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Authors: Peter Fitzsimons
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units, as had happened in the Boer War. Rather, the force will be self-sustaining and remain intact as one fighting body â composed of men from all states, Australians all â under his own Australian command.
What name can best encompass these two central ideas of a fighting force that is from Australia but for the Empire?
Why not the âAustralian Imperial Expeditionary Forceâ?
No, too much of a mouthful.
The âAustralian Imperial Forceâ, then?
Done. And the âAIFâ for short.
Oh, and weâll pay them well.
Though in person the âgrim, reservedâ 41 Bridges comes across as being as cold and mean as a night without a shirt atop Kosciusko, 42 on this issue he is generous, and he decides to make the salary an exceedingly handsome six bob a day â better than any other soldiers in the war, and six times what the British privates are getting.
The 1st Division of the AIF will consist of three brigades, 43 to be led by the three Macs. The 1st Brigade goes to 35-year-old barrister Colonel Henry Norman MacLaurin, son of the University of Sydney Chancellor (after whom he has been named) and brother of pioneering surgeon Charles. The 2nd Brigade is put under the command of a 47-year-old martinet, Colonel James Whiteside McCay. Most significantly, in charge of the 3rd Brigade, Bridges places Colonel Ewen MacLagan, a fellow Scot and career army officer who had married an Australian woman and settled at Duntroon, to be the director of drill and discipline. As MacLagan has already demonstrated a capacity to take the raw material of a mass of men and turn them into a disciplined fighting force upon which victory lies, he is the first man picked for the role.
And so Colonel MacLagan, too, sets to, from a couple of back rooms at Melbourneâs Victoria Barracks, putting his forceful personality and tireless work ethic into the enormous task of creating a brigade from troops drawn from five states.
Further north, The Sydney Morning Herald sets the tone. Beneath the banner headline âWAR DECLAREDâ, the paperâs editorial is nothing less than exuberant:
For good or ill, we are engaged with the mother country in fighting for liberty and peace. It is no war of aggression upon which Britons have entered, but one in defence of small nations threatened with humiliation and absorption, if not with extinction; and above and beyond everything our armies will fight for British honour â¦
What remains for us at this end of the world is to possess our souls in patience, while making the necessary contributions of time, means, and men to carry on the great war upon which so much depends. It is our baptism of fire. 44
Similar passion is evinced in New Zealand, where, at 3 pm, the Governor, Sir Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, stands on the steps of the old parliament buildings and â flanked by Prime Minister William Massey â clears his throat to address a crowd now 12,000 strong, who have gathered in great anticipation. After reading out an exchange of cables he has had with His Majesty the King, whereby His Gracious Majesty expresses his appreciation for New Zealandâs affirmation of loyalty, he gets to the point.
âFellow subjects: War has broken out with Germany.â The cheering from the crowd is thunderous, and then even more so when the Prime Minister calls for three cheers for the King, which leads to a spontaneous rendition of âGod Save the Kingâ, followed by âRule Britanniaâ.
âWe have no time for speeches,â the Governor concludes. âI will send [to Britain] the following message: âThe Empire will stand united, calm, resolute, trusting in God.ââ 45
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
There are just a few in the crowd, however, who evince a different emotion and, as The New Zealand Herald would report, are âvisibly affected by the gravity of the announcement. A few people, some
What name can best encompass these two central ideas of a fighting force that is from Australia but for the Empire?
Why not the âAustralian Imperial Expeditionary Forceâ?
No, too much of a mouthful.
The âAustralian Imperial Forceâ, then?
Done. And the âAIFâ for short.
Oh, and weâll pay them well.
Though in person the âgrim, reservedâ 41 Bridges comes across as being as cold and mean as a night without a shirt atop Kosciusko, 42 on this issue he is generous, and he decides to make the salary an exceedingly handsome six bob a day â better than any other soldiers in the war, and six times what the British privates are getting.
The 1st Division of the AIF will consist of three brigades, 43 to be led by the three Macs. The 1st Brigade goes to 35-year-old barrister Colonel Henry Norman MacLaurin, son of the University of Sydney Chancellor (after whom he has been named) and brother of pioneering surgeon Charles. The 2nd Brigade is put under the command of a 47-year-old martinet, Colonel James Whiteside McCay. Most significantly, in charge of the 3rd Brigade, Bridges places Colonel Ewen MacLagan, a fellow Scot and career army officer who had married an Australian woman and settled at Duntroon, to be the director of drill and discipline. As MacLagan has already demonstrated a capacity to take the raw material of a mass of men and turn them into a disciplined fighting force upon which victory lies, he is the first man picked for the role.
And so Colonel MacLagan, too, sets to, from a couple of back rooms at Melbourneâs Victoria Barracks, putting his forceful personality and tireless work ethic into the enormous task of creating a brigade from troops drawn from five states.
Further north, The Sydney Morning Herald sets the tone. Beneath the banner headline âWAR DECLAREDâ, the paperâs editorial is nothing less than exuberant:
For good or ill, we are engaged with the mother country in fighting for liberty and peace. It is no war of aggression upon which Britons have entered, but one in defence of small nations threatened with humiliation and absorption, if not with extinction; and above and beyond everything our armies will fight for British honour â¦
What remains for us at this end of the world is to possess our souls in patience, while making the necessary contributions of time, means, and men to carry on the great war upon which so much depends. It is our baptism of fire. 44
Similar passion is evinced in New Zealand, where, at 3 pm, the Governor, Sir Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, stands on the steps of the old parliament buildings and â flanked by Prime Minister William Massey â clears his throat to address a crowd now 12,000 strong, who have gathered in great anticipation. After reading out an exchange of cables he has had with His Majesty the King, whereby His Gracious Majesty expresses his appreciation for New Zealandâs affirmation of loyalty, he gets to the point.
âFellow subjects: War has broken out with Germany.â The cheering from the crowd is thunderous, and then even more so when the Prime Minister calls for three cheers for the King, which leads to a spontaneous rendition of âGod Save the Kingâ, followed by âRule Britanniaâ.
âWe have no time for speeches,â the Governor concludes. âI will send [to Britain] the following message: âThe Empire will stand united, calm, resolute, trusting in God.ââ 45
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
There are just a few in the crowd, however, who evince a different emotion and, as The New Zealand Herald would report, are âvisibly affected by the gravity of the announcement. A few people, some
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