William Aubrey (1891-1966)
Will Aubrey was born in 1891 in Stockton NSW but it’s likely that he grew up at Islington to the west of Newcastle. His was a carefree childhood with wide open spaces in which to roam. There were lots of coal mines nearby and fascinating things like steam trains and trams to interest him. In 1897, when Will was 6, there was a vice regal visit to Newcastle and like everyone else he was scrubbed up and dressed in his Sunday best with mandatory shoes. The occasion was the centenary of the founding of Newcastle in 1797 and Will and his family were thrilled by the bunting which adorned city buildings stirred by the many marching bands which lead the parade in the main street.
On Sunday mornings the family was scrupulous to attend church and it appears the church of their choice was the Brown Street Congregational Church in Newcastle (the photo shows the view north along Brown St to Stockton across the Hunter River with the Congregational Church in the foreground). After all, it was a bit more up-market than the humble little weatherboard church in Stockton where Jessie grew up. Brown Street was notable for its steepness and you had to be a keen worshiper to climb the hill to church every Sunday especially in heavy Victorian dress.
Will was just 13 when his father was accidentally killed and he had little choice but to sell newspapers and do other small jobs to earn some extra money. However, his mother wasn’t going to let him waste his life away and as soon as he left school (aged 15 in 1906) she put him to the ‘profession’ of accountancy, no doubt in the city of Newcastle.
It wasn’t long before the fearful threat of total world war reached Australian shores. When Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, Australian crowds sang the National Anthem and bands played Rule Britannia. By years end an expeditionary force of 20,000 men had been sent to Egypt and then on 25 April 1915 these brave men went ashore at the Dardanelles in Turkey. It proved to be an ill-fated campaign and by the time the force was withdrawn in December that year, as many as 7,600 Australians had died and 19,000 had been wounded. In 1916 the Imperial Government decided to send the Anzacs from Egypt to the Western Front in France and in the same year, when Will was 25 years old, Billy Hughes, the ‘little digger’, became Prime Minister of Australia. After a visit to England, Hughes came home so fired up about the just cause of the war that he promised the Imperial Government that Australia would send 16,500 men each month to fight ‘the Hun’.
Unfortunately the pace of voluntary enlistment failed to meet this target. That year Australia was split over the need for compulsory enlistment or conscription. In the midst of all this controversy, Will volunteered. No doubt he felt the stirring of national pride and the strong call of duty and he signed up on 23 October 1916. Five days later the nation went to the polls and decided against conscription for overseas service by a small majority. Will was given the number 6949 and the Army medico at the Depot at Adamstown found him to be 5’ 7” tall, weight 172lbs, chest 36”/40”, and of ‘medium’ complexion, with ‘brown eyes’ and ‘dark brown’ hair. He had vaccination marks on his left arm but no ‘Mental Affliction’ and ‘No Tubular Disease’.
Three weeks later, on 11 November 1916, Will was embarked on the SS Suevic for Devonport. Then, as if to reflect the urgency of the war effort and the shortage of manpower, on 30 January 1917, just 3 months after enlisting, he found himself on board ship bound for Larkhill, England via Folkestone. More training followed and then on 3 May 1917 the dreaded orders for France arrived. He was posted to the 4th Battalion, Ist Brigade, of the First Division, AIF, one of the first raised and one which had lost many good men on Gallipoli in 1915.
At first Will Aubrey was stationed just north of the Somme Valley in northern France, where some of the greatest carnage had taken place in the previous year, 1916. The first major attack by the Australians in 1917 had begun in April just before Will left England. The Germans had fallen back to the newly completed Hindenburg Line lying northwest to southeast through Arras. The diggers were set the task of attacking Bullecourt, a heavily fortified town in this new defence line just 15 kms south east of Arras. The new invention, tanks, had been employed but they had broken down and the attack failed and 1300 Australians were captured. Will was lucky he was not there.
A second attack on Bullecourt was launched on 3 May just as Will left England. This time it was carried out behind a creeping barrage of shelling by allied heavy guns. It was organised to move progressively forward just ahead of the troops so that the enemy stayed in their dugouts and trenches until the advancing troops were on top of them. This time the attack was much more successful and the Australians secured a bridgehead in the supposedly impregnable Hindenburg Line. A week later the 1st Division received a well earned rest when it was relieved in the line by the Australian 5th Division. Will was safe but like most attacks, the cost of this victory was high because the Anzacs suffered 7000 casualties.
Copyright. Excerpt from the book Jane's Legacy by John Brew.
