Members of the Australian Navy and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) bringing Captain (Capt) ...

Accession Number P03078.004
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Film copy negative
Maker Unknown
Place made Pacific Islands: Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Area, Kabakaul
Date made 11 September 1914
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Members of the Australian Navy and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) bringing Captain (Capt) Brian Colden Antill Pockley, the medical officer, on board HMAT Berrima, his face is covered by his pith helmet. Capt Pockley was wounded after he set out to find Able Seaman (AB) W. G. V. Williams who had been wounded by enemy fire during an Australian advance. Capt Pockley found AB Williams with Leading Stoker W. Kember who had carried him for nearly half a mile. Capt Pockley removed his red cross brassard and tied it to Leading Stoker Kember's hat, sending him to the rear with the wounded man, as he was returning Capt Pockley was fired upon and wounded. He was later picked up by an ambulance cart and carried to HMAT Berrima, where he and AB Williams died during the afternoon. AB Williams was the first Australian shot in the First World War and Capt Pockley was the first medical officer of the Australian Forces killed in the course of his duty.