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Fromelles is generally considered the worst 24 hours of Australia’s military history, and viscerally described by ‘Pompey Elliott the commander of the 5th Divisions’ 15th Brigade as a ‘tactical abortion’. With more than 5,500 Australians becoming casualties over the course of one night and morning and 470 being captured, this is perhaps an apt description from an officer who greeted his returning men with tears rolling down his face, and whose untimely death in 1931 has been attributed by some to the debacle at Fromelles.

The three Choat brothers were from Clarence Park, South Australia and they had all enlisted in the 32nd Battalion. The 32nd Battalion was amongst several which suffered terrible losses at Fromelles in July 1916. Raymond and Archie were both killed in the battle. On that same day, Wesley was taken prisoner, yet he eventually managed to escape by crossing the border into Holland.

Transcript of the letter
Dear Sir,

I beg to submit a full account of my experiences covering 17 month imprisonment in eight different prison camps & working parties in Germany.

This account was written up whilst I was convalescing on my return to Australia & it contains full details of two escapes.

You will readily understand that it was impossible for me to keep any diary or memoir and because prisoners were frequently searched; but I have given a truthful record of my own experience as a prisoner of war.

I enlisted on July 12th 1915 at Adelaide (two of my brothers also enlisted there, the same week they were both killed in action the same day that I was taken prisoner)

I was a private in the 32nd Batt. – sailed from Pt. Adelaide Nov. 19th 1915, trained six months in Egypt (Canal Zone) then sent on to France.

In action at Frommelles took our objective but were eventually cut off & made a prisoner with about 300 others English & Australian soldiers.

After my escape from Germany to Holland where I was forced to remain 5 weeks before getting to England where again I was kept 4 months before being shipped to Australia & home.

I shall be glad if you will purchase the record for your archives.

Yours faithfully

Wesley P. Choat

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Sister Morrice had joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in May 1910. She enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 21 November 1914, was appointed a staff nurse, and embarked in the Kyarra on 28 November. After serving as head sister, No.1 Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis, Egypt, she was detached to No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, and then No.3 A.G.H., both in England. Early in 1917 she was posted to the British Expeditionary Force in France; she later rejoined No.3 A.G.H. at Abbeville. On 3 June 1918 Morrice was awarded the Royal Red Cross (2nd class) 'for valuable services with the Armies in France and Flanders'. She returned to Sydney and her appointment ended on 15 January 1919. She later wrote that four of her brothers also served in World War I. Photographs of her in military nursing sister's uniform showed a tall woman, direct and forward looking, with a hint of the smile of a controlled and confident person.

Experiences of the Head Sister N.C. Morrice A.A.N.S from Nov. 25th 1914 till [until] March 6th 1919.

During the first days on Lemnos I hear the water was very scarce, but when we arrived there in Sept 1915, there was a good supply & no excuse for neglect of patients. Nobody will ever realise the personal discomfort the men suffered through vermin & no change of clothes except those who actually saw them come in from the Peninsula. We used to take their dressings off & find even their wounds crawling with vermin & even sponging & putting them into clean pyjamas did not always rid them of the vermin. Then when night came we use[d] to sit on the sides of our own bunks & search our own garments one by one till we had found all stray ones. I do not know which worried me the most, those or the big black centipedes that use to crawl from under the tarpaulin on the floor & occasionally find their way into our beds.

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Portrait of Sister Nellie Constance Morrice MBE RRC of the Australian Army Nursing Service. Sister Morrice enlisted in the AIF on 21 November 1914, and embarked in the Kyarra on 28 November. After serving as head sister of No.1 Australian General Hospital (1 AGH), Heliopolis, Egypt, she was detached to No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, and then to No.3 AGH, both in England. Early in 1917 she was posted to the British Expeditionary Force in France; she later rejoined No.3 AGH at Abbeville. On 3 June 1918 Morrice was awarded the Royal Red Cross (2nd class) 'for valuable services with the Armies in France and Flanders'. She returned to Sydney and her appointment ended on 15 January 1919.

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Portrait of Sister Nellie Constance Morrice MBE RRC of the Australian Army Nursing Service. ...

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Portrait of Sister Nellie Constance Morrice MBE RRC of the Australian Army Nursing Service. Sister Morrice enlisted in the AIF on 21 November 1914, and embarked in the Kyarra on 28 November. After serving as head sister of No.1 Australian General Hospital (1 AGH), Heliopolis, Egypt, she was detached to No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, and then to No.3 AGH, both in England.

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Harry Thorpe was born at the Lake Tyers Mission Station, Victoria, in 1886. He joined the AIF in February 19161916 and in July he deployed to the Western Front with the 7th Battalion.

He first saw conflict at the Battle of Pozières, where he was seriously wounded. The following year he was wounded in action again.

He returned for the Third Battle of Ypres where, for his bravery, inspiring leadership and successful capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 44 – 55 October 1917, he was recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Instead, he received the lower Military Medal (MM) for "bravery in the field" and a promotion to corporal.

On the 99 August 19181918 at the Battle of Lihons, Corporal Thorpe received a fatal stomach wound and died shortly after the stretcher-bearers reached him. He is buried nearby at the Heath Cemetery, near Harbonnières, France (AWM, 2018).

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Photograph of General John Monash, taken in Egypt, October 1915

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Portrait of Brigadier General John Monash CB, VD. One of Australia's most distinguished soldiers during the First World War. During his Army career, General Monash was Colonel Commanding the 13th Infantry Brigade of the Citizen Forces, Commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade AIF at Gallipoli, Commander of the 3rd Australian Division AIF in France 1916-1918 and Commander of the Australian Corps AIF from 31 May 1918 until after the Armistice.

-born in Melbourne and studied arts and engineering at Melbourne University.

-was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the Australian Corps In May 1918.

-His first battle in this role, Hamel, of which he wrote: "the operation is a striking example of the success which invariably results from careful preparation and coordinated action: and will serve as a model and the standard of the fighting efficiency of the Australian corps".

-Monash remained in command through the victorious battles in the last months of the war.

-He was an innovative leader who earned high praise from many leading political and military figures.

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Charles Bean working on files during the writing the WW1 Official History. 

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Charles Bean is perhaps best remembered for the official histories of Australia in the First World War, of which he wrote six volumes and edited the remainder. Before this, however, he was Australia's official correspondent to the war. He was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Australian War Memorial. Bean was born on 18 November 1879 at Bathurst, New South Wales and his family moved to England when he was ten. He completed his education there, eventually studying classics and law at Oxford.

Bean returned to Australia in 1904 and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. He travelled widely in New South Wales as a barrister's assistant and, struck by the outback way of life, wrote and illustrated a book, The impressions of a new chum. The book was never published but in mid-1907 much of its content appeared in a series of Sydney Morning Herald articles under the by-line 'CW'. In these articles Bean introduced a view of Australia, particularly its men, which foreshadowed much of what he would write about the AIF.

Having dabbled in journalism, Bean joined the Sydney Morning Herald as a junior reporter in January 1908. He published several books before being posted to London in 1910. In 1913 he returned to Sydney as the Herald's leader writer. When the First World War began, Bean won an Australian Journalists Association ballot and became official correspondent to the AIF. He accompanied the first convoy to Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and began to make his name as a tireless, thorough and brave correspondent. He was wounded in August but remained on Gallipoli for most of the campaign, leaving just a few days before the last troops.

n early 1919 he led a historical mission to Gallipoli before returning to Australia and beginning work on the official history series that would consume the next two decades of his life.

Along with his written work, Bean worked tirelessly on creating the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He was present when the building opened on 11 November 1941 and became Chairman of the Memorial's board in 1952. He maintained a close association with the institution for the rest of his life.

For more than four years, Charles Bean would sit up late each night writing in his diaries, often by candlelight or moonlight and struggling to keep his eyes open.

Sometimes, he said, daylight would find him still at work, falling asleep at each full stop and then waking to write each successive sentence.

But Bean was determined to continue. He’d gone off to the First World War as Australia’s official war correspondent when he was 35, and was witness to it all.

It was said that no other Australian saw as much of the fighting during the First World War as Bean did, and he filled 226 notebooks with compelling first-hand accounts of the battles and his own personal thoughts and ideas about the war.

From the trenches of Gallipoli where he was wounded and later mentioned in despatches for his bravery, to the bloody battlefields of the Western Front where he was horrified by the heavy loss of life and the sheer scale of devastation, Bean never faltered, reporting from the front, often in unimaginable conditions and at great risk to himself.

The diaries, which he kept safe in bank vaults in Cairo and London for fear of losing them, became the foundation for the Official History of Australia in the First World War and provided some of the most comprehensive insights into the sense of terror, tragedy and sheer pointlessness of it all.

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A letter from Wesley P. Choat writing to the principal librarian Mitchel Library, written on April 5th 1919.

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He was promoted to lieutenant in May 1918. He was soon assigned the role of leading his first battle. The battle was well thought out and a successful mission as they had careful preparation and training. He continued to lead many successful missions throughout the end of the battle. 

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He was promoted to lieutenant in May 1918. He was soon assigned the role of leading his first battle. The battle was well thought out and a successful mission as they had careful preparation and training. He continued to lead many successful missions throughout the end of the battle. 

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Alessandra & Sarah