted since our memorable and awful landing on Sunday 25th April.  I have even neglected my diary. But i shall never need a diary to remind me of what i went through or what i saw. No pen could describe that Sunday or Tuesday.  It was a grim hard fight.  On Thursday we were relieved, and when our roll was called we had considerably less than half a battalion.   It was a sorry spectacle to see all the men there, hungry, dirty, unshaven, bitter. (Taken from Dinkum Oil: letters published in the Ballarat Courier during the Great War by A.M. Taylor. avaiable in the Australiana Research Room, Ballarat Library)