In the Research Centre, we receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to know how and where their relatives died in the First World War. Finding out this information can be a difficult task. Quite often families know no more than that their relative died on a particular date in a particular country, and they’d like to know if we can help them narrow that down.

With the advent of the Internet and the progress of digitisation programs at the Memorial and the National Archives of Australia, more and more material relating to the First World War is becoming available online. First World War service records, an increasing number of unit war diaries, and the Official History edited by Charles Bean are now available to anyone with an Internet connection.

With such a variety of sources, it can be hard to know quite where to start. Say, for example, that we wanted to find out about the death of Private Clifford Davies Williams, who died on 1 October, 1917. What would our first step be?

The Memorial’s Roll of Honour provides a good starting point. It typically gives information about where an individual was from, when they were killed, what unit they served with, and where they are buried or commemorated. It also shows where the individual is commemorated on the Memorial’s physical Roll of Honour, for those who wish to visit the Memorial to pay their respects.

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What does a twenty-three year old wag of a soldier say in his defence, when facing yet another court martial for going AWOL during the First World War? 

If you’re Private Albert Stipek, the words come easily: “I met some friends and went away with them. I had no idea the Battalion was going to the Line. I thought it was going out for a spell”.  Nevertheless, he had absented himself from the 51st Battalion for nearly two months.

We can only imagine his tongue was firmly in his cheek.  By the date of this hearing, 2 July 1918, Stipek had survived the first landing at Gallipoli with the 12th Battalion, and the battles at Mouquet Farm, Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux with the 52nd Battalion.

He had also been fined for being drunk on 2pm parade, gone missing in action for five days following the battle at Mouquet Farm, was admitted to hospital on three different occasions, court martialled for going AWOL and missing his return to the front line in France, and arrested for escaping confinement. 

Following this latest court martial, Private Stipek once again escaped confinement and went AWOL for eight months.  A series of charges, detentions and confinements followed, until he was returned to Australia in March 1920 to serve the rest of his final sentence.  Although his sister was notified of his return, his extended family, in due course, came to believe he died in the War. 

Private Stipek’s incredible service record has been digitised and is available for viewing on the National Archives of Australia RecordSearch database.   Four court martial records are also on RecordSearch, but have yet to be digitised.

There is no doubt Private Stipek was a colourful character, but perhaps it was the trauma of fighting for his life in several major battles which expressed itself as the desperate need to escape military service.

Further information:
First World War Australian Army War Diaries
First World War Official Histories

With thanks to Annette Gaykema for her research and interest in Private Stipek.

This week the Research Centre received a call from a fan of Sandy, Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges’ favourite charger.  November this year sees the 90th anniversary of Sandy’s return to Australia, after a tour of duty which included the coast of Gallipoli, Egypt and France.  Sandy’s fan wished to confirm the information the Research Centre has about this much-loved animal in preparation for a ceremony to mark the anniversary.

Although General Bridges had the use of three horses, Sandy was believed to be his favourite.  This impressive portrait in the Memorial’s photographs collection clearly acknowledges the General’s feelings, as he allows his charger’s head to obscure his own!

Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges holding the bridle of his favourite charger, Sandy. P05290.001

General Bridges died in May 1915 from a wound sustained at Gallipoli and Sandy, who was presumed to be offshore at the time, was eventually shipped back to Egypt.  Nearly a year later he was transported to France.

In October 1917, the Minister for Defence, Senator George Pearce, called for Sandy to be returned to Australia.  Copies of the ensuing letters, cables, minutes and memos between the organising parties comprise an official record held in the Memorial archives.  This record AWM13 7026/2/31 can be viewed in the Memorial’s Research Centre Reading Room.

Sandy sailed from Liverpool in September 1918, arriving in Melbourne in November.  As the official record says, he was “pensioned off”, or turned out to graze at the Central Remount Depot in Maribyrnong.  Blind and unwell, Sandy was put down in 1923.

Sandy’s claim to fame is not just as the favourite horse of General Bridges, but that, of 136,000 Australian horses sent away to the First World War, Sandy was the sole horse brought back.

Information resources about Sandy:

Australian War Memorial Encyclopedia

Australian War Memorial Collection Databases

Coulthard-Clark, Chris “One came home” Wartime: official magazine of the Australian War Memorial 19 (2002):37-39.

National Archives of Australia Recordsearch
AWM13 7026/2/31

Series AWM347 is a recently acquired collection of historical records of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). Accumulated from 1927 to 1984, these records afford a detailed and often fascinating look into the thinking that characterised Australian and Allied intelligence doctrine for over half a century.

Monthly Intelligence Report for November 1950. AWM347, [172].

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With the Korean coastline in the background, Commander Warwick Seymour Bracegirdle relaxes on the bridge of HMAS Bataan during his inspection of Commonwealth Naval Units in Korean waters. 306829A

This will be the first in a regular program of blog posts letting people know of recent acquisitions in the Research Centre’s Official Records Collection. We hope to provide a few more updates over the next few weeks, before settling into a quarterly routine.

The gentleman pictured above is Commander Warwick Seymour Bracegirdle, DSC (Two Bars) of the Royal Australian Navy. Recently we acquired a small collection of his official papers comprising fourteen items, mostly relating to his service on HMAS Shropshire during the Second World War and HMAS Bataan during the Korean War.

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Forty years ago, in May/June 1968 Australian soldiers fought their largest, most sustained and arguably most hazardous battles of the Vietnam War. Units of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) confronted regimental-sized formations of the North Vietnamese regular army in fierce actions around Fire Support Patrol Bases (FSPB) Coral and Balmoral in what was then known as Bien Hoa province. The location of FSPBs Coral and Balmoral are marked by blue symbols on this satellite map.

Representatives of the units involved in the battles have established the National 40th Coral and Balmoral Anniversary Committee, which is coordinating commemorative events in Canberra and Townsville starting on 12 May 2008. More information can be found on the DVA website.

The first of the battles occurred at FSPB Coral when massed enemy units attacked the base in the early hours of 13 May 1968. Australian units withstood heavy enemy attacks during which a mortar platoon and two gun positions were partly over-run. The Australians drove off the enemy after fierce close-quarter actions. The battle lasted over two hours. The task force suffered 11 killed in action and 28 wounded. In one mortar platoon five soldiers were killed and eight were wounded from a total strength of 18 men. One howitzer and two mortars were damaged. The enemy left 52 dead strewn throughout and around the fire support base.

One of 102 Field Battery’s six 105 mm M2A2 howitzers which was overrun by the enemy and then re-taken by Australian troops. It is shown here on display in the Memorial’s “Conflicts 1945 to today” galleries. REL26769

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The Official Records series AWM 95! A three year project consisting of 47 shelves, 234 boxes and 2575 files. AWM 95s are the Commanders’ Diaries of the Australian Army ranging from 1948 to 1975, covering the Malayan Emergency, Malay Peninsula and the Vietnam War. Most diaries consist of a cover with an index, a daily narrative of events, and annexes. The AWM 95 series is the latest digitisation project to be completed by the Australian War Memorial.

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