Hill, Gerald Ashby (Lieutenant-Commander, b.1880 - d.1931)

Collection relating to the service of Lieutenant-Commander Gerald Ashby Hill, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), German New Guinea, Malaysia and Mediterranean, 1914-1918.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Wallet consists of a photostat copy of an Australian Destroyer log book, HMAS Yarra, written by Gerald Ashby Hill and an extract from the narrative of Hill’s service. The logbook begins on 30 July 1914 and describes in depth the landing of The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force personnel at Kabakaul on 11 September 1914, which resulted in the first Australian casualties of the war; attacks on Simpson Haven; RAN activities in and around Rabaul, Herbertshohe, Rossel Island, Port Moresby and Suva; the capture of Madang and the German warship “Komet”; serving alongside the HMAS Parramatta and the HMAS Warrego; Hill’s journey up the Sepik River in search of German weapons and the customs and living conditions of the indigenous people in this area. Copies were made of this logbook by the Australian War Memorial, Melbourne in 1930 but the location of the original is unknown. The extract from Hill's narrative outlines his service in Corfu, Malta and Port Said, along with a brief description of an attack involving the HMAS Torrens on the night of 22 April 1918.

• Wallet 1 of 1 - Logbook and narrative relating to the service of Lieutenant-Commander Gerald Ashby Hill, 1928