Alec Champbell, the last surviving Australian to fight at Gallipoli. 26Feb 1899-16 May 2002
Year 9 History, Semester 2- 2012
Depth Study 3: World War One (1914-1918)
Students investigate key aspects of World War I and the Australian experience of
the war, including the nature and significance of the war in world and Australian
history.
1. An overview of the causes of World War I and the reasons why men enlisted
to fight in the war
2. The places where Australians fought and the nature of warfare during World
War I, including the Gallipoli campaign
3. The impact of World War I, with a particular emphasis on Australia (such as
the use of propaganda to influence the civilian population, the changing role
of women, the conscription debate)
4. The commemoration of World War I, including debates about the nature
and significance of the Anzac legend.
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2
Lesson-1
World War 1
Watch YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP_0DkpFOKs
Origins and major features of the war
World War I is often said to have been caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in
the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. Their deaths occurred on 28 June 1914, and by 4 August all the
great European powers were at war. The assassination was a trigger for the European powers to
honour their alliances and look after their own interests. One by one they mobilised and prepared
for war: the empires of Germany and Austria-Hungary on one side and those of Russia, France
and Great Britain on the other. Other countries joined later. It was a war between empires
because its roots were in nationalism and imperialism. The empires fought to gain a bigger
empire or to preserve the empire that they had.
As the war continued it became difficult to stop, as the idea of losing became unthinkable after so
many resources had been invested and there was so much suffering.
Australia will be there, but at what cost?
Being part of the British Empire meant that Australia was committed to the war immediately. Men
flocked to enlist, many fearful that they would miss out on a great adventure. As the war
progressed, the horrors of Gallipoli and the Western Front changed people's perspective. Many
soldiers who returned home were physically and mentally scarred after the war.
Out of the suffering of this war arose the Anzac legend. The landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in
1915 was Australia's 'baptism of fire'. Throughout World War I, Australian soldiers demonstrated
the same characteristics under fire that they showed at Gallipoli.
The soldiers returned to a country that was proud of their achievements: Anzac Day had already
been celebrated in 1916. The war had divided Australians and caused major political and social
changes, which were exacerbated by the conscription plebiscites of 1916 and 1917.
Optional – YouTube Rowan Atkinson Why did WW1 begin?
Blackadder - How did the war start_ (eng sub) [www.keepvid.com].mp4
Task:
 Draw table of short term/long term causes for war.
 After watching YouTube clip, create small mind map with words that represent war to
you
 Write 6 words that represent what it is to be an ANZAC (short discussion on how
these words match or not with ideals of war
Mindmap – Why did Australia become involved in WWI in 1914?
Lesson-2/3
Learning intention-To gain an understand of conditions in Europe at this time in the lead-up to the
assisination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
PowerPoint – Causes of World War 1
i)
Long Term Causes
ii)
Short Term Causes
..\Powerpoints\Causes of WWI.ppt
3
Schlieffen Plan
In 1904 France and Britain signed the Entente Cordiale (friendly understanding). The
objective of the alliance was to encourage co-operation against the perceived threat
of Germany. Negotiations also began to addRussia to this alliance. As a result of
these moves the German military began to fear the possibility of a combined attack
from France, Britain and Russia.
Alfred von Schlieffen, German Army Chief of Staff, was given instructions to devise a
strategy that would be able to counter a joint attack. In December, 1905, he began
circulating what later became known as the Schlieffen Plan. Schlieffen argued that if
war took place it was vital that France was speedily defeated. If this happened,
Britain and Russia would be unwilling to carry on fighting. Schlieffen calculated that it
would take Russia six weeks to organize its large army for an attack on Germany.
Therefore, it was vitally important to force France to surrender before Russia was
ready to use all its forces.
Schlieffen's plan involved using 90% of Germany's armed forces to attack France.
Fearing the French forts on the border with Germany, Schlieffen suggested a scythelike attack through Holland, Belgium andLuxembourg. The rest of the German Army
would be sent to defensive positions in the east to stop the expected Russian
advance.
When Helmuth von Moltke replaced Alfred von Schlieffen as German Army Chief of
Staff in 1906, he modified the plan by proposing that Holland was not invaded. The
main route would now be through the flat plains of Flanders. Moltke argued that
Belgium's small army would be unable to stop German forces from quickly entering
France. Moltke suggested that 34 divisions should invade Belgium whereas 8
divisions would be enough to stop Russia advancing in the east.
On 2nd August 1914, the Schlieffen Plan was put into operation when the German
Army invadedLuxembourg and Belgium. However, the Germans were held up by
the Belgian Army and were shocked by the Russian Army's advance into East
Prussia. The Germans were also surprised by how quickly the British Expeditionary
Force reached France and Belgium.
Task:
On map provided, mark in the Schlieffen Plan and in your own word answer the
following:
1. Why did Germany create this plan (objectives and why they felt it was
needed)?
2. What were the potential benefits of this plan?
3. What were the failings? (What did they overlook or miss judge?)
4. What was the outcome?
The Schlieffen Plan YouTube clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCbNE3ToePA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXAcl8D51Y&feature=relmfu
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Lesson-4
PowerPoint-Gallipoli Campaign
W.W.1 lesson outline 2012\Gallipoli powerpoint.pptx
http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/1landing/ (this site has an interactive website that allows students to
look at a map of the landing)
Task:
Watch the following YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9A4ARtbmFk then read
through the lyrics and in one paragraph outline the how war was portrayed in this song.
When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli
It well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
He nearly blew us back home to Australia
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again
Oh those that were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying
Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me
They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane
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Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away
Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
Lesson-5/6
Movie-Gallipoli
Task:
Fill in the grid that is on the next page in your booklets
Gallipoli (Peter Weir)
Find examples of the following in the film. Describe what happens.
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Australian’s
enthusiasm to join
the war. List all
the reasons the
film depicts.
Australian’s
attitude towards
England.
Australian’s
attitude towards
Germany.
Australia is a long
way from Europe
Australian’s antiauthoritarianism.
Australian
mateship
Training for the
war.
Conditions in the
trenches
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Lesson-7
The AIF served in Egypt, Palestine, the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Western Front. After the
Gallipoli campaign, the Australian infantry divisions went on to fight some of the worst battles of
the war, in France and in Flanders (Belgium). Between 1916 and late 1918, 295 000 Australian
soldiers served in this area of the Western Front. The Battle of the Somme in France in 1916 and
the Battle of Passchendaele in Flanders in 1917 are the two battles which most represent the
needless slaughter of young Australian men on the World War I battlefields.

Map of the Western Front – identify the numerous places Australian soldiers fought.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/western_front/index_embed.shtml
 Trench warfare and living conditions
W.W.1 lesson outline 2012\Trench warfare and living conditions.docx
W.W.1 lesson outline 2012\Primary Source - accounts from the trenchesWhilst asleep
during the night.docx
Task:
Students will take turns reading through the information below and then answer questions in
their books.

Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in
which troops are largely protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are
substantially sheltered from artillery. It has become a byword for attrition warfare, for
stalemate in conflict, with a slow wearing down of opposing forces.
Trench warfare occurred when a military revolution in firepower was not matched by similar
advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defense held the
advantage. In World War I, both sides constructed elaborate trench and dugout systems
opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire. The area between
opposing trench lines (known as "no man's land") was fully exposed to artillery fire from
both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties as a matter of course.
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Rat Infestation
Rats in their millions infested trenches. There were two main types, the brown and the
black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging
themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and
liver) they could grow to the size of a cat.
Men, exasperated and afraid of these rats (which would even scamper across their
faces in the dark), would attempt to rid the trenches of them by various methods:
gunfire, with the bayonet, and even by clubbing them to death.
It was futile however: a single rat couple could produce up to 900 offspring in a year,
spreading infection and contaminating food. The rat problem remained for the
duration of the war (although many veteran soldiers swore that rats sensed impending
heavy enemy shellfire and consequently disappeared from view).
Frogs, Lice and Worse
Rats were by no means the only source of infection and nuisance. Lice were a neverending problem, breeding in the seams of filthy clothing and causing men to itch
unceasingly.
Even when clothing was periodically washed and deloused, lice eggs invariably
remained hidden in the seams; within a few hours of the clothes being re-worn the
body heat generated would cause the eggs to hatch.
Lice caused Trench Fever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with
severe pain followed by high fever. Recovery - away from the trenches - took up to
twelve weeks. Frogs by the score were found in shell holes covered in water; they
were also found in the base of trenches. Slugs and horned beetles crowded the sides of
the trench.
Many men chose to shave their heads entirely to avoid another prevalent scourge: nits.
Trench Foot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life. It was a fungal
infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. It could
turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench Foot was more of a problem at the
start of trench warfare; as conditions improved in 1915 it rapidly faded, although a
trickle of cases continued throughout the war.
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“Whilst asleep during the night, we were frequently awakened by rats
running over us. When this happened too often for my liking, I would
lie on my back and wait for a rat to linger on my legs; then violently
heave my legs upwards, throwing the rat into the air. Occasionally, I
would hear a grunt when the rat landed on a fellow victim.”
(R L Venables)
“If you have never had trench foot described to you, I will explain. Your
feet swell to two to three times their normal size and go completely
dead. You can stick a bayonet into them and not feel a thing. If you are
lucky enough not to lose your feet and the swelling starts to go down, it
is then that the most indescribable agony begins. I have heard men cry
and scream with pain and many have had to have their feet and legs
amputated. I was one of the lucky ones, but one more day in that trench
and it may have been too late.”
(Harry Roberts)
“The water in the trenches through which we waded was alive with a
multitude of swimming frogs. Red slugs crawled up the side of the
trenches and strange beetles with dangerous looking horns wriggled
along dry ledges and invaded the dugouts, in search of the lice that
infested them.”
(unknown journalist)
“To get a ‘cushy’ one is all the old hands think about. A bloke in the
Camerons wanted a ‘cushy’ bad! Fed up and far from home he was. He
puts his finger over the top and gets his trigger finger taken off and two
more besides. “I’m off to bonny Scotland!” he says laughing. But on the
way down to the dressing station, he forgets to stoop low where an old
sniper is working. He gets it through the head.”
(Robert Graves)
“We slept in our clothes and cut our hair short so that it would tuck
inside our caps. Dressing simply meant putting on our boots. There
were times when we had to scrape the lice off with the blunt edge of a
knife and our underclothes stuck to us. “
(Elizabeth de T’Serclaes– a nurse on the front line)
“No 1……2 Private A B; the Battalion (Pioneers) South Staffordshire
Regiment was tried by FGCM on the following charges: “Misbehaving
in such a manner as to show cowardice”. The accused, when
proceeding with a party for work in the trenches, ran away owing to
the bursting of a shell and did not rejoin the party. The sentence of
the court was to suffer death by being shot."
"We must looked out for our bread. The rats have become much
more numerous lately because the trenches are no longer in good
condition. The rats here are particularly repulsive, they are so fat the kind we call corpse-rats. They have shocking, evil, naked faces,
and it is nauseating to see their long, nude tails."
Erich Maria Remarque
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Questions
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
How accurate is this description of trench warfare? How do we know these things
really occurred in the trenches?
What happened to the guy who wanted to get a ‘cushy’ exit back to Scotland?
What is a ‘cushy one’?
Why were the rats in the trenches often referred to as corpse-rats?
Choose 6 words that describe conditions in the trenches
Lesson-8
Working in pairs, research the following locations that Australians fought during WWI.
 Passchendaele, in Flanders
 Fromelles
 The Somme
 Sinai
 Palestine
For each location, answer the following questions and record them in your books:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
When did the battle/s take place, and how many Australian soldiers were
involved?
Who were the Australians fighting with and who were they fighting against at this
location?
What were the conditions of this location like (eg weather, food, etc)?
How many Australians were killed and/or injured in this location?
What was the outcome of the battle/s fought there?
ASSESSMENT
Historiography Task-Document Analysis
Impact of war
Lesson- 9
Explore the brief timeline of events in WWI
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/18-key-events-of-world-war-1
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The enlistment dilemma
Prior to 1915, the most dangerous activity for Australians had been working in the mining
industry. This changed during World War I. As war casualty figures were published, people
began to question their initial enthusiasm for war.
Year Deaths
1915 8 474
1916 13 696
1917 21 736
1918 14 240
Source 10.1 Numbers of Australian servicemen who died in each year of the war
Task:
Explore the site below and create a graph using the statistics given for Australia, Great Britain
and 3 other countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
Propaganda
A variety of propaganda campaigns and a reduction in the required physical standards of entry
in 1915 contributed to increased enlistments. Until the middle of 1915 there had been no
organised recruitment program; men joined in response to their own feelings or private
pressures. The Australian government was forced into action because it had promised Great
Britain more men than it was able to deliver. Men who had thought that they would not be
needed came forward, along with those who had wanted to join but whose physical standard did
not reach that required in 1914.
From the middle of 1915, various patriotic ceremonies were organised to raise money for the war
effort and to encourage enlistment. The new monuments erected to honour those killed in the
war were popular sites for such ceremonies.
The ceremonies were usually religious or nationalist in nature. One or more returned soldiers
often participated, as the ceremonies were also aimed at recruitment. Posters encouraging
people to enlist were also used to attract recruits.
After July 1915, enlistment numbers declined again. Recruiting committees throughout Australia
worked hard to get numbers up again at the beginning of 1916 but after an initial rise they began
to decrease again.
Division in Australian society
Billy Hughes became Australia's seventh prime minister in October 1915. Like his Labor Party
colleagues, he was against conscription (compulsory service in the armed forces).
A visit by Hughes to Britain in early 1916 including a visit to Australian troops at the front. This
visit convinced Hughes that the troops were doing a great job. He believed that the troops, and
Britain, needed all the help that Australia could possibly give them to win the war. Britain had
introduced conscription at the beginning of 1916 and Hughes believed that Australia should do
the same.
The War Precautions Act would have allowed the government to legislate to introduce
conscription but Hughes was concerned that the Labor-dominated Senate might not pass the
legislation. The alternative was a referendum on conscription: the people would decide and then
that decision would be binding on all politicians. It would not be like a referendum to change the
constitution. It would more correctly be called a plebiscite in which the people would vote
directly on a matter of national importance; the result would give clear guidelines for the
politicians to follow.
Splits in Labor and Australia
12
The first referendum
There were two referendums in Australia on conscription. The first was on 28 October 1916 (to
give the government power to force men to serve overseas during the current war) and the
second on 20 December 1917 (to give the government power to compel men to join the army to
reinforce the AIF overseas). Both were narrowly defeated. The referendums split the country and
destroyed, for over ten years, the chance of a Labor government at federal level in Australia.
The second referendum
After the loss of the first referendum, Billy Hughes was expelled from the Labor Party, taking 23
of the 65 Labor members with him. He retained the prime ministership and he and his followers
initially formed the National Labor Party. This group then joined with the Liberals to form the
Nationalist Party, with Hughes as leader, and won the 1917 general election.
Conscription was not an issue in the 1917 election but, after the slaughter on the Western Front
in 1917, Hughes tried a second referendum to compel troops to fight overseas and build up
Australian numbers. He chose to do this by referendum even though he now had a Senate that
would have supported the legislation.
The country split into two camps over conscription—'Yes' and 'No'. Differences were bitter, as
people felt strongly about their point of view. Differences between social classes and religions
were heightened. Sectarianism (strong devotion to a particular religion) had been present in
Australia since the first colonists arrived. Protestants viewed Catholics, who were predominantly
of Irish background, as disloyal to Britain because of the Irish quest for Home Rule. Being
against conscription became associated with Irish disloyalty to Britain. The Catholic Archbishop
of Melbourne, Dr Daniel Mannix, spoke out strongly against conscription, particularly in 1917. He
probably caused as many people to vote 'Yes' as 'No' because of the large number of issues
underlying the debates. Speeches and posters were aimed at producing fear and guilt on both
sides.
Task:
Answer questions in your book:
i) What does ‘Sectarianism’ mean?
ii) What you understand the term ‘home rule’ to mean?
iii) Explain what role religion had in the debate on conscription
iv) Why did Billy Hughes decide to call a referendum?
v) What is a ‘plebiscite’
Lesson 10
Initial reactions to war
The outbreak of war in August 1914 seemed to unleash a huge wave of
enthusiastic support for Britain, and support for Australia’s part in the war. All
major political parties, churches, community leaders and newspapers seemed to
support Australia’s entry. It was seen as a moral and necessary commitment.
There was a rush to the recruiting offices, and, at this stage, only the very fittest
and healthiest men were accepted.
Opposition to War
Although it was evident that the majority of society was prepared to give its full support to the
involvement of Australia in the War, there were also a few groups who were not. Out of fear
of derision, among other reasons, these groups usually did not voice their opinions loudly
until sometime into the War when doubt was beginning to emerge in society more generally
as the real costs of war began to emerge.
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Of the groups who did not support the War, there were 'conscientious objectors' who
disagreed on going to war on the basis of moral grounds, as well as 'pacifists' who believed
it was wrong to kill other people.
Later on in the War a small number of Irish Australians also opposed Australia's commitment
to the War. This opposition had little to do with Australia herself and more to do with being
against the British mistreatment of rebels in Ireland in 1916.
Some trade unions were opposed to the war in general out of concern that there would be a
shortage of workers because they would be killed. The employers, however, would remain to
make all of the money. In particular, the Industrial Workers of the World played a significant
role in influencing others against the War. They also assisted in influencing political objectors
who usually belonged to left-wing movements such as the Australian Labor Party. These two
groups, in conjunction with Roman Catholic Church leaders, acted in concert on the issue,
especially in the latter years of the War as the reality began to sink into Australian society.
Task:
Create a Venn diagram in your book, working in pairs brainstorm all the reasons for and
against going to war. Once complete, groups will read out their findings. Any that reasons
that are read out, that students do not have, can be added.
Lesson 11
Teacher will model C.C.T.F on the board using a WWI propaganda poster.
Task:
i)
Group work: supply each group with one of the conscription posters, have them do
C.C.T.F. Present to class (2 minutes each)
Year 9 Hist-NC. 2012\For Dan\WWI Posters.docx
Lesson 12
Roles of Women
http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/commemorations/education/Documents/DVA_Women_i
n_War_part2.pdf
Year 9 Hist-NC. 2012\For Dan\How Australian women were involved.docx
Learning Intention- To look at the roles of women both in Australia and overseas.
How were women portrayed? What were the expectations of women at home?
How did the roles of women change?
How Australian women were involved
Australian women served in the Australian Army as nurses, and as other medical
workers. There were also a number of Red Cross volunteers who provided comforts
to the troops, and teachers and fundraisers. Nurses were expected to be single or
widowed. Some married women got through the recruiting checks, and some
married during their period of service. Of those who served overseas for whom there
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are detailed statistics, seven were under 21 (though the official minimum age for
enlistment was 25), 1184 aged 21–30, 947 aged 31–40, and 91 were 41+.
Seven women received the Military Medal for bravery under fire, and several
died of injuries or disease. More than 2300 members of the Australian Army
Nursing Service (AANS) served overseas in war areas. These included: Egypt,
Salonika, France, Belgium, Lemnos, India, off Gallipoli, Palestine, the Persian
Gulf, Italy, Burma, Vladivostok and Abyssinia. Some nurses and women doctors
paid their own way to be involved in medical service during the war. There were
also masseuses (physical therapists), blood transfusionists, and other support
medical occupations.Other women also performed valuable services. Vera
Deakin set up the Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau, which was
instrumental in ascertaining information for families of the circumstances of
those who were missing — through death, wounding or capture. Red Cross
nurses, known as ‘Blue Birds’, served in French front line hospitals. Women such
as Ranid MacPhillamy and Alice Chisholm set up canteens in Egypt, providing
facilities for soldiers on leave.
Key statistics
416,809 Australians enlisted in World War I, of whom 331,781 served overseas.
61,720 of these died during the war, and 137,013 were wounded. In all, 2139
women served with the Australian Army Nursing Service, and 130 worked with
the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service. A further 423 nurses
served in hospitals in Australia. Twenty-three of these women died in service
during the war.
Task:
Places Worked
Types of jobs and serviced performed
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Formulating Ideas
If you only had these images to form opinions about Australian nurses during
the war, what could you say about them?
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Study the sources below, which show a variety of experiences of Australian nurses during WW I. In
the box after each source write individual words or short phrases that summarise your main ideas and
reactions. One has been completed for you as an example.
In India
Sunday 25 April 1915 off Gallipoli
Here I am on day duty, and Sister-in-Charge of two
wards. Oh, these poor men from Mesopotamia!
They are … only skin and bone (men from the Kut
campaign). This is amoebic dysentery, and treated
with hyperdermic injections of “Emetin” … most
of the poor men are not long for this world … Oh,
Pete, the men with dysentery would make one
weep! Why are men allowed to suffer like this? And
we hear folk in Australia and England talking about
boys who have made the “Supreme Sacrifice”, and
I suppose stone monuments etc, will be erected to
their memory “of our glorious dead”. What about
the living? The blind, crippled, disfigured and those
poor mad men and women.
… About 9am my first patients from battlefield
commenced
to pour in (We had gone in during night & anchored
outside
Dardanelles). We wakened up & could plainly hear
sounds
of guns. They came in an endless stream, some walking
holding arms, hands covered with blood, some on
stretchers
with broken legs, some shivering & collapsed through loss
of blood & some with faces streaming with blood … we
went for the worst cases first & worked like fury while all
the sound of firing was going on … we took on board
570 wounded … we filled every space, mattresses lying
everywhere on deck … in my ward I had 118 patients
(one
Turk badly wounded) … we got to bed between 2 & 3 am.
Matron Babs Moberly, February 1917, in Melanie Oppenheimer,
Australian
Women and War, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 2008 p32
Worked hard, witnessed great suffering, extreme
workload, fatigue
On Salonika
Gertrude Moberley, reaction at the end of the war
[Sister Gertrude Munro] was only ill for ten days …
was put straight into hospital for sick sisters where
she got the very best medical attention possible,
and … one of her friends was constantly with her
… She had a bad combination, Pneumonia and
M.T. Malaria which is very hard to fight. Being a
strong healthy woman we hoped against hope she
might win through, but alas it was not to be … She
is buried in a very pretty little Cemetery with some
other Sisters and Soldiers who have given their lives
for their country.
Blood! Blood! I am very tired. Oh dear God,
how dreadfully tired, and broken-hearted too.
Jan Bassett, Guns and Brooches, Oxford University Press,
Melbourne, 1992 p63
Jessie MacHardie White, 2 December 1918,
Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, AWM 1 DRL
428
On Lemnos
Had a desperately hard time at Lemnos with food, tents,
mud and sickness, as well as great troubles with Colonel
Fiaschi, who treated Nurses shamefully — No
consideration
whatever … I believe the Hospital would have collapsed
but
for the Nurses. They all worked like demons …
Letter from RHJ Fetherston in Jan Bassett, Guns and Brooches,
Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992 p50
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Lesson 13
Women at Home
One way of exploring women’s roles and contributions in the war is to look at
aspects of women’s activities in a country area during the war. One historian, John
McQuilton, has studied an area in the north-east of Victoria. Here are some of his
findings.
Look at the list and identify the types of activities that women were involved
in during the war — such as voluntary activities; fundraising; patriotic
activities; political activities; employment activities.
 Write the type of activity beside each.
 Decide which of the activities might unite a community, and which might
divide it.
 Write this in the numbered graph provided.
 Create a statement that summarises women’s activities and roles on the
home front.
How significant were women’s activities on the home front? You can consider their
significance for the war effort, and also for the status of women in the community.

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Women were active in both the pro- and anti-case during the
bitter conscription campaigns of 1916and 1917.
1. Some women were thrust into public roles during the war.
2. Some women broke gender employment barriers, by replacing
enlisted men in such areas as bank teller and shire clerk.
3. Most women had not changed their occupational status at the end
of the war, and continued to be employed in traditionally female
occupations.
4. Women formed Red Cross branches and worked tirelessly in
voluntary activities to support the soldiers.
The volume of goods produced and the personal efforts
involved ‘beggar the imagination’. One example — by the
war’s end the Red Cross society of Rutherglen had forwarded
1233 shirts, 8512 pairs of underpants, 1233 pairs of pyjamas,
2405 pairs of socks, 76 sheets, 776 pillow-cases, 455 bed
screens, 391 handkerchiefs and ‘numerous other items’. The
shirts, underpants, socks and pillow cases alone accounted for
30,100 hours of work.
5. Red Cross and other volunteers packed billies for soldiers at
Christmas time, met troop trains with sandwiches and tea for the
travelling soldiers, baked cakes for local training camps and
hospitals.
6. Women organised fundraising activities.
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They organised touring concert parties to raise funds —the
‘Royal Patriots’, the ‘Win-the-War-Girls’, the ‘Advance Guard’,
and ‘Our Girls at Home’.
8. Some women put great pressure on men to enlist, and refused to go out
with eligible men who had not volunteered.
9. Some women sent white feathers, the symbol of cowardice, to local men
in the community. One man wrote in a letter to the local newspaper that
‘Some old tart … has posted me some White Leghorn Plumage. Little does
she know that I have been turned down for various defects including
hammer toe and varicose veins.’
10.
Some women were pressured to force their men to enlist, to ‘send
their sons, brothers and sweethearts to war and to shun the shirker and
poltroon’ [those who were too scared or not noble enough to volunteer].
11.
Some women encouraged their men not to enlist.
The most common stereotypes of ‘the patriotic woman’ were those
women who worked tirelessly for nation and Empire, the nurse at the
front, and the soldier’s mother.
12.
One woman committed suicide when her son returned from the war
physically and mentally maimed.
13.
School girls were encouraged to raise money for patriotic funds —
they raffled geese, sold pet lambs, gathered and sold vegetables from
their gardens, knitted and made cakes.
14.
School boys and girls were used in patriotic processions.
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Lesson 14
Interment Camps in Australia during WWI
Internees and other German-born Australians
The majority of Australia's 33 381 German-born residents at the 1911 census lived in
Queensland and South Australia. At the beginning of the war these people had to register at local
police stations. Australians had little or no ill-feeling towards these citizens in 1914 but increasing
casualty rates, reports of German atrocities against civilians in Belgium and other strong antiGerman propaganda changed this situation.
Action taken against German-born Australians included exclusion from employment opportunities
and some physical attacks. Throughout Australia, but mainly in South Australia, places with
German names were renamed with English or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names.
Some people of German background showed sympathy for the German cause in the war. They
were placed in internment camps, often established in old jails. Approximately 4500 people were
interned during the war, 15 per cent of whom were naturalised Australians.
The internees lived as normal a life as possible while confined in the camps, allowing for the
prison environment and presence of guards. They played various sports, primarily football
(soccer), and were able to pursue such cultural pursuits as drama and music. The internees also
undertook physical work associated with the camps or for the community.
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Task:
In pairs, students will research one of the following Internment camps (teacher to assign), You
will include the following.
Pictures, numbers of people interned, nationality, when opened/closed, any personal
stories a map, conditions at the camp, escapes etc. This should be saved as a word doc and
printed out to be put into your books. You will also write in your books your personal feeling on
were internment camps a necessary thing?
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Berrima, New South Wales
Bourke, New South Wales
Enoggera (Gaythorne), Queensland
Holsworthy (Liverpool), New South Wales
Langwarrin, Victoria
Molonglo, Australian Capital Territory
Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Torrens Island, South Australia
Trial Bay, New South Wales
Bruny Island Internment Camp, Tasmania
Fort Largs Internment Camp, south Australia
Garden Island Interment Camp, Western Australia
Lesson 15/16
Charles Bean Making of the ANZAC Legend

Look at the short YouTube clip on Charles Bean. Explain that Bean was a war
correspondent. Short discussion on what a ‘war correspondent’ was and why they would
be needed. Why was there role so important at this time? Brainstorm on board what their
duties might be and, how a war correspondent could greatly influence the understanding
of people back home
Brief overview, who was Charles Bean, what did he do and how did he go about it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytK0gkRV7ZY

Read through the short account below of Bean and then watch
‘Gallipoli- Untold Stories’ on DVC and Answer the questions
Bean accompanied two Australian brigades during an unsuccessful and costly
attack at Cape Helles two weeks later. He was recommended for the Military
Cross for the help he gave to wounded men under fire on the night of 8 May but
as a civilian was ineligible so was mentioned in dispatches. His bravery was well
known and he was the only correspondent to stay on Gallipoli from April until
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December, despite being hit by a bullet in the right leg on 6 August 1915.
Instead of being evacuated to a hospital ship he lay in his dugout until 24 August
having the wound dressed each day until he was able to go out and watch the
fighting again.
After the evacuation of Gallipoli Bean edited The Anzac Book (London, 1916)
which he compiled from drawings and writing by the soldiers.
The seeds of the official history series were sown when he was in France in
1916–18 with the AIF. Conscious of his responsibilities to the men, he decided
that:
The only memorial which could be worthy of them was the bare and uncoloured story of
their part in the war.
[Charles Bean, quoted in B Nairn and G Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7,
Melbourne University Press, 1979, p 227]
Even earlier, at Gallipoli, Bean had noticed the Australians avidly collecting
battlefield relics and it occurred to him that there should be a war museum in
Australia.
Questions: (Answer in your books)
1. How did the account of the ANZAC landing by general sir Ian Hamilton differ from differ
from other reports and also that of Charles Bean?
2. How did what Australians first heard about the ANZAC landing differ from the reality?
How was this accounted for?
3. How did Bean feel about the conditions of the wounded? Give an example of his
thoughts.
4. What was Beans thought on how the British were coordinating and handling the
Gallipoli campaign?
5. Who received Australia’s first V.C (Victoria Cross) and who was the man with the
donkey and how did he die?
6. How did the Australians go about organising the armistice to bury the dead
7. Who was Alec Campbell?
8. What was significant about him?
9. What did Bean think that the ANZAC and the Turks would come to think of each other?
10. Why did the army wish to ban Bean and other war correspondents to Lemnos, do you
think that the timing of this was significant seeing as Bean had just had his first report
printed in Australian newspapers?
11. What impression to you get of Beans opinions of the men who fought?
12. Bean went on to do what?
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Lesson 17
Bean was the only Australian war correspondent to remain on the Gallipoli Peninsula
for the entire campaign and the only consistent Australian front line reporter. He
brought a deep sense of responsibility to his craft:
“The war correspondent is responsible for most of the ideas of battle which the public
possesses ... I can't write that it occurred if I know that it did not, even if by
painting it that way I can rouse the blood and make the pulse beat faster-and
undoubtedly these men here deserve the people's pulses shall beat for them. But
war correspondents have so habitually exaggerated the heroism of battles that
people don't realise that real actions are heroic.” Charles Bean
Task: Re-write this in your own words. Explain what you think Bean meant by this.
Group discussion:
1. Who has been to an ANZAC ceremony?
2. What is the point?
3. Do you agree with the digger at the end of the documentary that said “you
should never go to war to fight for someone else’s country, should only go to
defend your own country”?
4. Do having these services glorify war?
5. What should they achieve?
6. Is there a better way to mark this occasion?
7. Should these ceremonies be sombre or festive?
8. Should they exist at all
9. Why do you think the British sought to make people believe that at first that
Gallipoli was a success?
10. Alec Campbell said, not long before his death, that we should not make a
celebration out of what happened at Gallipoli, that it was nothing more than a
mistake and a bloodbath lead by the British “whatever you do, don’t turn it
into a shrine”. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on the growing
number of Australians that are going to Gallipoli each year for ANZAC Day and
that the dawn service from there is now televised?
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