Ballarat men at Gallipoli 1

William Kinsey Bolton -
National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an23251721

William Kinsey Bolton, CBE, VD (1860-1941) was born in Cheshire in England.  He migrated to Victoria in 1868. 10 years later he joined the Southern Rifles, a militia group.  He received a commission in 1891, and led the officers' rifle team to victory during the Federation celebrations in 1901.  By the outbreak of the First World War, Bolton was Commanding Officer of the Ballarat based 70th Infantry, and in August 1914, he was appointed commander of the 8th Battalion, which was largely recruited from Ballarat and country Victoria. He was already an older man and not in great health, but he was determined to go to the War.  Unfortunately after participating in the early ANZAC battles, including in particular, that at Krithia, by 22nd May 1915, Bolton's health had deteriorated to such an extent that he was replaced as Commanding Officer by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brand. There is a rather tragic letter written by him, included in his service records: the strenuous work of the last 3 weeks has been too much for a man of my years...I am broken in body and mind: the horrors at Aitchi Baba [sic] were more than I could stand... As the first CO of the 8th Battalion, Bolton established the standards which were to carry the battalion through later campaigns, and also achieved the enduring reputation of being a CO forever solicitious of his troops' welfare. (1)

Bolton returned to Australia, and received a hero's welcome in Ballarat.  Later he was elected to the Australian Senate, serving from 1917-1923.  In 1918 he was awarded the CMG, and retired from the Army with the rank of Honorary Brigadier-General.

He was the first President of the Ballarat branch of the RSL (Returned Sailors and Soldiers League) and the founding Federal President of the RSL, a position he held from 1916 until 1919.

There is a more detailed biography at the Australian Dictionary of Biography of Bolton, indicating the positives and negatives of his career.  He was accused of cowardice at Gallipoli, but he was able to refute all those claims.

(1) Austin, Ron Cobbers in khaki: the history of the 8th battalion 1914-1918

Gallipoli Evacuation

Percy Lay, from Ballan, kept a diary during the whole of his WW1 service.  A copy was published in 1983, and we have a copy in the Australiana Research Room if you would like to read it.  We are going to let Percy tell of the evacuation:

December 11 and 12 1915.

Went up into the front line. 5th and 6th Btns. went off the Peninsula. Where and why they were going was a bit of a mystery. Heard that they had gone to Imbros because there were too many troops on ANZAC.

December 13, 1915.

Heard we were to evacuate ANZAC but would not believe it.

December 14, 1915.

Started to shift stores and ammunition as fast as possible.  We could get almost anything just for the asking. It seems as though we really are going to leave the peninsula.

December 15, 1915.

Spent the day destoying picks and shovels and emptying out rum casks and burying explosives. It seems a shame.

December 16, 1915.

Carted bombs down to the beach. Our planes up all day over their lines. It was reported we had captured a Turkish spy in our lines.

December 17, 1915.

Tipped out about 500 gallons of rum but while on this working party we got a lot of their very best stores. Tipping rum seems a terrible waste of good stuff.  There were strict orders that nobody was to touch a drop of it.

December 18, 1915.

Heard that we were to leave the same evening and left things so that they would be no use to the Turks.  We also blew up a few of our guns.  Left the trench at 5.15pm and had a quick trip to the beach. Troops started evacuating and everything going very smoothly.  Not much stuff left for the Turks.  "Beachy Bill" [Turkish gun at Gaba Tepe] only fired three shots. A bit hard on us old chaps, sneaking away like rats, having to leave so many of our old mates buried there, and then finding that our efforts were no good.  We had sandbags on our boots and our bayonets covered. In fact we were like criminals sneaking away.  We embarked on the "Abbessiah".

December 19, 1915.

Went off "Abbessiah" on the "WINIFREDAN" in Mudros Bay to await a boat to take us ashore on Lemnos.  Disembarked and went to our old camp at Sarpe and found most of 1st Divn. there.

December 20, 1915.The last of the die-hards arrived.  They got away without a shot being fired at them.

The Department of Veterans Affairs website Gallipoli and the Anzacs, has an overview of the Evacuation, if you wish to read further

Breaking up rum cases on North Beach on 17 December 1915 prior to the evacuation. [AWM G01276]

Gallipoli Diaries

The Gallipoli ordeal is almost over.

We've been looking at some diaries written by men who were there.  You can just google "Gallipoli Diaries" and a number of results will lead you to various State Libraries and other websites where you can read digitised copies or transcripts.  The Australian War Memorial is still the best source, however.  We've been reading the 1915-16 diary of John Kingsley Gammage, a soldier from Cootamundra, NSW, who sailed from Sydney in April 1915 aboard the Argyllshire.  He survived the First World War and returned to Australia.

Gammage landed at Gallipoli on 26 June 1915. He was wounded in the left leg during the battle of Lone Pine in August 1915 and was sent to Mudros for treatment and recuperation. He re-joined the 1st Battalion on 25 September 1915. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Gammage returned to Egypt with the Battalion but was transferred to the Imperial Camel Corps on 29 January 1916. He served with the Corps in Libya and Palestine. 

There isn't much evidence of a legend in the making, reading his diary. He writes of reinforcements arriving, and how shocked they are by the appearance of the men they are relieving - worn, weary and emaciated. He writes of tiredness and weakness, hunger and overwork, and is scathing of officers and their petty requests. He also notes how hard it is to know what is happening overall, and says this diary can only be his own account of his own Company.

You can read the original diary at the AWM site, but there is also a typed transcript. Although the transcript is far easier to read, it is very emotive to read Gammage's own handwriting.